Thanks for all of the tips in response to our Friday post on no-offers. We are investigating various leads and will bring you a series of posts based on what we learn.

We'll start with Wiley Rein. The firm's 2008 summer class was oversubscribed, but only four summer associates paid the price. We'd been hearing reports that Wiley gave offers to 34 out of 38 SAs, and the firm has now confirmed the news.

Kay Nash, director of professional development and attorney recruiting at Wiley, said over email:

As is always the case here, everyone who deserved an offer received one, despite our higher numbers this summer. We are confident that we can comfortably accommodate the excellent students to whom we extended offers. We always aim for approximately 25 new associates, but gave a significantly higher number of offers reflecting the strength of our summer class.

A few tipsters pointed out that Wiley's class may have been oversubscribed due to the huge fees the firm earned as part of the 2006 Blackberry litigation. The settlement pushed Wiley's profits per partner all the way to number one for 2006.

Thirty-four offers out of an expected 25 slots suggests that Wiley is doing the best they can. But that probably does not mean a lot to the four fallen. We pour out our 40 to the undeserving four.

Earlier: Fall Recruiting Open Thread: No Offer, No Cry

We have some bad news for this year's summer associates. Based on Monday's survey, brought to you by ATL and Lateral Link, about one in four attorneys at your firm didn't like you.

The number of practicing attorneys who said "Summer associates, hate 'em" narrowly beat the number of practicing attorneys who said "Summer associates, love 'em," by a margin of 25.06% to 24.82%. And while that edge may not be statistically significant, it still has to sting a little.

Among lawyers who had been practicing for more than two years, the gap widened considerably, to 30% vs. 22%.

And in Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, and Miami, associates of all ages hated summer associates most of all, to the tune of at least 40%.

Mind you, half of practicing respondents were simply neutral on the question -- but that's still pretty cold comfort, in this season of cold offers.

Read more, below the fold.

We bring you more word of postponed start dates for incoming associates. The latest comes from the Philly firm of WolfBlock, as first reported in the Philadelphia Business Journal:

In response to the economic slowdown, Wolf Block has delayed the start date of its entry-level lawyers for two months. The firm said all but one of eight recent law school graduates were told not to report for work until November 10 rather than the normal start date shortly after Labor Day.

Hiring partner Andrew Chirls said the first-year associates, who get paid $135,000 a year, will receive a $5,000 stipend to tide them over.

That works out to $2,500 a month, or $30,000 on an annual basis. But hey, at least they don't have to work for it.

If you're interested, there's more -- including info about summer-associate offer rates -- after the jump.

Over the last several weeks, we've run quite a few ATL / Lateral Link surveys about summer associate issues like assignments, offers, and, of course, lunch.

But no matter what the survey topic, two debates have consistently emerged in the comments:

1) Are summer associates an appropriate use of firm resources and associate time?

2) Are the LOLcat pictures accompanying the surveys absolutely awesome, or really annoying?

Of course, it's not that surprising to see summer associates and LOLcats -- two creatures linked by their youth, their frequent proximity to food, their occasional fluffy nature, and, alas, their occasional misspellings -- prompting relatively parallel debates among ATL readers (especially since those similarities prompted the use of LOLcats as pictures for the summer associate surveys).

And now that the summer programs are over and the on-campus interview season has begun, both debates are in full swing.

On the substantive front, a number of firms are heavily weighing the impact of summer programs on firm resources (like cash), and many are now narrowing their on-campus recruiting or even scrapping summer programs altogether in some offices, as Kash covered over here.

Meanwhile, on the fluffier front, the LOLcat debate also surged last week. Check out some of the funnier comments, and take today's survey, after the jump.

This has probably already been done at some law school parody show or "law revue." If so, feel free to point that out, in the comments.

But if not -- of even if it has, but someone wants to revisit it, in light of the current (dismal) state of the legal job market -- here are suggested lyrics for No Offer, No Cry (to the tune of Bob Marley's No Woman, No Cry):

No offer, no cry
No offer, no cry

Said - said - said: I remember when we used to sit
In the career services office in law school,
Observing the Biglaw hypocrites
As they would mingle with the good people we meet.

Classmates we have, oh, classmates we've lost
Along the way.
In 3L interviewing, you can't forget your past;
So dry your tears, I say.

Earlier this month, we raised the subject of cold offers. Now it's time to talk about a topic we raised last year, but have not yet raised this year: the cold offer's crueler cousin, the NO OFFER.

