Report: 2008 Summer Associates May Have to Work for Offer

[WSJ_law_blog]

The early word on the upcoming summer associate season is in, and the news, while not terrible, isn’t great. The 2008 summer class at Kirkland will be thinner than last year’s by about 17%, according to the NLJ, while summer classes at Skadden, Latham, Sidley Austin and Jones Day will contain between 5% and 8% fewer summers than their 2007 classes.

But if you’re among the lucky who managed to snag yourself a summer full of virtual video gaming and bottomless iced teas, here’s the $3,000-per-week question: With the economy stumbling toward possible recession, will firms — come August — find a mismatch between their stockpile of summer associates and their demands for 2009 first-years?

“Doing good work and behaving appropriately will be more important than ever,” Bruce Elvin, the associate dean at Duke Law School and director of career services, told the NLJ. On-campus recruiting remained robust last fall at Duke, he said, but the recent economic upset has created some jitters among would-be associates. “Over the next few weeks, we’ll get a better sense of the signals.”

But some say cutting partners, rather than first-years, is a smarter move for firms looking to trim down during tough economic times. Joel Henning, a Hildebrandt International consultant, reportedly said: “Nobody knows what the economy will mean to law firms.” For those firms needing to trim costs, the simple move is to ‘cut at the bottom,’ by getting rid of existing associates or restricting the number of job offers. But, he added, sending unproductive partners packing, though a more complicated move, is a better strategy. “You get bigger savings.”

LB’ers: During that 10th or 11th week of the summer program, we remember an uptick in ties and coats as summers, often turned over-confident by months of pampering, began to fret over their offers. But, still, stories about summers who didn’t get offers to come back always seemed mostly the stuff of myth.

Do you think this year will be different?