Only Summer in an Office Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm going to be the only summer in a pretty small office of a regional biglaw firm and am a little concerned about being the only summer there.

Looking for any advice for how to best manage being in this position, as I understand a lot of SAs are just expected to do good work and keep their heads down/avoid notice and I dont think this will be possible for me.

[Anonymous User]

I've been in a similar situation but in a finance setting, not a legal one.

The upside is that you are going to be the crown jewel of the office during the summer. Whenever other people need an extra hand on leg work, you are the first person they will think of and will have a shit ton of opportunities to dive into different types of work carried in your office. Chances are you probably won't be paying for your own lunch a lot; you are literally the only person other people can take out for lunch.

The downside is obviously that all your actions and work will be under heavy spotlight. Attentions can be positive thing though, depending on your personality and capability. In addition, if your office only hires one summer this year, they probably don't expect you hire your back and don't care if they are going to have another year without new blood. You need to do some DD on this secretly and have your back-up options ready if necessary.

[Anonymous User]

if your office only hires one summer this year, they probably don't expect you hire your back and don't care if they are going to have another year without new blood. You need to do some DD on this secretly and have your back-up options ready if necessary.

i didn't consider this.... guess i'll need to do my best to network discretely during the summer too.

[jkpolk]

if your office only hires one summer this year, they probably don't expect you hire your back and don't care if they are going to have another year without new blood. You need to do some DD on this secretly and have your back-up options ready if necessary.

i didn't consider this.... guess i'll need to do my best to network discretely during the summer too.

Just stopping by to say don't let overthinking be the enemy of the minimally competent and friendly.

The office gave you the role, it intends to hire you (and wouldn't have a summer at all in your year if it didn't). Make friends with juniors/whoever naturally by showing up at stuff, going to lunches, working hard and asking questions without being annoying. The goal is that (at the end of the summer) people say "oh [summer associate]? I liked him/her!"'

[QContinuum]

In addition, if your office only hires one summer this year, they probably don't expect you hire your back and don't care if they are going to have another year without new blood.

I don't think this is necessarily true at all. Plenty of regional BigLaw offices only hire a small number of summers and still have ~100% offer rates - the fact that they don't take in 100+ summers like the big New York offices doesn't inherently mean they don't expect to hire their summers back.

Maybe OP could do some research - have past summers at their firm consistently rejoined after graduation? Can you reach out to them and ask them about their experiences? It's conceivable that this particular office has a practice of no-offering summers, but I wouldn't leap to that conclusion without more evidence.

[RedGiant]

I was the only summer in corporate in my office, and TBH, corporate overall in my office was like ~7 attorneys at the time. What's important is whether you can get assignments from the whole firm and not just your office. You need to prioritize the ones in your office. Honestly, it's a good chance to get a lot of substantive work and get taught well, because the sooner you get up to speed, the better it'll be for your office. Also, you will be freed from all of the politics and social events and choosing groups--there will be a little social stuff, but not much relative to being in a big office.

TL:DR: you'll be fine.