We hear that no-offering is on the rise -- which is not surprising, given the tanking economy and Biglaw layoffs. Which law firms are doling out no-offers to their summer associates this year? Feel free to discuss, in the comments.

As always, caveat lector. Information in the comments has not been verified, and we make no representations or warranties as to its accuracy. Read at your own risk.

If you'd like to send us a tip that you are capable of vouching for -- e.g., you were a summer at the firm in question -- please email us (subject line: "No Offer - [Firm Name]"). For tips submitted via email, we will try to verify them if we can, and possibly revert to you with a list of no-offer factories (to use last year's coinage). Thanks.

Earlier: Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Cold Offers
Fall Recruiting Open Thread: No-Offer Factories

One of our favorite law professor bloggers, Stephen Bainbridge, chimes in on yesterday's summer associate scandal story. His commentary appears here.

Our general view of the matter was summed up by a commenter: "Guys from my high school used to seal the deal with girls from college all the time. It was no big deal." Professor Bainbridge begs to differ.

P.S. Same rules apply. Please don't name any individuals in the comments -- including, but not limited to, the summer associate, the college intern, or the associate who brought the SA's conduct to the attention of the hiring partner. Thanks.

Advice for Young Law Firm Associates: Don't Poop Where You Eat [Punditry - Professor Bainbridge]

Earlier: Summer Associate of the Day: The Cradle Robber

Update: Take our reader poll:

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my law firm. My sin, my soul, my summer intern. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta."

Now that summer associate programs are over, and most summers have offers safely in hand, it's a good (read: safe) time to dish about SA scandals. If you have a story to share that we haven't previously covered, please email us.

Here's one story that is making the rounds. We've omitted the firm name because the summer class was not very large. Per our usual rules, please don't name the summer associate (or the college student) in the comments.

After a firm-sponsored event, a college student interning at the firm went out for drinks with several summer and full-time associates. She was not old enough to be drinking.

The college intern, in a state of inebriation, left the bar hanging all over one of the summer associates (hereinafter "The Cradle Robber"). Later that evening, the Cradle Robber wrote an email to several associates, claiming that "the deal was sealed" with the college intern.

An associate forwarded the email to the hiring partner. The Cradle Robber did not receive an offer.

Read our take on this series of events, after the jump.

Last week we covered some goings-on -- or non-goings-on, to those of you who found them boring -- at Shearman & Sterling. Here's a quick update.

We reported that, according to the firm, there have been no staff layoffs. One source writes:

I'd like to know how they define administrative staff, as they laid off their entire word processing / document production center (i.e legal word processors, proofreaders, EDGAR operators, and supervisors) in February 2007. It has since been disastrously outsourced....

Outsourcing from a year and a half ago isn't what we had in mind when we asked about recent layoffs. But we pass that along, for what it's worth; we do aim to be accurate.

In the comments, there were some rumors about start dates for 2009 associates. We're looking into the rumors and will report back. If you can confirm, please email us.

Update: We're still waiting for official word from the firm, but one Shearman offeree confirms that yes, start dates for incoming associates next year will be no earlier than November 30, 2009.

Finally, we wondered whether there might be an interesting story surrounding the one out of 140 summer associates who didn't get an offer. It turns out that there is.

Find out what it takes to get no-offered by Shearman these days, after the jump.

Lately we've been hearing various rumors about Shearman & Sterling. Some appear to be true, and some not.

Here are the rumors, followed by the firm's responses, in blockquotes.

1. Have start dates for incoming first-year associates been pushed back?

Start dates for incoming first-year associates for fall 2008 are October 6, 20, 27 and November 3.

We don't know what the 2007 start dates were (and the firm didn't provide them), but we're guessing they were earlier. But the 2008 start dates are not particularly late. Compare them to these firms' postponed start dates.

2. Have there been any layoffs at the firm, of lawyers or staff?

There have been no lay-offs at Shearman & Sterling, of either attorneys or administrative staff.

This makes sense to us. Shearman did layoffs back in the early 2000s, which it later came to regret, when memories of the layoffs harmed the firm's recruiting efforts once the economy came roaring back. So, having learned their lesson, we'd be surprised to see mass layoffs from Shearman now.

(But we wouldn't be surprised if there have been some performance-related dismissals lately, especially on the corporate side.)

3. Did the firm make offers to all of its summer associates?

(We had previously heard, through the grapevine, that the firm had 135 summer associates and made offers to all of them.)

This summer we had 144 summer associates. There were four summer associates whose academic commitments precluded their joining the firm in fall 2009. We made entry-level offers to all but one of the summer associates available to join the firm.

