Biglaw, Summer Associates

Is This Really A Summer Associate Scandal?

In the awkward "partying with your co-workers" environment, things can be misinterpreted.

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Summer FunSummer associateships are fraught with both opportunities to prove yourself and chances to royally screw up. You give law students a big salary, add in top-flight events and a healthy amount of alcohol, and just about anything can happen. And here at Above the Law we love a good summer associate scandal. Whether it is slapping an associate or jumping in the river, we get all the gossip on the risqué goings-on.

Take, for example, a recent rumor making the rounds. We won’t name the firm or any of the parties, but it is a doozy. A Biglaw summer associate allegedly flashed folks at a summer event:

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Though details are still few, I have to wonder if this is even really a scandal. Did this summer lift a shirt like it was Mardi Gras and cheap plastic beads are the only form of currency? That seems like a bold move, even assuming a generous amount of alcohol and an absence of f*cks to give.

The more one wonders about the way this all went down, the more questions there are. Perhaps it was less “Girls Gone Wild” and more about policing what a woman wears. For a woman, there are tons of hidden land mines in “dressing professionally.” Perhaps it was a shirt cut too low or a button that came undone; in the awkward “partying with your co-workers” environment, things can be misinterpreted. In the law firm equivalent of summer camp, rumors spread like wildfire and things get blown out of proportion.

Maybe a “talking to” is really the best move. Because even if they are messed-up, the impressions you make as a SA can follow you your whole career. Learning that lesson late is better than never.

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Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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