Employers may ask law clerks to file documents in the various courts and handle general office duties. If the firm likes the work of a summer associate and there is a good match between the student and firm, it may offer a beginning associate position to that student. This offer may come at the end of the summer or early in the fall of the student's final year. The summer associate position is an extremely important entry for associate employment at mid-size and large law firms. Employers who run summer associate programs anticipate that they will fill most of the new associate positions with past summer associates.
Some government agencies have summer programs.
Several public interest organizations hire summer clerks. Accounting firms usually do not use summer clerks because the summer is not a heavy work load period for these firms. Corporations rarely have summer programs. If your academic credentials are excellent and you have an interest in employment with a firm that offers such a program, a summer associate position could be extremely valuable to your career development. Remember, becoming a summer associate gives you a much better chance of securing a full-time associate position with the same firm after graduation.