Wiley Rein LLP

• “Summer associates have an opportunity to work on real, substantive legal work while at the firm. The assignments they are given are assignments that would otherwise be completed by first-year associates at the firm. The firm also has a robust training program that gives summer associates an overview of the various practice groups and helps develop key lawyering skills such as through a mock deposition.”
• “Wiley offered numerous hands-on training sessions to summer associates, including a writing workshop and a mock deposition. All work assigned to summer associates was substantive, and the firm was generally able to accommodate each summer associate’s interest.”
• “Work is given through a project portal or directly from an attorney that you create a relationship with. The firm hosts regular trainings throughout the summer program that were very helpful in teaching you not just how to do substantive work but also how attorneys at the firm, specifically, do the tasks that we were taught in law school. Projects were meaningful and contributed to existing client matters, and I appreciated knowing that some of the things I worked on sometimes went directly to the client with little to no revision.”
• “Our summer program uses an online platform where summer associates can choose projects posted by attorneys. This was incredibly helpful to obtain experience with various kinds of projects and practice groups. As someone who didn’t know what practice area I wanted to work in, this system allowed me to obtain experience in almost all practice areas.”

• “There was a strong emphasis on social events, and the firm encouraged social interactions among the summer associate class and with attorneys. Best summer event was a day trip to Annapolis for a boat ride, a full day out of the office to engage socially with my summer class.”
• “I loved the summer associate program’s social aspects, from one-on-one or small-group coffees with attorneys of all practice levels to official events. All attorneys that I met were excited to talk about their legal practices and their journeys in the law. I went to numerous lunches and coffees with attorneys and also got to know them better at events that the firm hosted. Notable events included happy hours with affinity groups, a Nationals baseball game, and a show at the Kennedy Center, among others.”
• “The summer program is terrific: There are weekly post-work events with a solid mix of not just different types of events but different audiences: partners, associates, and some summers-only events too. These are great chances to get to know all levels of the firm in different settings.”
• “We had a perfect mixture of substantive work assignments and social activities. Not only did my summer associate class become incredibly close from the social events, but I got to speak to most attorneys throughout the firm at least once thanks to the frequency and nature of our social activities. The associates went out of their way to set up social activities on top of those our firm had planned to get to know us. My favorite summer event was when our class took a trip to Annapolis and spent the day on the water.”

• “I expected to be doing mostly grunt work, but I actually had the chance to participate in and observe some of the most interesting aspects of what it’s like to be an attorney on a day-to-day basis.”
• “I expected to be much more overwhelmed than I have been. The firm did a great job at gradually integrating us with work, mixed with training.”
• “When you’re a summer, people will talk about how you’re allowed to take work for multiple practice areas when you’re a full-time associate. While this is technically true, most people tend to focus on work in their own practice group, and working outside your group is somewhat rare.”
• “The expectations of work quality are much higher when you are a real associate, and the workload is much heavier. People are less afraid to give you constructive feedback, and partners generally have less time for mentorship and one-on-one feedback when you are a real associate. As a real associate, I work much longer hours than I ever did as a summer associate. None of this was particularly surprising, and I still feel that Wiley is a great place to work with mostly excellent supervisors. I was pleasantly surprised by the important role our workload oversight partner would play, because he genuinely tries to give everyone in my practice group work that interests them. I was also pleasantly surprised by the number of substantive opportunities that junior associates get, and by Wiley's willingness to let junior associates shadow things like hearings and depositions.”

The defining feature of our program is the flexibility of work assignments. We assist students in tailoring their assignments so that they gain significant exposure to a wide variety of practice areas through our interactive assignment database. In addition, summer associates receive a Recruiting Committee mentor and an associate mentor to help integrate them into the firm and our practices. We host an extensive litigation skills training program in addition to other professional development and engaging social events throughout the summer.