Pillsbury

• “My work assignments were substantive, and helped me gain skills that I have honed and relied on as a first-year associate now. I worked on many of my projects either directly with one partner, or with only one senior associate and one partner. Thus, I was able to forge connections with partners that helped me receive a steady stream of assignments once I became a first-year associate.”
• “I did meaningful work from my first day. It was almost intimidating, but the firm provided support and mentorship to make me feel confident in the assignments I was given.”
• “We received real, substantive assignments, carved off from then-ongoing cases. The attorneys I worked with treated me as a core member of the case team.”
• “As a summer, I got a solid exposure to multiple practice groups, and received lots of substantive and thoughtful feedback that helped me to learn what it would be like to be a junior associate, and to understand the role I would play in the broader picture, on large and small matters.”

• “The events were a blast. Highlights from my summer were a concert at the Hollywood Bowl, cooking class, and a casual two-club golf tournament (no prior experience required, and ample beer provided for anyone who chose to partake). Since summer events have returned, we've also gone to Dodgers games, pottery classes, and more. Our staple tradition is also a scavenger hunt, where you ride limos across LA taking pics of you accomplishing tasks, and posing in front of city landmarks (liquid courage once again provided, but not required).”
• “The firm-sponsored social events were fantastic, including dinners, lunches, happy hours, seeing live music (which is a large part of the social scene in Austin, Texas), and attending sporting events. The attorneys at Pillsbury are great people, and I have never had a negative interaction with anyone in my office.”
• “My summer associate class was very close during the summer, and continues to be close now as first-year associates. The firm hosted several social events, such as lunches, dinners, and happy hours. We also attended sporting events, and an event at Topgolf with the attorneys at the end of the summer program. The attorneys were/are friendly, welcoming, and overall very easy to talk to.”
• “It was during COVID lockdown, so it was by nature more scaled back, but the firm still made an effort to let us socialize with other attorneys, including flying the entire class to the New York office for an entire week.”

• “Pillsbury hasn't differed from my expectations. I worked with the firm prior to law school, and summered twice before working as a first-year associate. So, my expectations regarding what my work would look like in my summer associate and first-year associate roles were informed by my actual experience with the firm. And Pillsbury has followed through with its representations to me.”
• “My experience practicing has substantially aligned with my expectations following the summer program. We use a free market system of getting work, so I've been able to work with the lawyers I wanted to by approaching them individually. I wanted to be placed in litigation, and expressed as much to the hiring partner, and I was placed in litigation as a result.”
• “My time as a first year has aligned with my expectations going in. If anything, my work-life balance is better than I had anticipated when I started.”
• “Main thing is for summer associates, they have a beautiful system in place where you get work from many different partners, and you have a partner whose job it is to manage your workload and discuss your assignments with you. That ends once you actually start working, and you have to sort of fend for yourself when it comes to managing your workload.”

• “I really enjoyed our cocktail making event that was led by two partners—one in the transactional group and one in the litigation group—who taught the cocktail making event from the same location. Their banter and honestly impressive cocktail-making skills made the cocktail event so memorable. I also now know how to make a mean mint mojito!”
• “TopGolf, and seeing local live music.”
• “We did a remote boxing class, which was super fun. As a first year, I participated in the summer associate karaoke event, which was attended by associates and partners, who all sang!”
• “There was an associate-only bar event at a rooftop bar when all the summer associates were in New York. It allowed us to bond with more senior attorneys in a low pressure environment.”

Pillsbury’s summer associates experience the firm’s collaborative style by working side-by-side with attorneys in a variety of practice areas on industry and client teams and on issue-specific projects. Pillsbury University offers training on everything from legal writing to client service basics to effective networking. Formal reviews supplement the extemporaneous feedback provided to summer associates by our lawyers.