Simpson Thacher Public Interest Fellows Not Welcomed Back?

A few weeks ago, we reported on how Dewey & LeBoeuf was being less than enthusiastic in welcoming back to the firm some participants in DL Pursuits, its year-long sabbatical program.

Dewey might not be alone in treating its returnees in this way. Simpson Thacher — widely regarded as having invented the public interest fellowship as an innovative way of dealing with the downturn, and praised for doing so — appears to be taking a similar approach. A source reports:

Simpson, creator of the public interest year, is reneging on its “guaranteed return” promise. Multiple corporate and satellite office associates who indicated interest in the return option were told either that there might not be capacity, or just outright that there isn’t a place for them. From the firm that “invented” and still spins this program as public service, that’s disappointing.

The number of public interest fellows who aren’t being invited back to the firm is not known. We don’t believe it’s a huge number — somewhere in the single digits. (If you have information, please email us.)

We reached out to Simpson for comment. The firm has a somewhat different characterization of what’s going on here….

A Simpson Thacher spokesperson issued the following statement:

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Public interest fellows have the ability to return to the firm at the conclusion of their one-year fellowships. All fellows, however, remain subject to our normal personnel review process.

Reading between the lines, this seems to confirm the original report that not all fellows are welcome back at STB. Some might find this disturbing (like our original source), since the fellows were promised the opportunity to return.

But to play devil’s advocate, and in fairness to Simpson, how problematic is it? Presumably these associates were — and would be, upon returning — at-will employees. Simpson would be within its rights to let them return to the firm and then terminate their employment immediately upon their walking through the door. Telling them that there’s no room for them back at the firm just saves the associates on dry cleaning their suits for their first day back in the office.

Perhaps the most important issue here is one of notice. Were the public interest fellows told, as they departed for their fellowships, that they might want to keep an eye out for other opportunities over the course of the fellowship year? Were they reminded that they “remain subject to [the firm’s] normal personnel review process”? Or were they given assurances that they’d be welcomed back with open arms, on an unconditional basis?

If you have inside info on what the STB fellows were told as they left for their fellowships, on an official or unofficial basis, let us know.

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Earlier: Dewey & LeBoeuf Has a Backlog of Associates Returning from the Deferral Year