Perkins Coie LLP

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Perkins Coie LLP Mentors

• “Good feedback. Opportunities to work on a variety of projects. Good workload expectations.”
• “My work assignments consisted of research projects, and for most (but not all) of my assignments I received substantive feedback.”
• “All the work was substantive, and I feel that it was a good representation of the work I do as a first-year associate.”
• “Assignments varied from knowledge management projects to substantive legal work. The program is more education focused for 1Ls and more practice focused for 2Ls. I received great mentoring and my writing genuinely improved. The workload is also pleasant—about 20ish hours of work a week. It is a relaxing break from law school. I have heard other firms have more stressful environments. Not here.”

• “The firm had many social events, and I grew very close to other summer associates. I found there were a variety of activities, and although not many attorneys always attended, the attorneys who did spent time trying to get to know us. The summer associate retreat, in particular, was very special and bonded us a lot.”
• “We had a lot of fun social events where we were able to interact with attorneys from different practice groups. All of the attorneys were very kind and welcoming.”
• “Amazing. While I have heard it varies by office, our office had social events every week, often more than one, and they were all excellent. Our class got along particularly well, and we stayed in touch even after the summer program.”
• “There were many social events, and they were typically well-attended.”

• “Perkins now has a 150-hour cap on pro bono, even though I was sold on unlimited pro bono hours. Moreover, the Perkins billable hour requirement increased to 2,000 even though I was sold on two tracks of 1,850 and 1,950. I've been pleasantly surprised by how much I've liked the work and the people.”
• “Being a summer associate was a good taste of what life is like as an associate. However, we are given much more work and responsibilities as an associate.”
• “It was harder to learn how to manage my time. As a summer, you get discrete tasks and ample time to complete same. As an associate, you dive into the busy lawyer schedule almost immediately. However, I felt like I had a sense of the type of work I would be getting, and my summer associate experiences (I summered as a 1L and 2L) integrated me into the firm early.”
• “The only thing that is different as an associate versus being a summer is the difficulties in trying to obtain work. As a summer, much of the work was pre-thought out, and the assignments came in succession. As a first year, it is much more difficult to obtain work, but the pressure of billable requirements is more intense.”

• “My favorite event was our summer associate retreat where we were able to meet all of the summer associates from across all the various offices.”
• “Virtual murder mystery.”
• “Magic Castle, sushi making, walking food tour.”
• “Ball games and shows.”

Perkins Coie's summer associate program provides varied work and training opportunities as well as social events designed to promote interaction among summer associates, attorneys and business professionals. Our summer associate program is our primary source of new associate hires. Summer associates work on a wide range of challenging legal assignments similar to those given to new associates, which typically include legal research, analysis and drafting. Summer associates are commonly invited to attend depositions, mediations, deal closings, client meetings, trials, and other professional activities and events. They are welcome and encouraged to work on pro bono projects.