Biglaw

The Best Biglaw Firms, Ranked By Summer Associates (2018)

What matters most to summer associates? Here are the Top 10 firms.

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The summer of 2018 was pretty exciting for summer associates much in the same way that the summer of 2016 was, in that law students who received offers of permanent employment from firms that adopted the latest raises knew they’d be earning huge salaries after graduation. But it’s not just superb salaries that summer associates were satisfied with. According to a new survey from the American Lawyer, they were “thrilled” with just about everything having to do with their experiences in Biglaw.

So, what matters most to summer associates, and which firms did they like the best?

Before we get to the rankings, let’s discuss the methodology used by Am Law:

Firms were ranked by their average scores based on nine categories: interesting work, real work, training and guidance, partner-summer associate interaction, associate-summer associate interaction, communication of goals and expectations, accuracy of firm self-portrayal, inclination to accept full-time associateship and overall rating as a place to work.

Without further ado, here are the Top 10 firms (ranked through No. 9 due to a tie):

(Table via American Lawyer)

Click here to see the full rankings. (Here’s a little spoiler alert: Drinker Biddle is ranked dead last due to summer associates’ lack of “real” work. The firm’s summers use “training modules,” which the firm has defended as “integral” to its program).

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How did the firms in the Top 10 rise to the top? Work-life balance was incredibly important to millennials — more important than almost anything else when it came to weighing job offers from Biglaw firms. Per the Am Law survey, nearly 50 percent of summer associates said they’d consider work-life balance before accepting an offer.

What law students actually observed at their firms, however, didn’t always match up with their wishes. Here’s some additional detail from the American Lawyer:

Summer associates’ views on what they actually observed were mixed. Numerous survey respondents said in open-ended answers that they were surprised by the work-life balance their firms afforded, or by the number of lawyers who worked reasonable hours at the office.

But some say their firms could do more to encourage the use of flexible arrangements or criticize the expectations they were held to.

“There is no work-life balance, and the attorneys who succeed are ones who are single or who have stay-at-home wives,” a summer associate in Charlotte says.

Another important factor for summer associates was diversity (in terms of people of color and women), and at some firms, they really didn’t like what they saw. “I would tell the firm that diversity in top law schools already exists. The firm needs to be more focused and aggressive in its recruitment of these people,” said one New York summer associate. Another summer from Delaware said the lack of diversity “makes the few [people of color] who are in the office feel like this isn’t a space they belong in.”

When asked what they would consider in evaluating a job offer, 10.7 percent of survey respondents said diversity was an important factor, up from 8.8 percent last year.

And 6.7 percent say an above-average proportion of female partners was an important consideration, up slightly from 5.9 percent last year.

Many survey respondents, in their open-ended answers, urged their firms to continue or strengthen their efforts toward diversifying their firm and its leadership.

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Things need to change in Biglaw, and if these firms want to keep their scores high on these summer associate surveys, they need to change fast. In the meantime, congratulations to all of the firms that earned the respect and appreciation of their summer associates — you’ll be paying it back to them in spades in just a few years.

Summer Associates Are Happier Than Ever [American Lawyer]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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