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Law Students
Our summer associate program is our primary source for entry-level associates. Selected law students are offered an opportunity to participate in the program with the hope and expectation that each will demonstrate the characteristics that make for a successful firm attorney. Rather than hire a large number of summer associates to compete for a limited number of entry-level positions, we hire only as many summer associates as we expect will satisfy our hiring needs following graduation. For example, in 2007, 11 second-year law students spent part or all of their summers with Lathrop & Gage, and all 11 were offered full-time associate positions.
Our program combines challenging legal projects with "real world" experience in an effort to give our summer associates an accurate view of life at Lathrop & Gage. Rather than limiting assignments to legal research projects that require most of the summer to be spent in the library, we make sure that our summer associates join attorneys for activities including depositions, closings, witness interviews, negotiations and client meetings. This way our summer associates have the opportunity to observe a "hands-on" practice of law from trial preparation to transactional work. Summer associates are given assignments from many diverse practice areas and departments, working with a variety of members and associates on different topics for our clients. Two of our members serve as "work coordinators" for the summer program and monitor the quantity and variety of projects, ensuring that each summer associate has an opportunity to check out those practice areas in which he or she has an interest.
In addition to the work coordinators, each summer associate is offered guidance by an associate mentor. Each completed assignment is evaluated by the assigning attorney and the recruiting committee, a group of members and associates who provide each clerk with a formal evaluation in the middle and at the end of the summer.
We also schedule a number of optional social events during and after office hours to provide our summer associates with an opportunity to interact with attorneys in a variety of settings. These include cocktail parties, softball games, trips to clients' facilities, golf outings, small group dinners, tours of art galleries and museums, and evening outings at concerts, plays and sporting events. These events play an integral part of the summer program, as lawyers and summer associates get to know one another outside of an office atmosphere.
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