Each summer, Berger Singerman hires a select group of law students who have completed their second year of law school to participate in the firm’s Summer Associate Program. Our Summer Associate Program is supported by a team of the firm's young partners, who play a key role in interviewing and selecting candidates, overseeing their assignments, and providing mentorship, training, and feedback.
Our Summer Associate Program is ten weeks in length and is designed to offer summer associates a hands-on, meaningful experience to provide a thorough understanding of the work we do and the clients we serve. Through immersion into our practice, summer associates are exposed to the firm’s enduring cultural values that shape our delivery of the highest quality service to our clients through creative and effective business solutions and counsel. Our Summer Associate Program balances challenging work assignments with constructive feedback, work-related activities outside the office and enjoyable social events.
Starting in May of each year, the firm conducts interviews with rising second-year students and welcomes applications from exceptional students attending schools at which we do not conduct on-campus interviews. Applicants are requested to provide a cover letter, current resume, and a law school transcript. As a firm that emphasizes teamwork and collegiality, we value the differences in experience and outlook that each potential candidate may bring to the firm. We look not only for academic excellence, but also for work experience, motivation, leadership experience and the ability to work in collaborative teams.
Work Assignments
We strive to give our summer associates a realistic view of practicing law at Berger Singerman and to help them bridge the gap between academia and practice. To introduce summer associates to the breadth of our practice, each summer associate works on matters in many practice areas of the firm. Our summer associates are not assigned to a particular practice group – they receive a variety of substantive and challenging work assignments from each of our four Practice Teams. However, we do encourage our summer associates to request assignments in the practice area of particular interest to them.
Our summer associates work on real projects for real clients and can expect substantive assignments, as well as numerous opportunities to observe depositions, hearings, trials, client meetings, negotiating sessions, closings and client development activities. A sampling of work experiences of former summer associates includes conducting substantive research and preparing legal memos, pleadings, and motions; assisting with and observing depositions, arbitration and mediation proceedings, trials, and courtroom and administrative hearings; attending negotiations and corporate and real estate closings; and preparing, reviewing and commenting on various transactional documents. Summer associates actively work on current matters, thereby learning how our lawyers collaborate to address client concerns and how their own work product contributes to the representation.
Mentoring and Training
Our summer associates are assigned an associate mentor and regularly meet with our team members who oversee the Summer Associate Program and serve as mentors to the summer associates. These mentors serve as a general resource to the summer associates throughout the program, coordinate the summer associates’ assignments, advise when work challenges and questions arise, and provide general guidance on any matters related to work assignments. They help summer associates understand the nuances and challenges of our practice and firm, the transition from law school to practice, and offer advice on how to take advantage of the resources and opportunities Berger Singerman has to offer. They also ensure that the summer associates interact with virtually all lawyers in the firm, as well as organize a variety of events throughout the summer that allow our summer associates to get to know our team members on a more informal basis. Several of the associate-level team members who have been through Berger Singerman’s Summer Associate Program also provide invaluable mentorship and guidance to our summer associates.
Our firm host monthly training workshops, seminars, presentations, and general professional development programs for our attorneys and we encourage our summer associates are to attend all such sessions. Our summer associates are also invited to attend all team and practice group meetings and firm-wide and practice group specific trainings.
Feedback
In furthering our commitment to enhance each summer associate’s legal skill set, we recognize the value of constructive feedback. Summer associates are evaluated on each assignment by receiving informal feedback from the assigning attorneys. In addition, our summer associates meet with their mentors on a weekly basis both to receive and to provide meaningful feedback on their assignments and the program. Summer associates also receive formal evaluations at the end of the program that are discussed during an exit interview and complete a self-evaluation so they can reflect on their experiences and growth through the ten-week program.
For more information on our Summer Associate Program, please contact us at recruiting@bergersingerman.com.