DC Law Offices Report Stable or Increasing Summer Progams, Albeit Down from Pre-Recession Highs
Summer associate hiring still hasn’t returned to pre-recession highs at a number of Washington, D.C., law offices.
But it’s stable or on the rise, well-known law firms in the nation’s capital tell the the Washington Post.
Among them, WilmerHale, which had a high of 78 summer associates in 2005 and a low of 26 in 2010, in recent years, had a class of 37 this year and plans to bring in another group of the same size next year.
At Covington & Burling, which maintains a 526-attorney presence in the district, the summer class numbered 64 in 2008 and 62 in 2009 before dropping to 54 and 47 last year and this year, respectively. The plan for next year is to maintain the status quo, with a summer class of 45 to 55 hiring partner Michael Imbroscio tells the newspaper.
“We wanted to be cautious,” he explained. “We’ve been very fortunate that even in this tough economy, we’ve been able to attract and make offers to virtually everyone we put in the summer program. We’ve been very mindful about overhiring.”
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “BigLaw Firms Report Big Jumps in Summer Associate Hiring for 2012”