Summer Associate Programs: How to Land One and Turn It Into an Offer

Last updated: 6 November 2026. The latest NALP recruiting data we could find cover summer 2025 programmes and the 2025 recruiting cycle, as set out in NALP’s press release of 26 January 2026. The full report is for members, so we have not read it. Pay and application dates are from firm careers pages as read on 6 November 2026, and firms can change them without notice. Calculations marked as ours are our own.

Short answer: A summer associate is a law student hired by a firm for a paid summer, usually with a job offer at the end. Recruiting now runs much earlier: NALP found 85% of offers for 2026 second-year (2L) programmes came before July 2025. Apply directly, apply early and treat the summer as a long interview. In 2025 the 2L offer rate was 97%.

Key takeaways

• Direct application is now the main route. For 2026 2L programmes, 80% of offers came from employer-run recruiting and 20% from school programmes such as on-campus interviewing (OCI).
• Getting in is the hard part. Only 47% of callback interviews led to offers in 2025, and the median office made four 2L offers, an all-time low.
• Cravath’s careers page still lists $4,327 a week. Milbank moved first-year pay to $235,000 from 1 July 2026 and raised summer pay too, and some firms list higher rates than Cravath.
• Once you are in, the odds turn sharply. NALP reports a 97% offer rate for 2L summer associates and 94.2% for 1Ls asked back for their 2L summer.

What is a summer associate?

A summer associate is a law student who works at a firm for a paid summer, normally between the second and third years of law school (2L summer), with some firms also taking first-years (1L summer). The firm is testing whether to offer a job after graduation, and you are testing the firm. If you are mapping the path from law school to practice, our guides to the JD timeline and the law firm hierarchy show where this job sits.

Classes are getting smaller. NALP reports an average of eight 2L summer associates per office in 2025, down from nine in 2024 and ten in 2022 and 2023. New York was the largest market at an average of 29 per office.

How much do summer associates get paid?

Most large firms pay summer associates a weekly slice of first-year salary. That figure is less settled than usual this year. Milbank raised first-year pay to $235,000 from 1 July 2026, and Above the Law reported on 5 November that Cravath had not matched. Our Cravath scale guide tracks the full table.

Ten weeks at $4,327 comes to $43,270 before tax (our calculation). Not every firm pays this. NALP’s most recent salary survey we could read put the median at $3,850 a week across all firms and $4,100 at firms above 700 lawyers, as of 1 January 2025. Our lawyer salary guide shows how pay varies beyond large firms.

When does summer associate recruiting start now?

Far earlier than the old pattern of fall interviews in the second year. NALP says 85% of offers for summer 2026 were made before July 2025, against 34% a year earlier. May was the most common month at 36%, followed by June at 29% and April at 15%. NALP’s executive director said the 2025 cycle pulled the whole process materially forward.

Here is how the current cycle looks on the pages we checked:

Schools push back in places. Stanford Law School’s September 2026 employer policy says employers and first-years should not start recruiting contact before 1 November, and its rules differ from those at other schools. Check yours. The practical result is that many firms judge you on one semester of grades, so your first-semester transcript matters more than it once did. If you are still choosing a school, our guide to the T14 law schools covers Big Law placement.

How do you apply: direct applications, pre-OCI and OCI?

• Direct application. You apply through the firm’s portal. NALP says 93% of offices used this in 2025, the most cited method for the second year running.
• Pre-OCI and early programmes. Students use this label for applying before the school’s interview week, and some schools moved OCI to spring or early summer in 2025. NALP now groups all school-run recruiting together.
• OCI and resume collects. These still count. 71% of offices used school programmes and 64% used resume collects, and acceptance rates were higher on school-run offers (55% against 51%).

Offer rates favour the direct route: 49% of callbacks led to offers through employer-run recruiting, against 39% through school-run recruiting. A practical plan looks like this:

1. Build your list before portals open. Sort firms by market and practice. DealDatabase shows which firms advised on which deals, which helps you tell firms apart and gives you something specific to say in a cover letter.
2. Prepare the package early. Paul Weiss asks for a resume, a cover letter naming your departments, an undergraduate transcript and a law school transcript. Jones Day limits you to three offices.
3. Send fall grades as soon as they post. Paul Weiss lets you add them later. Cravath tells applicants to return once a complete first-semester transcript is available.
4. Treat the callback as the real filter. Prepare a reason for each firm, an honest account of your interests and two or three questions about the work.

Our guide to what Big Law means can help you decide whether this is the path you want before you apply widely.

What do the NALP numbers say about your odds?

In short, getting the job is the hard part and keeping it is not. These are survey figures from the offices that responded, and they do not promise anything about your own firm.

Are 1L diversity programmes still running?

