Law Firm Cancels Summer Associate Program, Leaving Law Students Reeling

What is your firm planning to do with its summer associate program amid coronavirus concerns?

American law firms seem to be in a full panic thanks to the arrival of the novel coronavirus pandemic that’s been sweeping the globe. From salary cuts to furloughs to layoffs, these firms have done just about everything as far as cost-saving measures are concerned to maintain their financial health — well, almost everything.

Summer associate season is just around the corner, and while some firms have deferred start dates and others have embraced the possibility of remote work, others still have been dragging their feet, waiting for some guidance before deciding to make a move that could impact the rest of their student employees’ lives.

As Zeughauser Group legal consultant Kent Zimmermann has mused regarding this year’s summer programs, “[s]ome [firms] have canceled, made [an] internal announcement, but have not yet publicly announced the decision.” Today, we’ll be publicly announcing one law firm’s decision for them.

FordHarrison, one of the nation’s largest labor and employment law firms, contacted students earlier this week to let them know that its summer program would not be taking place. Here’s an excerpt from the letter students received:

We have made the difficult decision to cancel our 2020 summer associate program as a result of the uncertainty and challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March 16, many FordHarrison offices have been operating remotely and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Relationship building and face-to-face interaction between lawyers and summer associates are essential to our recruiting process and the opportunity we committed to provide to you. Client demand for our services remains high, but it is very difficult to anticipate what the coming months may bring even when the on-site work resumes. Given this level of uncertainty, we determined we will not have the appropriate learning opportunities available to provide a meaningful summer associate experience.

We reached out to FordHarrison for comment, but have not yet received word back. We will update this article with any responses we receive.

While we understand where the firm is coming from, this really puts the law students who expected to spend the summer working at FordHarrison — in any form, remotely or in person — in a horrible position. Not only will they be jobless, but the financial insecurity the firm’s would-be employees will be facing during a public health crisis is beyond the pale. “It hurts to know that summer associates matter so little,” said one of the law students affected by FordHarrison’s decision. “I hope I’ll be able to find something before May (or, at the very least, I hope I can even pay rent).”

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Best of luck to all of the law students who were affected by FordHarrison’s decision to suspend it summer associate program due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Flip to the next page to see the full letter from FordHarrison.)

What is your firm planning to do with its summer associate program amid coronavirus concerns? Please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “Coronavirus Summer Associate Program”) and let us know. Stay safe.


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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