Summer Associates and Interns, Oh My!
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I would love to hear from the readers at the bigger firms and companies — if you have a summer associate or intern program, what does it look like this year (and how does it compare to 2019 and earlier)?
Over the years we've covered a ton of summer associate questions — including things like what to wear on a yacht or company fishing trip, what to wear to your boss's pool party, what to wear for a corporate golf scramble, and so forth. (Stay tuned tomorrow for our thoughts on dining etiquette!) What unusual events is your company hosting this summer? (What other perks do your interns and summer associates enjoy?)
General Resources for Summer Associates and Interns
- Top tips on networking when you’re junior
- How to build your network
- How to use alumni networks
- How to stay cool on hot workdays
- Also check out our roundup of the best law school resources for women!
Fashion Tips for Summer Associates and Interns
- What not to wear to work
- Our guide to business casual
- What to wear to the company gym
- Do check out our regularly updated list of wardrobe essentials for work!
What to Wear to Summer Associate Events
- The office pool party — employers, please stop scheduling these things! We’ve even discussed whether a bikini is appropriate for office functions (but perhaps we should do another deep dive on that issue this summer?)
- The company golf outing — years before that, we also had a golfer friend advise on how to prepare for a corporate scramble if you’ve never golfed.
- The company picnic (read the comments too; lots of discussion on that post!)
- A company sailing event
- The company baseball game
- What to wear to a business meeting in the Bahamas (may everyone be so lucky to have to ponder the question of what’s business professional attire for a tropical island!)
- The black tie event (which I think is rarer for summer associates just because of timing, but maybe that’s me) — we’ve talked about how to do black tie on the cheap as well as what not to wear to a black tie event…
- The company cocktail party (I would LOVE to know what my current readers think of my original suggestions — many look pretty hideous to me in the light of 2022. I’d suggest just going with a basic sheath dresses, preferably with pockets and sleeves…)
Even if your office is WFH friendly, I would strongly suggest showing up in person most days. The regular attorneys will be sporadic in which days they’re in, and you’ll make the best connections if you are there more often so you can catch the most people to chat. Way more organic than making a bunch of Teams appointments.
Meh. Know your office. Kind of dated advice around mine. Most senior folks are in for a Reason when they’re in. If you are more productive working from home, I’m not sure I’d put all that much stake in this. Show up to the social events or group meetings, sure. But lurking around “most days” to try to get a moment just seems like potentially not respecting their time and definitely yours.
NYC big law senior associate here. I was very surprised to learn today that all of this year’s summer associates are sitting in one massive conference room in close proximity with no masks for the 3 days/week of required in-person work. It seems so irresponsible of the firm to do this. (In past years summer associates were usually assigned two to an office, same as junior associates, but because of renovations and a space crunch I think they were unable to do that this summer.) I know that a remote summer program is not a good way for summer associates to get to know the firm and vice versa, but this is a daily superspreader event.
Well, setting aside Covid — this also just seems like a real bummer for the summers. They can’t even give them a handful of conference rooms??? Or “half of you get offices the first half of the summer, and half get them the second half”? It just seems like the opposite vibe of what firms normally try to portray to their summers — I think I’d be thinking about 3L OCI after that experience!