Milbank LLP

• “The assignments go through an assignment coordinator within the group so it is well organized and well managed. It is more efficient to have one point of contact for work assignments. The professional development team does their best to put on relevant training throughout the summer, particularly for those who are interested in transactional practice groups because the first year of law school does not provide much insight into the transactional practice.”
• “I did substantive work on two pro bono cases throughout my summer. In the LA office, every summer, the summer associates work in teams and lead special juvenile immigrant status cases. In my summer, I was able to try work from all practice groups in the LA office (project finance, corporate, and litigation).”
• “I thought the work was interesting and substantive, though understandably limited based on my status as a summer and by the limited amount of time in a rotation (three weeks).”
• “Training is excellent. We got a taste of the training programs like Deals@Milbank and Milbank@Harvard.”

• “I liked that each group had their own main event, and additionally, summer associates could sign up to do more individualized activities [related to] their interests in smaller groups. There were plentiful opportunities to get to know the partners and associates across all seniorities.”
• “We had 10 people in my summer class, which felt like a good balance. I got very close to the other summer associates, and we all still meet up outside of work even as second years. The associates were also very friendly and took initiative to introduce themselves to the summers and take summers out for lunches. My favorite summer event was a day trip to Catalina Island where we got to lounge in cabanas and go snorkeling.”
• “The summer program is chock-full of social events designed to help the summer associates know one another and the firm better. Each practice group hosts its own summer event, which ranged from indoor mini golf to Broadway shows to dinner in the Hamptons. A memorable summer event is a day devoted entirely to Six Flags. The entirety of the summer class took a bus to the Six Flags theme park in New Jersey and spent the day there together. It's the best!”
• “There were tons of opportunities to interact with lawyers of all levels and in different settings. Best events were a ballgame and event at a partner’s summer house. The summer class was a relatively tight-knit group, especially considering its size.”

• “I ended up in the practice group that was my number one choice. I was staffed on an active deal early on and was mentored pretty heavily by a third-year associate. Direct interaction with partners was relatively frequent. Later on, when I asked the staffing coordinator to try and place me with people I hadn't yet worked with, she was very accommodating.”
• “… As a first-year associate, I understand how, as a summer associate, you are not equipped to do incredibly substantive work. Milbank works very hard to provide summer associates with the right amount and difficulty of work, which I appreciated tremendously.”
• “The work is a lot more substantive than I expected, which is excellent because the seniors/partners trust us with the work and teach us well.”
• “I think my experience at the firm has not differed very much from the expectations I had when I was a summer. Attorneys were fairly straightforward about their work-life balance, in that it was busy but manageable. One thing I didn't realize, at least in the [my] department, was the ability to choose a practice area within: It seems a bit less flexible than I thought.”

A microcosm of life at Milbank, our summer program is an opportunity for students to learn firsthand about our practices and culture. Professional and career development is the mainstay of our program, as it is with our regular associates. Summer associates participate in an intensive, collaborative and summer-long training program that follows a hypothetical company from inception to bankruptcy and restructuring. We offer multiple training sessions that serve as previews of our best-in-class Milbank@Harvard training program, including sessions on resilience and teamwork. Summer associates rotate through three practice areas, based on their preferences, and each summer is assigned a partner and associate mentor as resources. Summer program events this year include Broadway shows, concerts, partner events, and more.