The Paul Hastings Summer Associate Program

At Paul Hastings, we view the Summer Associate experience as a career milestone and aim to provide you with a challenging and enriching experience. Our Summer Associate Program reflects Paul Hastings’ dedication to superior client service and to your career development and aspirations.

Our Focus

During our 10-week program, we provide relevant, meaningful, and interactive training, real client work, and networking opportunities to support your journey from law student to legal professional. We offer strong, foundational support at the earliest stages of your career, so you will have the necessary skills to be an exceptional attorney. It is our goal to set you up for success in navigating your career path—whether it leads you to partnership, in-house with a client, or a position in government or other organizations. 

• Relevant. Our summer program is designed to help you translate your technical abilities and training into the relevant skills you will need to build a successful legal career.
  • Spectator assignments allow you to observe our attorneys in action. You will have the opportunity to sit in and assist, when possible, for trials, hearings, depositions, and negotiations, and participate in client meetings and closings. Innovative, cutting-edge training programs, coupled with on-the-job team-based learning and frequent knowledge checks, will help you build new competencies and confidence in your skills.
  • We will help you learn to navigate the ever-evolving legal industry and leverage new technology to benefit you and our clients’ business.  
• Meaningful. At Paul Hastings, the best way to engage and develop our summer associates is to provide you with a meaningful experience that offers a realistic view of life as a Paul Hastings associate and gives you the tools to take ownership of your career.
  • Through our work assignment program, you will have the opportunity to work on actual client matters for various practice groups. All summer associates will also have the opportunity to work on pro bono matters, an important feature of our work across the firm.
  • You will receive real-time feedback from the attorneys with whom you are working to help you be adaptive and proactive in developing your skills.
  • Every Summer Associate will have a mentor for the duration of the summer program. Your mentor is your go-to contact for all questions. They provide support and guidance on practical matters as well as act as a guiding hand as you navigate the potential challenges of a new environment.
• Interactive. We pride ourselves on providing an inclusive, welcoming environment for all legal and business professionals. Interacting with other summer associates as well as the wider firm is a critical part of our program, ensuring your experience is as enriching as it is challenging.
  • Our interactive training sessions, covering our key disciplines, are a highlight of our program, guaranteeing our summer associates depart with robust, well-tested negotiation and drafting skills.
  • Diversity, inclusion, and belonging are important parts of life at the firm. We have several internal networks that provide insights and opportunities for connection. Our summer associates are invited and encouraged to be a vocal part of the conversation.
  • We host social events throughout the program where you are able to mingle with our partners and associates. These outings provide important opportunities to engage and build relationships, and of course, to have fun!

By the end of your summer with us, we expect that you will be able to demonstrate your achievement drive, leadership skills, and ability to be proactive and adaptive.

Our Program Highlights

• Client Service Excellence. Supporting our clients at the highest level is at the core of what we do, and we believe our summer associates need to be a part of that. You will work with our attorneys on real client matters with real-life implications for our clients – we believe the best way to learn is through first-hand experience.
• Training. Our Deposition Skills and Mock Negotiation Workshops are signature programs of our comprehensive summer training schedule. These hypothetical exercises provide prime opportunities to develop your analytical, teamwork, and presentation skills. These skills are integral to every lawyer’s practice, and these competitions are a chance to partner with your fellow summer associates to demonstrate leadership, collaboration, and professionalism.
• Career Development. Your summer program experience is often the first step in your legal career. We provide you with learning and development plans that will set you up for success as a first-year associate. That also means looking at careers more broadly, recognizing that not everyone will choose a traditional pathway to law firm partner. We provide opportunities during the summer for you to meet with current Paul Hastings attorneys and alumni so that you can understand all the options available to you in the future. We hope that your summer with us will be the beginning of a rewarding, longstanding relationship with Paul Hastings.

Why choose Paul Hastings?

We have offices worldwide throughout Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the U.S. We partner with our clients to understand their business and the challenges ahead of them. We help our clients reimagine what’s possible and develop innovative solutions to address their evolving needs.

Our Summer Associate Program serves as a cornerstone not just for the recruitment of outstanding associates but for the future success of our firm. We seek attorneys who share our desire to collaborate, communicate and challenge norms.

Connecting with Paul Hastings

We encourage you to connect with us early in your law school studies to learn more about us. We offer learning and networking opportunities throughout the academic year across our US offices, and we welcome the opportunity to meet with you.

Our Summer Associate Program is comprised of first and second-year law students from law schools across the country.  We host on-campus events throughout the year, participate in traditional routes of recruitment, and also encourage students interested in learning more about Paul Hastings to visit the Careers page of our website.

Paul Hastings is committed to building a diverse team of professionals and fostering an inclusive work environment. As part of that commitment, we are pleased to offer the Paul Hastings Diversity Scholarship Award to select law students.

Recipients of the Paul Hastings Diversity Scholarship Award will receive a paid summer associate position and a $50,000 scholarship.  Click here to learn more about and apply for our Diversity Scholarship Award.

Paul Hastings is a great place to work where the work you do makes a difference.

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