No Offers, Summer Associates

Nationwide No Offer Watch: McGuireWoods Does the Wave

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Although November is just around the corner, some 2009 summer associates are still learning about their fates. As one might expect given how late it is in the recruiting season, the news that comes around now isn’t always the happiest.
Above the Law has received reports that summer associates from McGuireWoods are now hearing back about offers. The interesting part is that the firm has apparently decided to make offers in waves, i.e., on a rolling basis.
One tipster tells us that approximately 11 out of 48 summers have received offers of full-time employment — thus far. The rest haven’t been rejected; rather, they’ve been placed on what amounts to a waitlist. Depending on how things unfold over the coming weeks and months, they might get offers — or they might not.
This “hiring in waves” approach is effectively what Dechert did. The firm made offers to about half of its summer class, but told the other half that they’d hear about offers in January 2010.
Comment from a source at the firm, after the jump.


A source at the firm declined to provide concrete numbers (or confirm the 11 out of about 50 statistic), but did confirm that offers are going out now. Some of the accepted associates will start at the firm in fall 2010, said this source, while others who have accepted clerkships will start in fall 2011.
The firm source also confirmed the “waiting list” arrangement: “Our process of hiring is not over, so the number you have now is likely not the final. As we have space and need, we’re making offers to our summers. I can’t tell you how many that will be because we don’t know.”
So what’s a McGuire Woods summer to do? With respect to the summer associates in limbo, the firm “told all of our summers that they should feel free to take offers from other firms if they receive them, because we do not know how many we will be hiring or when we will be able to make an offer.”
The candor is commendable, although perhaps cold comfort. Everyone knows that 3L recruiting has been a nightmare this year.
Good luck, McGuireWoods summer associates.

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