By Natalie Singer MCT
Jerry Taylor was all nerves before he started his summer internship at the Seattle law firm of Garvey Schubert Barer. He worried about the workload, whether he would impress his superiors, whether the other attorneys would be tough on him.
As a 23-year-old student with two more years of law school ahead of him, he was under a lot of pressure.
But Taylor’s anxiety melted away when he arrived at the law firm and was ushered into his private office with sweeping views of Puget Sound and a nameplate on the door. The lunches, parties and recreation trips that followed helped, too.
“I love this company,” said Taylor, a Seattle University student.
Welcome to the high-pressure yet perk-filled world of summer law internships, where firms compete to lure “summer associates,” who can walk away with $100,000-a-year job offers more than a year before they graduate.
Every summer, law-school students from around the country file into the hushed, high-rise interiors of Seattle law firms for what seasoned attorneys refer to as a “12-week job interview.”
As in most major cities, dozens of Seattle firms rely on this constant succession of fresh brainpower to build their permanent ranks. The experience, by most accounts, is part legal boot camp and part social junket.
The programs allow students to spend the summer writing memos, doing legal research, conferring with clients and soaking up everything they can from veteran attorneys.
Interns also devote a chunk of their time lunching at Seattle’s top eateries, cruising the region’s waterways, trekking to company retreats and tipping back gratis martinis.
Contrary to the intern stereotype, summer law associates are not treated as lowly hangers-on, sent to pick up partners’ dry cleaning or lattes.
Firms compete for top students after meeting them on annual recruiting trips at law schools around the country. A typical summer associate at a midsize Seattle firm earns the weekly equivalent of $100,000 a year.
“It’s a very exciting time for the firm when the summer associates show up. These are the best from America’s law schools,” said Craig Miller, partner and chair of the hiring committee for the Seattle office of Davis Wright Tremaine, which is bankrolling 12 summer associates this year.
Having students on staff for three months helps revivify a law firm’s atmosphere, and most attorneys find satisfaction in helping train the next generation, Miller said.
“It’s like buying a suit at Nordstrom and then picking it up two weeks later after the alterations. It’s just great to have them around. We get a buzz out of it.”
Firms want law students to get real-life experience, but they don’t require frequent all-nighters and weekends at the office, say summer-program organizers.
