Skadden Latest To Trim Summer Program

By Tina Peng

Law360, New York (August 24, 2009) -- Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP has confirmed it is cutting the size of its 2010 summer associate program by more than half.

The firm confirmed that it sent an e-mail to law school deans and career services departments last week, saying it planned to hire a little more than 100 summer associates for 2010, down from 225 in 2009.

Also on Monday, Loeb & Loeb LLP refuted reports that it was indefinitely suspending its New York office's summer associate program, saying the office has not recruited second-year law students for more than ten years and at no point planned to recruit them for summer 2010.

"Loeb & Loeb has hosted a summer associate program in its Los Angeles office for many years, and expects that it will continue to do so," the firm said in a statement.

The law blog Above The Law reported Friday that the firm sent an e-mail to law students seeking interviews with the New York office, saying it had re-examined its hiring efforts and was suspending the office's summer associate program "for the foreseeable future" and intended to instead focus on “identifying associates with those levels of experience and practice specialties that will best enable us to meet the challenges of servicing our clients.”

On Friday, Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin shuttered its 2010 summer associate program.

“We have seen a substantial increase in business over the last quarter, and we are cautiously optimistic that the economy has improved,” Howard Rice said in a statement Friday. “However, the future is never certain, and we already expect large incoming associate classes in 2010 and 2011.”

“We believe that the best way to ensure that tradition continues is to take a one-year break from our summer program. We continue to value our strong relationships with the schools at which we recruit, and we look forward to going back on campus next fall.”

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP also recently announced it would slim down its 2010 summer associate program by more than half and expected a class size of 15 to 17, down from 50 this year.

Earlier in August, McCarter & English LLP confirmed to Above the Law that it would nix its 2010 summer associate program. The blog also reported that McGuireWoods LLP might be not be conducting its 2010 summer program based on reports from law students who said they were told while interviewing with the firm that it would not be running summer programs in any of its offices except Richmond, Va.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Chicago.

Days prior, Dorsey & Whitney LLP and Quarles & Brady LLP announced that they would be trimming their 2010 summer associate programs. Dorsey & Whitney has suspended summer programs in its offices outside Minneapolis, and Quarles & Brady announced on its Web site that it had suspended its summer associate program for 2010 “due to the changing economic environment, and our commitment to our 2009 entry-level associates who will be joining the firm in January 2010.”

Seyfarth Shaw LLP confirmed on Aug. 3 that it had canceled its 2010 summer program, and Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll LLP, Thompson Hine LLP, Squire Sanders & Dempsey LLP and Morris Manning & Martin LLP have all reportedly nixed their 2010 summer programs.

--Additional reporting by Ryan Davis and Liz McKenzie