Kirkland & Ellis

• “I had daily training sessions, both in-person and over Zoom. I was assigned a few initial projects, but after that, it was an open assignment system where you reach out to attorneys for work. This lets you staff up as much or as little as wanted and in whatever areas you want.”
• “Kirkland & Ellis provides a work database where attorneys can post assignments that are taken by summer associates on a first-come, first-serve basis. Most work is obtained through face-to-face interactions between the summer associates and attorneys.”
• “Ample opportunities to engage in substantive work on live matters and contribute meaningfully to the team. Summer associates also participate in a mock negotiation assignment, which is a week-long assignment involving term sheet drafting under partner supervision and culminates in a live negotiation across from peers.”
• “Kirkland provides opportunities for summer associates to participate in the deal process and experience parts of the day-to-day workflow of a junior associate. Trainings were focused on providing overviews of the deal structure, economic models, and client strategies. Drafting was a hands-on learning experience, [with summers] often being provided initial tasks to begin building a foundation of the skill. The work is substantive, and early on, summer associates are provided opportunities to communicate with clients and opposing counsel.”

• “Kirkland & Ellis prioritizes culture and personality fit [throughout] the summer associate program and tailors the summer experience in a way that enables summer associates to meet a large number of attorneys from a variety of groups. The emphasis that the firm places on ensuring the right personality fits is a major contributor to my personal happiness and professional comfort within the firm.”
• “Very engaging and fun summer program. The firm provides a variety of events so that summers will find something they enjoy that week. In addition, the lunch and dinner policies create great opportunities to build relationships with senior associates and partners, which is essential to succeeding in the free-market work assignment system at Kirkland.”
• “Our summer program was very well-rounded, as it included sporting events, lunches, workout classes, a cooking class, dinners, happy hours, cookouts, and a few parties. There was a lot of exposure to attorneys, and they frequently interacted with us. Our summer class got along very well, and we had a lot of fun in our bullpen. …”
• “Each practice group hosts at least one event outside of the office for summer associates to meet with attorneys in the various groups. Attorneys are also given daily budgets for taking summer associates out for coffee, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so summer associates have numerous opportunities to join in on organized small-group lunches as well setting up their one-on-one meetups with attorneys of their choosing.”

• “Working more with team members who I had not met personally. The firm staffs matters across all offices, so you will work with people you don't know, which doesn't happen as often during the summer unless you seek it out.”
• “When I began as a summer associate, I was not confident that I would be able to pursue my given area of law. However, I quickly learned that Kirkland & Ellis encourages autonomy and self-starters, and I was given free rein to work across offices in the type of law that I was drawn to. I appreciated the flexibility that the firm allows.”
• “Kirkland's attorneys are honest about the amount of work required and the long hours associated with BigLaw. As a summer, I did not work nearly as much or on difficult bespoke matters, but that is to be expected. The free market system is the same from being a summer to a first-year associate, and it depends on the relationships you build and the quality of your individual work product.”
• “My expectations were pleasantly met and exceeded. I knew being an associate meant having more responsibility and autonomy on my matters. I am often given opportunities to handle things on my own and even manage teams as a junior associate.”

At Kirkland the work is interesting, cutting-edge, and involves clients from businesses in all industries and sectors. When joining Kirkland, summer associates quickly become part of the team. Providing solutions to high-profile clients, they are involved in real deals and cases — not just listening and learning — but relied upon to make valuable contributions. Summer associates experience substantive, hands-on work, accelerating their early career development by working directly with partners.

Like our attorneys, summer associates experience our distinctive open assignment system which empowers individuals to choose the types of matters on which they work while the Firm provides an integrated support network to help ensure robust development opportunities. In addition to specific assignments, summer associates participate in the Firm’s numerous interactive training programs, shadow attorneys in negotiations, team meetings and client calls, and participate in trials, depositions, hearings, negotiations, and deal closings. There are also opportunities to network with attorneys and fellow summer associates though various social events.