Based on the high percentage of offers to summers, north of 99 percent, it seems that Shearman is doing just fine these days. But we are curious about that one SA who got no-offered.

Might there be a juicy but undiscovered summer associate scandal? Perhaps a new and improved version of the Shearman & Slur-Man? If you have info, feel free to email us.

(If it's garden-variety incompetence, that's of little interest to us. But if there's an entertaining or salacious tale, we'd like to hear about it. Thanks.)

Earlier: X-Summers: Shearman & Slur-Man

During Kash's brief foray into the world of corporate law at Covington & Burling, she was initially surprised by the party-hard culture at firm events. Once the majority of the partners left one Friday roof-deck happy hour, the event turned distinctly frat party-esque, with patio tables pushed together for rounds of beer pong.

A tipster sends word of a Proskauer Rose firm event turned Animal House scene. The summer associate class in the Boston office of Proskauer had no problem snagging offers this year -- and some Proskauer attorneys were willing to risk their coronary health to bring them on board.

The full tale, with photographic evidence, is available after the jump. It involves lots of drinking, a lot of beef, and excessive eating -- all the hallmarks of the summer associate experience.

August marks the end of extravagant lunches and open bars, and the return to the starving-student lifestyle for this year's batch of summer associates. This time of year also presents summers with a big, anxiety-inducing question:

Am I getting The Offer -- i.e., an offer to return to The Firm on a more permanent / full-time basis, after graduation?

Some summers find out about their future employment prospects while still at their law firms. This might happen during an exit interview, or it might happen in more public fashion:

The DC office of Latham & Watkins just called all summer associates into a conference room and announced that they were extending offers to 100% of the DC summer associate class.

We haven't confirmed this with the firm, but if true -- congratulations, Lathamites of Washington!

(We also hear, through the grapevine, that Shearman & Sterling gave offers to all 135 of its SAs. If you know of other 100-percent-offer shops, feel free to note them in the comments. Please note, however, that what appears in the comments is unverified. So caveat lector.)

Update: Shearman gave offers to 139 out of 140 summers who were considered for offers. See here.

Other summer associates don't learn their fates until after the end of their programs. Word might come a week or two after the program ends -- or even later. Our estimable (but outgoing) editor-in-chief recalls that Wachtell Lipton didn't notify its summer class about offers until September. (That was several years ago; WLRK's current practice may differ.)

Read more about cold offers -- including a more detailed explanation of what exactly is a cold offer, for those of you who aren't familiar with the institution -- after the jump.

This summer associate (or "vacation schemer") story comes to us from across the pond. An attorney in the London office of Shearman & Sterling had an interesting take on appropriate summer associate events.

Legal Week reports that a bunch of Shearman partners and attorneys took the "trainees" out to the bars one Friday last month. As the night wound down, one of the attorneys decided to take a female summer to The Windmill (NSFW). Not a wise decision:

Shearman & Sterling has dismissed an associate in its London office after a vacation scheme student made a formal complaint about his behaviour during a night out.

The student, who has subsequently accepted a training contract position with another firm, lodged a formal complaint to Shearman alleging that she was taken to Soho strip club The Windmill by the associate last month.

An internal investigation at Shearman has resulted in the associate in question being dismissed for bringing the firm into disrepute.

The attorney in question should have done more to defend himself. He could have cast this as a highly reputable outing... or at least a little bit reputable. The Windmill is not just any old strip club; it's an historic strip club. From its (NSFW) website:

Great Windmill Street in London's Soho... where Laura Henderson was to create her world famous theatre staging the first nude stage shows in London in 1931....

[A] host of great British comedians began their careers at the Windmill. Among them were Peter Sellers....

[T]he story of Mrs. Henderson has been made into a hugely successful film starring dame Judi Dench, nominated for Hollywood's presige's [sic] Oscar."

We'd think that mentioning the names 'Peter Sellers' and 'dame Judi Dench' in England would lead to all being forgiven.

Perhaps it would have been wiser to take a male summer, who could have better appreciated the "historic nature" of the club. But hey, you never know. Some female summer associates, far from having a problem with strip clubs, actually enjoy performing at them.

Shearman sacks associate after student strip club complaint [Legal Week]

Earlier: Summer Associate of the Day: Girl Gone Wild

Based on your feedback, it seems that the story of office sex between two Skadden summer associates may just be urban legend. But we don't feel that bad, since it's a story that very well could have happened -- and surely has, in other years or at other firms.