Some are, but the rules changed and lists go out of date quickly. These points we could verify:

• 2023: The American Alliance for Equal Rights sued Perkins Coie and Morrison & Foerster over diversity fellowships. Both firms changed their criteria and the suits were dropped, the ABA Journal reported.
• March 2025: The EEOC wrote to 20 firms. Letters it published asked about 1L and 2L diversity fellowships and summer associate programmes.
• April 2025: The EEOC announced settlements with Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Simpson Thacher and A&O Shearman, without admission of liability. The firms agreed not to give unlawful preferences, including in programmes once labelled DEI.
• Now: Cooley’s fellowship page lists up to $50,000 for 1Ls over two summers and asks for a commitment to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. It does not mention race.

Read each firm’s current page rather than a law school list from last year. Check who can apply, what the award depends on and whether it comes with a summer place.

What should you do during the summer?

This part is our advice rather than data. Firms differ, so ask your mentor how yours works.

• Treat every assignment as finished work. Proofread, check every citation and hand in something a partner could use.
• Clarify at the start. Ask who the client is, what form the answer should take, when it is due and how long it should take.
• Follow firm rules on AI tools. Know the policy before you paste anything into one.
• Protect confidentiality. Say nothing about matters outside the firm, and post nothing about them.
• Record your time daily. Learn the system in week one.
• Ask for feedback mid-summer. Fix problems while you can still show progress.
• Sample practice groups. Ask for work in areas you may want. Your interest may shape where you land.
• Watch yourself at events. Social events are part of the job, so keep it professional.

How does the return offer work?

After a 2L summer, a successful student receives an offer of a full-time associate job after graduation. After a 1L summer, the offer is to come back for the 2L summer. NALP says 75% of 1Ls who took a return offer will spend all of summer 2026 at that firm, down from 79% a year earlier.

Some firms now make jumbo offers, covering both summers at once. In the 2025 cycle, 10% of offices with a 1L programme made at least one, and 87% of those offered a bonus or other incentive to accept the 2L part.

How long you have to decide depends on the school. NALP dropped its 28-day offer window in 2018 in favour of a reasonableness approach. Stanford’s current policy says summer offers should stay open at least 21 days, and post-graduate offers to former summer associates until 1 October of the third year. Read your school’s policy and the offer letter, including office, start date and any conditions. If you receive no offer, tell your careers office early. If you are also weighing a clerkship, see our guide on what a law clerk does.

What is the UK equivalent of a summer associate?

The closest match is a vacation scheme: a short paid placement at a firm, often used to pick trainees. It is shorter than a US summer, but it plays the same role as an extended interview.

• White & Case London runs schemes of about two weeks, pays £600 a week (about $800 at late October 2026 rates) and says it recruits on average 80% of its London trainees from them. Applications for 2027 close on 6 December 2026.
• Dechert London pays £550 a week (about $735) and says it does not accept direct training contract applications.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority requires two years of full-time qualifying work experience, or the equivalent, under the SQE route. It can be gained in up to four organisations, and a training contract counts. For the wider picture, see our guide to becoming a solicitor in the UK.

Frequently asked questions

How much do summer associates make per week?

Cravath lists $4,327 a week, the same as a $225,000 salary divided by 52. Jones Day lists $240,000 annualised in its main offices, about $4,615 a week by our calculation. NALP’s median was $3,850 a week across all firms as of 1 January 2025.

When should 1Ls apply for summer associate jobs?

Start in the first year. Some firms are already taking 2028 2L applications from the Class of 2029, and Cravath opens on 4 January 2027. Have your resume ready early, and add first-semester grades as soon as they post. Check your school’s rules on when firms may contact you.

Is OCI dead?

No, but it is smaller. School-run recruiting produced 20% of offers for 2026 2L programmes, and 71% of offices still used it. Some schools have moved it to spring or early summer, so check your own school’s dates and do not wait for it before applying directly.

What percentage of summer associates get offers?

NALP reports 97% for 2L summer associates in 2025, unchanged from 2024, and 94.2% for 1Ls invited back. These are survey figures. They do not apply to every office, and an offer still depends on your work during the summer.

Can you get a summer associate job with average grades?

Yes, but expect more work. We found no NALP data on grade cut-offs. A strong link to the market, relevant experience, smaller firms and later hiring cycles can all help. Mid-sized and boutique firms often hire later, according to Berkeley Law’s planning guide.

What is the difference between a summer associate and a vacation scheme?

A US summer associate job usually runs for many weeks and pays a slice of first-year salary. A UK vacation scheme usually lasts about two weeks. Both are used to pick future hires, but the UK scheme leads to a training contract, not an associate job.

This article is general career information as of 6 November 2026. It is not legal or career advice. Firm pay, dates and programmes change, and NALP figures are survey results. Check the firm’s current page and your school’s policy before you apply.

Featured image: Photo: Nataliya Vaitkevich via Pexels