2024 DIVERSITY DATABASE UNDERWRITER Covington & Burling

• “I received substantive assignments—both billable and pro bono. We also had individual practice group trainings that ran the gamut from general corporate, litigation, and regulatory to various niche industry groups.”
• “The firm clearly spent substantial time coordinating an array of assignments, and the assignment types catered to my interests and offered multiple opportunities to participate in hands-on training courses.”
• “The summer program at Covington is a free market system, meaning summer associates are encouraged to try assignments in any practice group, including both corporate and litigation. The assignments are substantive and prepare summer associates for first-year work. There are ample amounts of trainings and opportunities to try assignments in different practice groups.”
• “I summered at two firms, and I can say that Covington ensures that summers have substantive work and gain real experience.”

• “The summer program was wonderfully social. It was easy to interact with other summer associates as well as full-time junior associates. At least a few senior attorneys attended all events, and we were each paired with a senior lawyer mentor. On the whole, it was a very social and enjoyable experience.”
• “The firm clearly put a great deal of effort into planning the summer program. There were two to three events per week, which were well-attended. The summers in our year were particularly close and frequently socialized.”
• “The firm had wonderful social events that were beneficial to the summer associates bonding and fun to attend. We had ample time to make friends and learn about the firm's culture and priorities through these events.”
• “Covington balanced social events with substantive work very well. I never felt overwhelmed or that I needed to skip to complete an assignment.”

• “Being a summer associate is easy. You get one assignment at a time, get feedback on that assignment, and then you get your next one. That's quite different from how it works when you return as an associate. I was immediately staffed on three matters and was quite busy in all of them. I really hit the ground running.”
• “The assignments and work I am doing as an associate are similar to what I thought it would be as a summer. As a new associate, I found it was harder than I thought to get staffed on projects.”
• “Obviously, the summer is a much less rigorous working environment than when you start as an associate, but I feel like that was made clear from the beginning.”
• “If anything, work assignments and practice areas are more flexible than I thought they would be coming in. I was also pleasantly surprised by how respectful and polite my colleagues are—there is a real culture of trying to avoid giving evening or weekend work unless absolutely necessary. And vacation time is likewise respected.”

• “Broadway, Yankees, cooking class.”
• “I loved the government contracts rooftop event. I also really enjoyed the paint-and-sip and the winery event.”
• “The firm had several summer events that I really enjoyed, such as a cooking class and a paint-and-sip class. But my favorite was probably the escape room event—it was near the beginning of the summer, and I felt it was a nice, low-stress way to get to know some of the other attorneys in the Palo Alto office.”
• “Mini golf night, Georgetown boat cruise (this was a practice group summer event), Pride happy hour, Topgolf.”

Through our summer associate program, we provide a select and diverse group of law students from around the country the opportunity to participate actively in a broad and exciting range of legal matters. Summer associates are immersed into our practice and exposed to Covington’s enduring cultural values—the values that shape our delivery of the highest quality service to our clients and our service to the public interest through extensive dynamic and precedent-setting pro bono legal work.