Cooley

• “The work assignments were substantive and meaningful. It was clear that the research I was doing was needed for a brief, especially when cases I found or parentheticals I drafted ended up in the brief.”
• “Summers do simple substantive work, including ancillary drafting on financings and M&A transactions, along with corporate formations and cleanup.”
• “I acted as the sole junior associate on a somewhat complex Series C financing. This allowed me to add value in a memorable way, and I'm still working with this client now as a first-year associate.”
• “I had weekly meetings with my mentor to discuss every assignment I was working on. My mentor would give me tips about how to handle each assignment—it was very helpful.”

• “There was great camaraderie among the summer associates, and the social events were typical of those hosted once joining full time.”
• “There are weekly social events, and interaction with firm attorneys is high.”
• “Our summer was fully remote, and our official social events were limited to virtual events like virtual cooking classes and a virtual escape room. However, attorneys in the area were happy to meet up for coffees, lunches, and happy hours, which I appreciated.”
• “Everyone was very, very collegial. By the end of my summer, I knew virtually all of the attorneys and staff in the whole office.”

• “Everything is essentially exactly as it was when I was a summer. No one hides the ball here.”
• “The work is extremely interesting, and that comports with my impression as a summer. I wasn't aware of just how much there is. It was definitely a transition to get used to the amount of work needed to be done.”
• “I knew I'd put in some late nights, but the extent to which associates are thrown into the deep end is tough for anyone to describe.”
• “The work is more intense, and there are fewer social events. But other than that, the firm was pretty straightforward about what I could expect from working at the firm. All the people at the firm are still as friendly and engaged as they were when I was a summer, which was a great surprise.”

• “We were shipped steaks and other ingredients, and had a virtual cooking class with a chef.”
• “Our final goodbye lunch was at a lovely restaurant downtown on the water.”
• “Cooley hosts a four to five day excursion at Seascape—have not heard of another BigLaw firm that does this.”
• “My favorite summer events were a paint and sip and chocolate tasting.”

Cooley’s summer program is designed to give participants an unfiltered introduction to life and practice at the firm. It enables them to experience Cooley’s commitment to providing extraordinary legal services in a professional and collaborative environment. Our program provides opportunities for our summer associates to interact with each other locally and firmwide as a class, which creates bonds that go beyond the summer program. During the summer, constructive feedback is shared at the conclusion of each assignment and informal mid- and end-of-summer feedback sessions. Assigned mentors ensure that each summer associate is integrated into the firm over the course of the program.