Summer Associate Program
Young Conaway prides itself on providing its summer associates with a realistic picture of a day in the life of a first-year associate. Over the course of the 12-week program, the firm’s summer associates receive exposure to the firm’s diverse practice areas through varied assignments ranging from summary oral reports to in-depth legal research and written memoranda, and to its culture and personality through social functions designed to provide informal out-of-the-office opportunities for interaction with the firm’s attorneys.
“The Program did a wonderful job of combining social activities, which allowed me to get a sense of the Firm's personality, with challenging assignments. The assignments were real assignments and gave me a true sense of what it's really like to work at YCST. I always had several assignments to juggle, deadlines to meet, and various attorneys relying on my work. To me that is an accurate sense of what it's like to work at a large Wilmington law firm, and the Summer Program did not try to hide that from me or sugarcoat it.” 2L Summer Associate, 2006
The ultimate goal of the Summer Program is to provide summer associates with a structured program emphasizing continued development of their legal skills while also allowing them a sampling of private practice. Young Conaway accomplishes this goal through a centrally coordinated assignment allocation process, a summer-long writing program, and extensive mentoring and feedback, all fostered by the firm’s open-door, collegial atmosphere.
“At Young Conaway, I was able to balance the exploration of my own interests with the needs of the firm. Throughout the summer, I was given guidance and assistance from associates, partners, administrative staff, and support staff. Summer associates have an opportunity to stand on their own when writing and presenting assignments. The work was almost always interesting and challenging, and the evaluation process was fair and transparent. The social events gave me an opportunity to meet attorneys, and never felt formal or stressful. The summer program gave me the chance to learn about the firm's practice areas and do substantive work in some of these areas, to meet future colleagues, and to get a feeling for practicing at a successful, growing mid-sized firm.” 2L Summer Associate, 2005
“I really enjoyed my experience at Young Conaway. In my interview, the hiring attorney stated that the summer would be marked by the opportunity to do REAL work. This assessment was entirely accurate. I feel as though my assignments would otherwise have been given to the junior attorneys. Product that I completed made its way into briefs and provided useful material for important cases. Of course, Young Conaway's environment is fabulous, and there is an actual collegiality that probably does not exist elsewhere. Still, the best thing about the firm is the emphasis on doing substantive work at an early stage in your career. More than anything, the summer provided me an accurate picture of what I would be doing upon my return to the firm.” 1L Summer Associate, 2005
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