Biglaw, Law Schools

Uh-Oh! Biglaw Firm Pares Down Its Summer Associate Program -- One Week Before Interviews

Contrary to its theme song, not everyone is a winner at this firm.

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On-campus interviewing season is already in full swing at some law schools, but many will be starting up next week. Law students are already nervous about whether they’ll be able to secure an offer for a summer associate placement. And one firm just made their anxiety a little worse, after career services offices in the Northeast and on the West Coast alerted some students that their interviews with the firm had been canceled.

Uh-oh! What in the world happened here?

Earlier today, we began receiving word of the worrying news that Nixon Peabody had allegedly withdrawn from all on-campus interviews at all law schools. Students thought it spelled bad news for the firm. Students at one Boston law school received this message from their career services office just before 9 a.m.:

That’s a bit alarming. Could it be that the firm is in some sort of trouble? Not exactly. As it turns out, that email from career services wasn’t entirely correct. Here’s an official statement from Nixon Peabody about the situation:

We’ve decided to put our Summer Associate Program on hold in 2018 in two markets (Boston and San Francisco). As a reference, our summer associate class in these two markets (Boston and San Francisco) in 2017 included five associates (3 in Boston; 2 in San Francisco).

We are constantly evaluating the needs of our markets and our clients and exploring new ways to attract and retain great talent which includes school-year law school internships which we are already doing in other offices with good success. We are not eliminating our summer program. In 2018, we will continue our summer associate program in five of the seven offices that participated this year. Those locations are: Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C. Rochester, NY and Long Island.

We have not withdrawn from all OCI engagements. We will continue to participate in various law school recruiting events and on-campus visits, and will evaluate the individual associate recruiting needs in each office on an ongoing basis.

As it turns out, the firm’s theme song is incorrect — not everyone is a winner at Nixon Peabody — and especially not those who hoped to interview with the firm in Boston and San Francisco. Better luck next year, when we hope the firm is able to do a little better with the timing of such announcements.

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Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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