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    Categories: Biglaw

Summer Associate Hiring at Boston Law Firms Drops This Year

The summer associate class at the Boston law firm of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo will have 10 members this year because the firm remains busy, according to the Boston Business Journal. This year’s class is the same size at last year’s.

The chair of the hiring committee and partner at Mintz Levin, Susan Finegan said that the firm is being conservative as it hires summer associates this year.

“If the needs increase you can hire folks later on,” Finegan said.

David Rosenblatt, the managing partner at Burns & Levinson, said that the firm eliminated its summer associate program after the summer of 2008.

“It no longer made sense to us because entry-level associates, in the current market conditions, are available all the time,” Rosenblatt said. “When we hire associates, we hire them around the time when we actually need them, not 14 or 16 months in advance.”

Ropes & Gray has reported robust hiring for its summer associate program. There were 41 summer associates in 2013 at the firm. Ropes & Gray has hired 50 for this summer so far. Goodwin Procter has seen an increase of summer associates by one from last year to this year while Fish & Richardson has added two more summer associates this year compared to last.

WilmerHale reported that it has hired 10 fewer summer associates in 2014 than it did in 2013. Their numbers dropped from 39 to 29 this year. Mark Fleming is a partner in the firm’s Boston office. He said the following:
“Last year we got a few more and this year we got a few less. It’s in the range of what we need to get the talent we want and to give them the same experience.”

Summer associates will soak up as much experience this year as they prepare to head back to law school for their final year. They will also enjoy a bit of socializing with other summer associates and partners at their firms.

For latest summer associates jobs click here.

Jim Vassallo: Jim is a freelance writer based out of the suburbs of Philadelphia in New Jersey. Jim earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and minor in Journalism from Rowan University in 2008. While in school he was the Assistant Sports Director at WGLS for two years and the Sports Director for one year. He also covered the football, baseball, softball and both basketball teams for the school newspaper 'The Whit.' Jim lives in New Jersey with his wife Nicole, son Tony and dog Phoebe.

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