“School’s out for summer” never used to apply to law students, who spent their breaks from classes busy interning as summer associates to secure spots at law firms come graduation.
But the economic downturn hit a number of large law firms, which essentially froze many summer associate programs. Small or midsize firms still are adding second-year law students who are able to find their way in.
There were half as many summer associate positions for this year as there were for 2009, said Suzanna Adelizi, director of career services for Chapman University’s School of Law.
“Obviously, there wasn’t a reduction in the number of law students,” Adelizi said. “A lot of students didn’t get the job they hoped for.”
Howrey LLP, which has an office in Irvine, said it will have 16 summer associates firmwide this year. All are second-year law students.
“Howrey has decreased the size of its summer associate class commensurate with Howrey’s smaller and highly selective ‘first tier’ program for new law school graduates or those new to law firm practice,” said Martha K. Gooding, partner at the Irvine office.
For the 16 positions, the firm received 643 applications, an increase from 2009’s 626 applicants.
The firm hasn’t cut back on employment offers to summer associates, Gooding said. From the 2009 program, Howrey had 23 participants, to whom it made 22 offers and received 19 acceptances.
“We believe that very high rate is due to the fact that we screen our summer participants in our boot camp program very carefully to make sure that they are interested in a career in litigation,” Gooding said. “They, in turn, research the boot camp program to see if the content appeals to them.”
Howrey’s boot camp program—an intense hands-on training that pairs up students with partners—has law students doing everything from arguing discovery motions and taking depositions to putting their client’s case before a judge. Each exercise is critiqued by partners and judges.
Not all associate programs have as extensive an interview process.
Samantha Kohler, a second-year law student at Chapman, went through Chapman’s on-campus interview process, where she interviewed with an associate there, and then had a follow-up interview at the firm.
She’ll be working at Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman in Newport Beach. Its core practice areas include litigation, real estate transactions and land use, employment, entertainment and new media, and environmental law.
But that doesn’t mean finding that position wasn’t a competitive process.
“A lot of firms had scaled back their summer associate programs, and some were canceled all together,” Kohler said. “When there are fewer positions available, you find yourself competing with the cream of the crop.”
It may be the toughest summer yet, said Elizabeth Schroeder, director of career development at University of California, Irvine School of Law.
The law school, which just started with its first students this past semester, didn’t participate in the process for summer associate positions because it doesn’t have any second-year students.
“I think this year was very hard for law schools with second-year law students,” Schroeder said. “Last summer was very difficult also for recent graduates.”
She also noted that firms have taken a hard look at their hiring practices.
“I think they’ve made some significant changes in terms of how many offers they are making and what types of students they are taking,” she said.
Having an “in” is even more important now for law students.
Joshua Partington, a third-year law and business student at Chapman, will be going back to the midsize firm he worked at last summer. It specializes in bankruptcy and creditors’ rights. He declined to give the name of the firm, but said it’s a boutique firm with an impressive client list in the field of financial services.
He went through Chapman’s on-campus interviewing process, and he also made
a connection with one of the partner’s children during his time as a professional guitar player.
There was a lot of competition for the position, he said. Three other students from Chapman were invited for call-back interviews, as well as a few from University of California, Los Angeles, University of Southern California and University of San Diego.
“It’s is definitely competitive to get a good job, but I also think that it’s really not that hard to find a job as long as you use your family and friends as a resource,” Partington said. “Everyone knows someone who knows someone.”
He received two offers for employment this summer, he said. One was from a midsize intellectual property firm in Los Angeles, which he became acquainted with through a friend of a friend.
“I’m in a wine club with a bunch of really successful guys, and one of the members made a call and got me an interview,” Partington said. “There are a lot of jobs out there, but you aren’t going to find them on job sites.”
Resumes & Reality
Some students are fortunate enough to receive offers through the on-campus interviewing process at their school. But Partington said that’s not the normal way things go anymore, especially in Orange County.
It’s important to make a connection with people you are interviewing with, he said.
“Small and midsize law firms dominate OC,” Partington said. “They hire people, not resumes.”
Partington said he plans to take the bar in 2011, and he’s hoping to get hired by the firm he’s clerking with this summer.
“That looks to be promising,” he said. “If that doesn’t pan out, I will likely look for employment at another small or medium-size civil litigation firm after I pass the bar.”
Adelizi said Chapman’s Law School emphasizes students need to be professional. All are required to take a first-year class that covers resume and cover letter writing and prepares them to get a job. The school is emphasizing that students “need to be aware and have a plan,” she said.
The school also encourages students to look at all options. Some apply for post graduate judicial clerkships with a federal judge, a prestigious position that doesn’t pay that well, but looks good to big law firms. There was a 66% increase in applications in 2009 versus 2008 for such positions, Adelizi said.
“Because there aren’t as many summer associate positions and lucrative offers, we’re seeing judicial clerkships as a way to gain experience and get an offer from a law firm later,” she said.
While the economy has taken its toll on many, Adelizi said it’s important to note that it is larger law firms—those with a formalized recruitment process—that have cut back.
“That’s not the majority of law firms out there,” she said. “Small to midsize law firms don’t have that type of recruitment program.”
Smaller Firms Growing
Smaller or midsize law firms are catching new business as companies shy away from big law firms’ higher rates—allowing them to keep summer associate programs.
Small to midsize firms, which make up 80% to 85% of OC firms, are capturing business because their rates are more competitive, she said. Certain practice areas, such as bankruptcy, are booming.
Some larger firms are seeing an increase in business too.
Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear LLP, which is based in Irvine, is seeing an upswing in its business, which specializes in patents, trademarks and copyright laws.
“Fortunately, our business is countercyclical,” said Steven Nataupsky, managing partner at the Irvine office. “Companies are very diligent in protecting their intellectual property when times are tough.”
The increase in business has pushed the firm to add summer associates.
If the firm can find enough qualified students, it plans to have 40 summer associates firmwide, according to Nataupsky. Right now 36 of those slots have been filled, all with second-year law students. About 30 are set to work in Irvine, he said.
For 2009, it had 24 summer associates firmwide. It extended offers of employment to 22 of those students, and 21 accepted. The firm typically has an 80% to 90% acceptance rate, Nataupsky said.
If all 40 positions are filled, the firm plans to offer permanent employment to most, he said. It’s more than likely the firm will offer 38 or 39 of them starting associate positions upon graduation.
Both Chapman’s Adelizi and UCI’s Schroeder said there are plenty of opportunities for students. First-year students can do judicial externships—working in a state or federal judge’s chambers for school credit—or work for the government, such as clerking for the district attorney, or a nonprofit. All of it is experience, they said.
At UCI, professors teach a year-long legal profession course, Schroeder said.
“We try to give students a realistic expectation of what it means to practice law,” she said. “Professors bring in practitioners from various legal fields who discuss the realities of their practice, the joy, the stress, the disappointment and the skills and temperament needed for that particular practice area.”
It’s about trying to expand students’ minds and getting them to understand the bigger picture, Adelizi said.
Many are optimistic about the future.
“I think we’ve reached the bottom of the recession and will come out slowly,” Nataupsky said. “It used to be you would read about large firms laying people off. That has slowed.”
Gomez is a freelance writer based in Long Beach and a former Business Journal editor.
