A little over a week ago, we chronicled a bulletin board tussle over whether or not it’s appropriate to ask summer associates to work nights and weekends. No one suggested summers put in 100-hour weeks, just that summer associates be allowed on to occasionally take part in the authentic, if unpleasant, after-hours work that they’ll be expected to perform a year (and change) hence.
As someone who got roped into a project at 5:30 p.m. on my first day as a summer that would keep me there helping draft a temporary restraining order until 4 a.m., working late seemed entirely acceptable. It’s not something a firm should do every night, but being treated as a contributing team member on an important task was nice and it helped acclimate me to the upcoming Biglaw journey. After that, I worked one weekend on a project and otherwise had the 9-to-5-to-all-hours-of-the-night-partying summer associateship every expects.
Apparently that’s not how a lot of folks see the experience though.
So we conducted a small poll and its unscientific results reveal a deep schism:
Important law firm/law school question: Should summer associates be expected to work nights and weekends? Not every night or weekend, but… at least on a limited basis.
— Joe Patrice (@JosephPatrice) July 12, 2024
Not the largest sample by any means, but it tends to confirm that the law firm world is in flux right now and the expectation that a summer associate is, in part, there to Beta test their first-year experience has lost a lot of its sway over the industry.
Earlier: Should Law Firms Have Summer Associates Working Nights And Weekends?
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.