Shearman & Sterling Defers Associates, Offers Stipend

By Tina Peng

Law360, New York (November 04, 2009) -- Shearman & Sterling LLP has told its 2009 summer associates that it will delay their start dates until the fall of 2011 and provide them with a $65,000 stipend for the deferral year.

Although specific start dates have not been determined, associates will start no later than Oct. 31, 2011, the firm said in a letter sent to associates on Tuesday.

“Although economic conditions appear to be improving and we are encouraged by the current activity levels at the firm, in order to provide you with the quality and breadth of work that we feel is necessary to properly train new lawyers we have decided to defer the entire 2009 summer associate class until the fall of 2011,” it said.

The firm also will pay for a bar admission preparation course and reimburse associates for expenses associated with taking the California, Washington or New York bar exams.

“Other than in special circumstances, we expect all of you to take the July 2010 bar exam and to have passed the bar before joining the firm,” it said.

The firm encouraged the associates to use their deferral year to pursue public interest activities and said it would provide assistance in finding positions at pro bono legal organizations, foundations and other organizations. Alternatively, it suggested that associates pursue other academic or personal development goals.

Legal blog Above the Law reported Tuesday that Winston & Strawn LLP had pushed back the start date for incoming associates again, citing budget concerns in its decision to have new associates start in three groups throughout 2010.

A memo dated Monday from Joseph J. Torres, who heads the firm's hiring committee, said that one-third of the incoming associate class would start on Feb. 1, June 1 and Oct. 4, 2010, respectively, Above the Law reported.

Those deferred will receive $3,300 a month in stipends as well as subsidized health care insurance, the memo said.

The firm further said it might speed up or otherwise modify the schedule if needed, Above the Law reported.

In late September, Chadbourne & Parke LLP further deferred the start date of about half its incoming associate class in New York to an unspecified time.

Alston & Bird LLP took a similar action in September when it again postponed the start date for some members of its incoming associate class from January 2010 to an unspecified point later in the year.

In August, Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo PC pushed back associate start dates for the second time. The firm, which had already deferred start dates until January, said half its incoming class would begin in April 2010, with the other half starting in January 2011.

Meanwhile, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP said on Aug. 24 that it would cut the size of its 2010 summer associate program by more than half.

--Additional reporting by Elaine Meyer, Nick Brown and Melissa Lipman