As promised, we're going to make it up to you with a story from our former firm that is similar to the Skadden one. Having heard this tale from multiple sources during our time there, with no divergences in the pertinent details, we believe it to be true (although we do admit it's old, from the mid-1990s).

The story, while perfectly safe for work, does include reference to a specific sexual act (hinted at by the image at right). If this offends your sensibilities, please stop reading here. We try to keep the ATL front page PG-rated.

But if you're cool with this, read more, after the jump.

This sign captures the flavor of the past week in law firm news, including the massive layoffs at Cadwalader and the office closings at Akin Gump. If you have other tips for us, send them to us here.

The law firm pain is starting to be felt even by those still in law school. We've been forwarded various emails announcing that some firms or offices have canceled on-campus interviews for 2009 prospective summer associates, including the New York office of Dorsey & Whitney, the Chicago office of Midwestern firm Barnes & Thornburg, and, as we reported on Wednesday, Cadwalader (at certain law schools, e.g., Rutgers - Newark). Here are excerpts from the notices:

From John Marshall Law School:

I received notice from the head of recruiting at Barnes & Thornburg that the firm will not be having a summer program in its Chicago office next summer. Therefore, the OCI option for that firm has been removed from Symplicity.

---

From Columbia Law School:

The New York office of Dorsey & Whitney LLP will no longer be interviewing at EIP (ed. note: Early Interview Program) as they have decided not to have a formal summer associate program in 2009.

---

From Rutgers Law School:

Also, please note that Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, scheduled to interview on campus on August 13th, has had to cancel and will contact students independently to schedule interviews if they are selected.

We expected large law firms to power on with their summer associate programs, so we were somewhat surprised to hear that Dorsey & Whitney is suspending its program in New York. Then again, it was a rather small program -- about five summer associates in 2007, per the firm's NALP form (PDF). A Dorsey spokesperson had this comment:

It is true that the New York office of Dorsey & Whitney will not sponsor a formal summer associate program in 2009. We have made this decision based upon our hiring needs in the New York office at this time. This decision with respect to the New York office summer associate program does not preclude the possibility of hiring an incoming class for 2010 in our New York office. The firm's other offices that have traditionally sponsored summer associate programs will continue to do so.

Have other firms canceled their OCIs at your school? Please let us know in the comments, including your school, the firm, and the firm office.

See full notices from firms regarding OCI cancellation, after the jump.

[Ed. note: This post is by FROLIC & DETOUR, one of the finalists in ATL Idol, the "reality blogging" competition that will determine ATL's next editor. It is marked with Frolic & Detour's avatar (at right).]

Sadly, some of the juiciest summer scandals in Biglaw history occurred prior to the advent of Above the Law. Though some of us at ATL may be loathe to admit it, many of them occurred when this year's 2Ls were still in high school. So far, this year's pink-cheeked and diligent class is failing in its duty to generate entertainment for the rest of us. So let's all step into the Wayback Machine and visit the glory days of summer scandal.

Picture it: summer, 2000. First-year salaries recently hit $125,000...the dot com boom is a boom, not a bubble...offers will follow summers as day follows night. And a Boston tech firm called Testa Hurwitz had not yet gone to the Great Courtroom in the Sky.

The marquee event of Testa's lavish summer program is a Duck Boat tour of Boston and the Charles River. Summers, associates, and partners alike enjoy some fine beverages and then set out for some amphibious sightseeing.

Under the influence of free champagne, a Harvard summer (naturally) decides that it would be hilarious to drop trou and moon his friend in the neighboring boat. Once his pants are down, however, he experiences some confusion about where he is, just as Nature begins to sing her siren song. Is that a life preserver in front of him, or a urinal? In front of the entire firm, the summer leans against the railing and takes a piss in the Charles.

It wasn't easy to do in those days, but... no offer.

Setting aside the Sapphic Smooch, it's been a slow summer in terms of juicy summer-associate scandals. As a result, we're forced to bring you a story that may be apocryphal.

Here it is. It supposedly took place in the sleek-and-sexy offices of Skadden, housed in the celebrated Conde Nast Building at Four Times Square. Does being in close proximity to Vogue-visiting supermodels make people horny?

From a tipster (but not at Skadden; it came through the grapevine):

Does Skadden normally make its summers share office space with associates?

A Skadden associate walked into his office, which he shares with a summer associate, and caught the summer having sex with another summer. The associate was upset because he wanted to do work, and warned the summer to lock the door in the future. Both summers are not expected to be no-offered because of this.

