Biglaw, Summer Associates

The Biglaw Firms With The Best Summer Associate Programs (2018)

Which law firm do summer associates love most?

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We’re midway through summer associate season, and on-campus interviews begin in about a month at law schools across the country for next year’s crop of summer associates. What better time to release the closely watched rankings for the best summer associate programs?

Hot on the heels of Vault’s rankings of the most prestigious law firms and the law firms with the best quality of life comes the career website’s ranking of the best summer associate programs in Biglaw. Junior associates (first- through third-year attorneys) who summered at their current firms were asked to rank their experiences on how much fun the program was and how well it prepared them for life at the firm. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that many of the firms that made the Top 10 list for having the best quality of life made the Top 10 for having the best summer associate program.

There was a huge amount of movement in the Top 10 this year. Which firms made the cut? Without any further ado, here are the Top 10 Firms With the Best Summer Associate Programs based on Vault’s Annual Associate Survey for 2018:

  1. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP (+6)
  2. O’Melveny & Myers LLP (-1)
  3. Clifford Chance US LLP (not ranked)
  4. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP (+10)
  5. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (-2)
  6. Venable LLP (+6)
  7. Morrison & Foerster LLP (+10)
  8. Paul Hastings LLP (+1)
  9. Linklaters LLP (US) (+13)
  10. Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP(+5)

Fried Frank, O’Melveny, Orrick, Paul Hastings, and Finnegan Henderson each made appearances in the Top 10 for firms with the best quality of life. Let’s give these firms a round of applause for keeping their attorneys happy from their days as summers through their days as junior associates.

Here are the Top 3 Most Fun Summer Associate Programs:

  1. Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
  2. O’Melveny & Myers LLP
  3. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP

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Here are the Top 3 Summer Associate Programs That Best Prepared Attorneys for Practice:

  1. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
  2. O’Melveny & Myers LLP
  3. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Since Fried Frank has swept the summer associate rankings, it’s also worth mentioning that in a recent survey conducted by the American Lawyer, Fried Frank was tied as one of the firms that paid its summer associates the most, at $3,750 per week. Great job! No wonder summers love the firm so much.

Congratulations to all 50 of the Biglaw firms that made the latest edition of the Vault Best Summer Associate Program rankings. How did your firm do? Email us, text us at (646) 820-8477, or tweet us @atlblog to let us know how you feel.

2018 Best Summer Associate Programs [Vault]

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Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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