Akin Gump, Biglaw, Drinking, Summer Associates

Akin Gump Summers Ice Some Bros

By  
on

It’s about time a group of summer associates grew a backbone and showed some personality. At Akin Gump, a group of summers decided to “ice” some of the full-time associates at the firm.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, BrosIcingBros is was a website devoted to friends forcing friends to chug a gawd-awful Smirnoff Ice. It’s a pretty simple concept: if someone presents you with a Smirnoff Ice, you have to drink it — unless you happen to be carrying your own Smirnoff Ice, to pull off an Icing Deflection. In my humble opinion, there are few things worse than being forced to drink a Smirnoff Ice, and it is because of the horrible penalty that this phenomenon caught on and went viral.

Sadly, the site that started it all, BrosIcingBros.com, has been stopped. Apparently the people at Smirnoff don’t understand that there is no other reasonable use for their product. From AdAge:

“[Smirnoff Ice parent] Diageo has taken measures to stop this misuse of its Smirnoff Ice brand and marks, and to make it clear that ‘icing’ does not comply with our marketing code, and was not created or promoted by Diageo, Smirnoff Ice, or anyone associated with Diageo,” the company said in a statement.

Whatever. Icing will live on as the most appropriate use for your product no matter how many websites you try to kill.

Luckily, Smirnoff can’t stop the Akin Gump summer class…

Sponsored

We’ve been hoping for an “icing” story from the legal community for a while now. Over at sister site Dealbreaker, Wall Street analysts are sending each other down on their knees with bottles to their lips on a regular basis.

Despite our Twitter pleading, we could find no partners forcing their Smirnoffs on associates, or a counsel passive-aggressively leaving a Smirnoff in a partner’s chair. Happily, the summers at Akin manned “bro-ed” up.

Sadly, we haven’t been able to get any “art” on the Akin SA “Ice Storm.” So we’ll have to discuss this in narrative form only. A tipster reports:

The summer associate class at Akin Gump DC just “iced” the associates, wearing matching “Ice Storm” t-shirts.

While icing is quintessential douche-baggery at its finest, serious points for guts and execution.

An Akin Gump full-time associate reported:

Sponsored

Yes, I know someone who was “iced” by a summer associate wearing a [bundle-of-sticks-like] t-shirt. My friend is crushed, but hopes that the summers get offers so he can make their lives absolutely miserable for years to come.

Uh-huh. Well, tell your “friend” he has our condolences.

As the original tipster said, it’s the execution of the deed that really stands out:

A meeting was called indicating that some of the SA’s felt unwanted “pressure” at some recent events and after-event activities. Once in the meeting, the SA’s, in matching t-shirts that said “Ice Storm,” proceeded to ice the associates there.

Wow. If that’s how it really went down, mad props to the Akin Gump summer class. First, the sheer audacity to “call a meeting” as a summer is kind of awesome. I never called a meeting when I was at my firm; even when I quit, I politely loitered outside the offices of more senior people until they had time to meet me/got sick of me bothering their secretaries.

But then to have it be a fake meeting — a ruse to ice associates? Brilliant.

We need to see the t-shirt. Come on summers, you’ve already shown you have guts. Put the shirt on the back of a chair and snap a pic for us.

Meanwhile, Akin Gump associates, are you just going to stand for this? Somebody needs to call a “meeting” about summer associate offer rates….

Smirnoff Says It Took ‘Measures’ to Stop Icing Site [Advertising Age]

Topics

, , ,