Give a careful read to that last sentence, with all its double negatives. The upshot: nobody is getting in trouble over this. As a certain ATL commenter might say, "No big deal."

We did a bit of fact-checking. Sadly, the full-time and summer associates we contacted at SASMF said they hadn't heard anything about this. But they did confirm that regular / full-time associates share offices with summer associates. (The theory is that this arrangement helps to give summers a realistic sense of a regular associate's day-to-day work life.)

We're unsure about how true this story is. If you can confirm (or deny), feel free to email us.

Some of you will express annoyance at the possibly apocryphal nature of this story. To make it up to you, we're going to pass along a very similar summer-associate story, from our former firm, that IS true (albeit old).

Check back for it, later today, or tomorrow.

Update: That story is now posted here.

P.S. In case you're wondering, this is the story that we alluded to in the "Update" appended to this post. But we were amused by how many emails we received from people who thought we were talking about a different story. Apparently the Skadden summer retreat was one happening place....

Let's close out the week with one more post about everyone's favorite summer associate scandal: the girl-on-girl kiss that got two summer associates fired from the Minneapolis law firm of Lindquist & Vennum.

Earlier today, we alluded to rumors of "additional lasciviousness" at Lindquist, and now it's time to deliver. We wouldn't want to be accused of being teases.

Now some of you may be getting lesbian kiss fatigue (although some of you may say, "no such thing!!!"). But having received this tip, we can't sit on it, or we'd be accused of giving you only part of the story.

From a tipster (who provided additional identifying information to explain how he's in a position to know this, which we've omitted to preserve his anonymity):

"[The Kiss] happened at a bar with a bunch of summer people after dinner at a partner's house. [One of the summers] was probably just fired as a scapegoat, because that same night [another summer] made out with a married partner. I bet they didn't fire that girl because they were afraid of employment discrimination suits."

Well! All this scandalous talk -- faux-lesbian kisses, orgiastic firm retreats -- is making us blush.

We retract any and all prior remarks suggesting the folks at Lindquist are prudes and squares. To the contrary, it sounds like the place is so buck wild that lesbian lip-action is on the mild side of the spectrum. We are -- involuntarily, mind you -- imagining Nancy Vollertsen dancing on a table.

Okay, this scandal may have run its course; all good things come to an end. But we remain open to corrections, in case we've gotten anything wrong. Feel free to send any info our way, by email (subject line: "Lindquist and Vennum Summer Associate Scandal"). Thanks.

Earlier: Prior coverage of The Kiss (scroll down)

The scandal over The Kiss -- the faux-lesbian smooch between two female summer associates at Lindquist & Vennum that led to their being fired -- continues to reverberate throughout the blogosphere. It has even been picked up by the Minnesota Lawyer Blog, the blog of the Minnesota Lawyer print publication. After sketching out the allegations, editor Mark Cohen writes:

Without more information, it's difficult to know what to make of this. We'll see if the firm has anything it wants to add to what has been reported (and, if so, pass it on to you). I don't want to make too light of the whole thing, as it is obviously no laughing matter to the two law students involved (and please, please, please refrain from posting anything that contains any identifying information). In any event, try as I may, I can't get the refrain from "As time goes by" out of my head -- You must remember this: A kiss is just a kiss.

Some readers criticize Cohen -- who, after all, is a real journalist (we expressly disclaim that title, at least with respect to our ATL work) -- for covering the story. In his defense, he writes:

[T]he question at [this] point becomes is there any value for our blog readers in repeating this watercooler-story as an anecdote sans any identifying information about the associates involved.

I think there is some value for our younger readers who might be first or second year associates. With all the boat cruises, clam bakes and whatnots, it can be easy to forget at times that what you are essentially on is a summer-long job audition. You should behave as such at any firm function -- sanctioned or unsactioned. You can certainly argue whether termination was the appropriate sanction for what happened, but it doesn't appear that everything that happened would have happened if one kept in mind this was a job interview.

We concur. As we wrote in our original post:

Covering the misadventures of summer associates is valuable. When the summer associate is in the wrong, the story is a cautionary tale that educates future summers about what NOT to do. When the firm is in the wrong, the story raises red flags for law students thinking about working for that firm. Either way, additional information is empowering.

In terms of the story itself, as opposed to meta-coverage, we've heard some interesting things through the grapevine and are working on an update (which we expect to post in the afternoon). It seems there may have been additional lasciviousness at Lindquist & Vennum. Who knew midwesterners were so randy?

