Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day.
The status quo is over. We can’t continue to have a summer program where we can look at people’s full first-year grades and then decide [if] we want to make them an offer to join us as a 2L.
The question is, do we, you know, do we just lose out on all summer associates and let the market pass us by, or do we do something creative that will allow us to continue to have a summer program, but also making sure that we’re able to attract and hire top talent [and] people who are really succeeding in law school.
— Bryan Heckenlively, a partner at Munger Tolles and chair of its recruiting committee, in comments given to the American Lawyer, concerning the firm’s shortening of its summer associate program. Starting for 2Ls in 2027, the firm will host students for four-to-six weeks at the end of the summer, while allowing them to do public interest work or work for another firm at the start of the summer. “We’ve heard from students that [the new recruitment scheme] it’s incredibly stressful,” said Kara Sommers, the firm’s director of legal recruiting. She said of MTO’s new program that “[t]he market has sort of pushed this [recruitment] timeline, but it doesn’t seem like it’s aligning with any of the goals of the constituencies, so this is our attempt to shift some of those dynamics.”
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
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