Summer Associate Tips Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am starting a 2L Summer Associate position at a big firm in about 6 weeks and thought it would be helpful to hear from 3Ls and beyond about their experience. Any tips based on your experience? Anything you wish you had known going into it that you think would be valuable to impart on the rest of us? Thanks!

[JHP]

Not to be super unhelpful, but I'm positive there are a ton of other forums on this with helpful responses. You should probably search for those, as they've likely amassed a ton of responses.

[Dcc617]

Don't drink too much, don't work too hard, be professional, be sociable. You don't really want to be memorable, because unless you're a rock star that means you did something dumb. It's way better to do one assignment really well than a bunch of assignments not that well. If you have unpopular opinions, shut the fuck up about them at work. Also don't delve into any topics that could be unpopular. You don't have to go to all the events, but you have to go to most.

[Bananabatman]

^ the above is literally everything you need to know. Nobody is expecting you to work on huge projects or actually bill a bunch of hours (which will likely be written off anyways). Be personable and prompt. Nothing else to it.

[FND]

Find out what the firm's legal research cost structure is and don't run up a 5-figure tab doing research.