Summer Associates

Welcome to ATL, Summer Associates

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Summer associates have started trickling into Biglaw offices around the country, so we at ATL wanted to take a minute (or approximately an hour as that’s how long we usually let a post sit at the top of the page) to say, “Welcome!” We hope to see you around these parts often this summer. This is where Biglaw comes for its news, gossip, and water cooler talk.
While we do occasionally cover law school stories, most of our content is aimed at those with JD degrees in hand. So we expect you may not yet be familiar with Above The Law (a.k.a. “ATL”). We like to do what you might call “tabloid journalism.” (Please see our tagline at the top of the page.) We also do what you might call “public service journalism.” In that light, we encourage our readers to use this opportunity to offer advice to incoming summer associates. What can they do to secure an offer at the end of the summer?
Let’s be honest here. Your summers are not going to be as awesome as the summers of past SAs. You’ve had the bad luck to be diving into Biglaw in the middle of a recession. Expect events to be scaled back in comparison to past years. Expect lunches to be scarcer and cheaper. Expect first year associates to eye you warily.
To help relieve your misery, feel free to send us tips. We can be reached at tips@abovethelaw.com. We like stories that show the scandalous light side of the law. Our tipsters are always kept anonymous.
We love Summer Associate stories. We are the ones who brought the legal profession the tales of river-jumping Aquagirl, the lip-locking Sapphic Summers, and the Partner-headlocking “Randy Savage” SA. We expect that many of you will try to be on your best behavior this summer, knowing that offers will be hard to come by. Over at the WSJ Law Blog, they’ve got legal consultant Peter Zeughauser predicting doom and gloom for this year’s SAs:

And what about the end, Peter? Is there light at the end of the tunnel?
It’s not going to be over before the end of the year. I think you’re going to see dramatically reduced offers to summer associates at the end of this summer, and dramatically reduced offers for people to come in as summers in 2010. These cuts could be very dramatic, as much as slashed by 90 percent.

With that in mind, if things aren’t looking good halfway through the summer, start drinking heavily at firm events. Have fun and let loose. And then send us your stories.
Will BigLaw Slash Hiring by 90 Percent? [WSJ Law Blog]

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