Is Your Firm On The 'Most Fun' Summer Programs List? (2015)

Which firms cracked Vault's list of best summer programs?

Everyone loves a good ranking! How else can we feel marginally superior to our peers?

Anyway, it is summertime, and in law firm parlance, that means it is summer associate season. The good people at Vault have compiled their list of best summer programs by asking associates to rank how well the summer program prepared the associate for life at the firm, and how fun the summer associate program was. That data creates three categories of rankings: most fun summer program, summer program that best prepares you, and overall which is a combination of the other components.

Let’s start out with the best — or at least most fun — ranking. (I know, I made a dad joke, and that’s usually Elie’s territory. I am embarrassed for myself.)

The Top 10 Most Fun Summer Associate Programs are:

  1. Shook, Hardy & Bacon
  2. Foley Hoag
  3. O’Melveny & Myers
  4. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
  5. Schulte Roth & Zabel
  6. Cahill Gordon & Reindel
  7. Proskauer Rose
  8. Paul Hastings
  9. Morrison & Foerster
  10. Ropes & Gray

Nice to see my own alma mater, Cahill, clocking in at number 6. When I summered there, the event I thought was the most fun was the fishing boat trip, and I am happy to see it is still a crowd-pleaser.

Moving on to the boring necessary category of prepping you for firm life. A summer program that prepares you for the soul-crushing agony of Biglaw life? Impressive. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty and see who topped the list:

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The Top 10 Summer Associate Programs that Best Prepare for Practice are:

  1. Saul Ewing
  2. Paul Hastings
  3. Venable
  4. O’Melveny & Myers
  5. Foley Hoag
  6. Cravath, Swaine & Moore
  7. Proskauer Rose
  8. Morrison & Foerster
  9. Chadbourne & Parke
  10. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

And here’s the real moneymaker, the overall ranking that combines the fun level with preparedness:

The Top 10 Best Overall Law Firm Summer Associate Programs are:

  1. Foley Hoag
  2. O’Melveny & Myers
  3. Paul Hastings
  4. Proskauer Rose
  5. Saul Ewing
  6. Morrison & Foerster
  7. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
  8. Venable
  9. Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
  10. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld

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Hopefully rising 2Ls will use this information judicially as they meticulously prepare their on-campus recruiting lists. For more details to look through, check out the full list (Top 25 in Fun and Preparedness and Top 50 Overall) at Vault.

Best Summer Associate Programs [Vault]