Summer Associate Program Overview
McDermott Will & Emery's summer program is one of the most important aspects of our hiring effort and we take great pride in providing a terrific summer experience to law students year after year. The overwhelming majority of our entering first-year associate class is comprised of law students who began their careers at McDermott as summer associates.
Our program offers summer associates a realistic introduction to the practice of law and day-to-day life as a McDermott associate. The summer associate program provides meaningful responsibility which is consistent with our junior associate level experience. A unique feature of our program is that we hire law students by practice group which ultimately determines the size of our summer program. Our conservative hiring approach allows students the opportunity to fully integrate into the practice group of their choice through training programs, mentoring opportunities and work assignments. In addition, this past summer all summer associates traveled to the Chicago office for a firmwide business retreat. Summer associates were provided with the opportunity to get to know each other as well as firm leadership. Although summer associates are hired by practice group, they are welcome to accept assignments from other practice groups during the summer. Summer associates receive formal feedback during a mid-summer evaluation and a final review, in addition to informal feedback.
Each summer associate is assigned at least one mentor to provide guidance throughout the summer, explain Firm policies, address any questions or concerns and to assist in the transition from law school to life in a law firm.
We offer a variety of educational opportunities to our summer associates through the McDermott University Summer Academy. In addition, summer associates are invited to attend practice group and office-wide training programs and other hands-on educational experiences such as court visits and attendance at client meetings and governmental proceedings.
The summer program also provides summer associates the opportunity to meet attorneys in all practice groups through a variety of social events. These events enable our summer associates to set the foundation for what will become long-term relationships with their fellow Summer Associates and McDermott lawyers.
To read about what our summer associates have to say about their McDermott Summer Program experience, click here.
We look forward to discussing McDermott and our summer program further with you.
If we are not interviewing on-campus at your law school or attending a job fair where your law school is represented, please click on Apply Here to submit your application online.