Biglaw, Contests, Summer Associates

Best Summer Associate Event Contest (2015): The Finalists

Check out these super-fun events -- which is your favorite?

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Based on what we’ve been hearing, offers were abundant for summer associates this year. If you know of yet another office with a 100 percent offer rate, drop it into the comments on this post; if you know of a Biglaw office where a third of more of summer associates got no-offered, drop us a line.

At some firms, summers got their sundaes with cherries on top: 100 percent offer rates, and a slew of fabulous, fun events. After reviewing your nominations, we’re pleased to announce the following slate of eight finalists for our annual summer associate event contest:

1. Cooley. Nominated last year, Cooley’s skeet shooting event at Coyote Valley Sporting Clays in Morgan Hill returns to the finals. “It was a competitive and active event,” said a summer. “We also ate a huge BBQ feast afterwards.”

2. Jones Day. Given that this secretive firm often gets compared to a “black box,” this summer event is strangely fitting:

The Jones Day office in D.C. had The Open Organisation of Lockpickers teach a well-attended lockpicking class to its summer associates. The event was held in the firm’s main event space. A Jones Day associate is the TOOOL DC chapter lead, and he taught the class. I think there are a couple photos and tweets about it on the @TOOOL_DC Twitter account.

Indeed there are; check them out here.

3. Kirkland & Ellis. Many summer events take the form of “join Biglaw, and all this can be yours.” That’s why many events take place in the fabulous lawyerly lairs of partners. Take this K&E event:

Sponsored

I worked at Kirkland & Ellis NYC this summer, and the best event was going up to a partner’s house in the Hamptons on a Friday where we had a clambake, biked to and lounged at the beach, were taught tennis lessons by a tennis pro, had access to a Mr. Softee ice cream truck, and drank many bottles of rosé.

Said another nominator:

A partner opened up his home to the summer associates and attorneys in the Hamptons for all-day festivities including a BBQ lunch, tennis clinics, volleyball, biking around town, clambake, and a private ice cream truck!

It seems that everyone behaved themselves in the Hamptons too. K&E in NY boasted a 100 percent offer rate.

4. Knobbe Martens. Some fun in the sun for the San Diego office:

Sponsored

[W]e went “water jet-packing.” If it sounds like the coolest thing in the world… that’s because it is. The company actually took videos of us and posted them on YouTube. Enjoy!

Wow, this does look pretty cool — like flying! Check out the videos of JetpackAmerica here.

5. Proskauer. We believe this to be a tradition at the firm, known for its top-flight sports and entertainment practice:

Proskauer took its summer class to the 69th Tony Awards at Radio City. The firm bought out 48 Lounge for a few hours to pregame before the Awards. On the red carpet, all the summers looked so glamorous that random people on the street were taking pics of them as if they were celebrities. Summers got to meet meet and snap pics with Tony Award winners and nominees, including Carey Mulligan and Marcus Mumford.

6. Quinn Emanuel. The firm is scaling back its summer program, so we might not be getting emails like this one next year:

Hi ATL! I’m finishing dinner in Venice, and it seemed like a good time to nominate Quinn Emanuel’s firm hike for the best summer event. The trip involved five days in Italy, a full-day hike in the Dolomites, and two nights in Venice. We had 130 lawyers attend, and it has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Check out the view from the top!

Click to enlarge (and feel envious):

Another plus: it sounds like the hike was less arduous than in years past. It lasted just one day, and nobody got lost or had to be evacuated by helicopter this time around.

7. Schulte Roth & Zabel. Welcome SRZ back to the finals with its celebrated go-karting event. Summers went to Pole Position in Jersey City — see, there are reasons to cross the Hudson River, Manhattanites — and then ended the evening at Zeppelin Hall Restaurant and Biergarten.

8. Skadden Arps. Last year, Skadden’s Chicago office made the finals by taking its summers to see Queen Bey aka Beyonce Knowles. This year, SASMF in the Windy City might have topped itself:

Skadden Chicago continued their annual summer concert event by shaking it off with 80 attorneys and summer associates at Taylor Swift’s 1989 World Tour.

We had four suites all connected to each other with unlimited food and beverage. The firm also provided trolleys as well as a 50-foot boat to get to and from Solider Field!

Honorable mention to Boies Schiller in D.C., which took its summers to see Taylor Swift at Nationals Park (“The summers had a fantastic time and raved about it for weeks!”). But we’re giving Skadden the nod here because it sounds like its event was larger and more lavish than BSF’s.

Okay, readers, time to vote! My personal favorites might be the Knobbe Martens water jet-packing (seriously, check out the videos); the Proskauer night at the Tonys (what can I say, I’m a huge theater queen); or the Quinn Emanuel trip to Italy (one word: Venice). But I’m not the decider — you are. Please cast your vote now (voting closes on MONDAY, AUGUST 24, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time):

Which firm put on the best summer associate event of 2015?

  • Quinn Emanuel - Trip To Italy (60%, 1,235 Votes)
  • Skadden - Taylor Swift Concert (13%, 261 Votes)
  • Proskauer - Tony Awards (7%, 153 Votes)
  • Kirkland - Hamptons Trip (7%, 146 Votes)
  • Knobbe Martens - Water Jet-Packing (5%, 100 Votes)
  • Jones Day - Lockpicking Class (3%, 70 Votes)
  • Cooley - Skeet Shooting (3%, 62 Votes)
  • Schulte - Go-Karting (1%, 26 Votes)

Total Voters: 2,053

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Earlier: What Was The Best Biglaw Summer Associate Event Of 2015?
Best Summer Associate Event Contest (2014): The Winner!
Best Summer Associate Event Contest (2014): The Finalists
What Was The Best Biglaw Summer Associate Event Of 2014?

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