A shortage of legal work in 2009 is sure to dry up the pool of summer associate positions for law students.
From the WSJ Law Blog:
Summer law-firm programs are typically heavy on the play side of the work/play equation. Still, summer associates usually have to do some billable work for paying clients. This year, with the slowdown in transactions, some firms expect to have less to assign, particularly corporate work.
David Gordon of Latham & Watkins suggests firms will have to make busy work for summer associates, and that partners will have show up to recruitment events, because they won’t be interacting with summer associates through actual work.