If you have information you'd like to pass along, please email us (subject line: "Lindquist and Vennum Summer Associate Scandal"). Thanks.

The kiss of death? [Minnesota Lawyer Blog]

Not to us, but to the City Pages of Minneapolis. And it's not much of a response.

(In case you missed yesterday's posts about the drunken girl-on-girl kiss that got two summer associates fired from Lindquist & Vennum, see here and here.)

From the City Pages blog, The Blotter:

Nancy Vollertsen, a partner at Lindquist & Vennum, returned our call. Here's what she had to say:

"We have a great summer program and we don't make employment decisions on a discriminatory basis."

Beyond that, she declined to either confirm or deny what has been written about the alleged firings, citing the privacy of the employees.

We can see why they've put Vollertsen in charge. From her firm bio:

Chair of Lindquist & Vennum's Employment Law Practice Group, Nancy practices primarily in the area of labor and employment law....

Nancy provides counseling to employers on prevention and defense of employment claims and litigation, employment termination, discipline and discharge issues, interpretation and application of various employment laws, and defense of employment discrimination claims.

For more, see the full City Pages post over here.

Scandal: Firm allegedly fires summer associates after drunken lesbian kiss [The Blotter / City Pages]

Here's an update on the two female summer associates we wrote about earlier today. For those of you just tuning in, here's the abridged version of their story: they were fired sometime in the past week by Lindquist & Vennum, the Minneapolis law firm, after getting drunk and kissing each other. For more details, read the original post.

It appears, however, that some of the information in the original post was in error (and we will update the prior post with a link to this post, to set the record straight, if you will). Here are some things we learned in response to our request for more tips:

1. The Kiss did not take place on a boat cruise. Rather, it went down at a social event held after the firm's semi-annual "Partners Dinner" (to which summer associates are usually invited). Said social event / after-party took place at a local watering hole.

2. Lindquist & Vennum does take its summer associates on a boat cruise. But the summers in question are not alleged to have misbehaved on the cruise.

3. As for the extent of The Kiss, "[i]t is unclear whether the girls 'made out' or merely kissed on the lips."

We should hope it was full-on making out, replete with groping. Sure, it's the Midwest, but seriously -- canning two young women because they pecked each other on the lips? Jeez. Can we please move into the 21st century?

4. Sources disagree on whether the firings were based solely on the events of that evening or whether they were premised upon a larger pattern and practice of misbehavior. One source claims that "LV didn't fire them [just] for a little lesbian action."

5. Another source claims, however, that the firm's internal story is that the firings were based just on what happened on the day of The Kiss.

6. But what happened that fateful day allegedly included more than just The Kiss. The women were warned earlier that day that their drinking during firm lunches and other events was excessive. Despite that warning, they allegedly got drunk that same night, culminating in The Kiss.

7. All members of the firm have been told not to comment to anyone about the firings and to forward all requests for information to Nancy Vollertsen.

8. The women are not lesbians (and at least one has a boyfriend).

Cue I Kissed A Girl, by Katy Perry: "I kissed a girl and I liked it / The taste of her cherry chapstick / I kissed a girl just to try it / I hope my boyfriend don't mind it."

9. Both summer associates are "quite attractive."

10. One source claims that the Lindquist firm "has tolerated much more drastic behavior from male associates in the past."

Indeed. We were wondering about a double standard, and it seems that our speculation was not far off the mark.

We do strive for accuracy and completeness, even when reporting events of less-than-cosmic significance, like summer associate stories. If you have corrections to offer or supplementary tidbits to share, please email us (subject line: "Lindquist and Vennum Summer Associate Scandal"). Thanks.

P.S. With respect to the comments, please note that the standard ATL policy applies. Please do not identify these summers by name or provide additional identifying details about them (e.g., law schools).

If you see such a comment made by another poster, please email us (subject line: "Comment Removal Request"), and we will remove the comment (and ban the commenter's IP address from future commenting). Thanks.

Update: Some interesting (and amusing) reactions from the readers of Jezebel. For example:

[M]ost of the big firms care very deeply about their images, including their reputation for diversity. They'd be psyched to have lesbians working for them, as long as they could count them in the diversity spreadsheet as gay. Faux lesbians kissing? Probably not so much.

Further Update: Partner Nancy Vollertsen issued a brief comment to the City Pages of Minneapolis. See here.

Earlier: Summer Associates of the Day: Sapphic Summers in Lesbianic Lip-Lock?