Biglaw, Summer Associates

Struggling Firm May Be Canceling Its Summer Program

Which law firm may be pulling the plug on its summer associate program?

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'I might not have a job?!'

‘I might not have a job?!’

It’s mid April, and law students are waiting for their semesters to end so they can begin their summer associate programs. At most law firms, these programs are a whirlwind of free lunches, fun events, interesting work, and perhaps most important of all, fat paychecks. But what would happen if a firm could no longer afford luxuries like summer associates? That seems to be what’s happening at Kenyon & Kenyon, a former IP giant that has lost a fair share of partners in recent months.

Earlier this year, we’d wondered if the firm would survive 2016. At the time, managing partner Edward Colbert seemed optimistic about the firm’s prospects for the year ahead. Four months later, we’ve heard word that the firm may be canceling its summer program, which certainly seems to be a harbinger of doom. Yikes.

As you may recall, canceling summer programs was a movement back in 2009, when Biglaw firms were suffering through the Great Recession. Since those dark days, however, killing off summer programs has been rare, done by firms only in exceptional circumstances (e.g., Dewey & LeBoeuf, which officially pulled the plug on its summer program just days before advising partners to seek employment elsewhere).

We’ve heard from several tipsters that Kenyon has “rescinded” its offers to summer associates and canceled the program in its entirety, but the firm contests that categorization. A firm spokesperson told us the following information:

This is not the case. While some major firms have cancelled their summer associate programs in the past, we have not officially cancelled our summer associate program, but are not guaranteeing that there will be a summer program this year. We are in a transitional period and we cannot say with any certainty there will be a summer program at this time.

A source had this to say of Kenyon’s wishy-washy summer program: “[C]onsidering summer associates will be starting in a matter of weeks, this seems in very bad form. It seems like a bad move for future recruitment efforts too, if they are known as the firm who rescinded summer offers a week before finals.”

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We sought a definitive answer about these would-be summer associates’ offers. When asked whether the firm had, in fact, rescinded offers, a firm representative said “[t]he offers have not be rescinded, but we cannot guarantee there will be a summer associate program this year.” This doesn’t seem fair to the firm’s summer associates, at all.

Why keep summer associates in limbo? Don’t they deserve to know whether they’re going to be employed in just a few short months? After another email was exchanged, we received this response from a firm spokesperson:

We have explained to the summer associates that we cannot guarantee them a summer associate position at this time. We told them we understand that they may feel the need to explore other opportunities.

Note to prospective summer associates at Kenyon & Kenyon: Keep your options open — that’s what the firm seems to be doing.

Earlier: Will This Law Firm Survive 2016?
We Don’t Have Any Summer Associates, Dewey?

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Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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