The Summer Experience at Weil’s Silicon Valley Office

Silicon Valley – Weil’s Summer Program is a truly exceptional experience. Summers spend 10 weeks working directly with partners, counsel and associates in one of the Firm’s market-leading practice groups. Based in the heart of Silicon Valley, with access to everything San Francisco has to offer, summer associates gain substantive work experience from their very first week.

How the application process works:
Applications for Weil’s summer program open on March 11. Students are invited to interview – through direct application or following “OCI” – and typically speak with four Weil attorneys, either in-person or via Zoom. Our Hiring Committee makes offer decisions as efficiently and thoughtfully as possible.

Your first week at Weil:
On the first day of the program, our team hosts an office-wide welcome reception for you and your fellow Silicon Valley summers. You will be assigned an office and meet both your associate and partner mentors within your practice group. Later in the week, the summer kickoff barbeque offers an excellent opportunity to meet the attorneys and staff with whom you’ll work for the rest of the summer. By forming a network of people to support you, Weil ensures that all summers have the best possible experience and quickly become part of the Weil Family.  

Over the following days, you will receive orientation and training on computer skills, library access, and research tools like Lexis and Westlaw, ensuring you have the support you need to succeed here at Weil.

Your assignment coordinator – an associate in the practice group in which you are based – will reach out to discuss goals for the summer and begin organizing your first projects and observational opportunities. They will invite you to calls, staff you on deals, take you to court and/or loop you in on exciting pro bono matters, ensuring you gain substantive experience and learn what it means to be a Weil lawyer who is partnering with top clients on cutting-edge matters.

Silicon Valley program trajectory:
Weil has no shortage of exceptional matters for you to work on. Silicon Valley summers are staffed in one of the following practices: Banking & Finance, Complex Commercial Litigation, M&A/Private Equity, Patent Litigation, Tax, or Technology & Intellectual Property Transactions practices. Regardless of practice, all summers will be staffed on several substantive matters by the end of the summer. After ten weeks, you will have a strong sense of what the practice entails.

A typical day in the life:
After settling into the program, you will hit the cadence of what it means to be a Weil summer associate.

Your morning may start with an email from your staffing partner alerting you of an assignment.

You stop by a partner’s office to hear about the matter, and ask some questions. While working on the project, you reach out to an associate on the matter for clarification and further background documents or precedents. At Weil, our team members understand the learning curve of the summer program and are always willing to help. In fact, our attorneys love the chance to teach and get to know the summer associate class every year.

After finishing the project, you head to a lunch with Weil partners and associates. On your return, you run into a third-year associate, with whom you previously worked. They suggest grabbing coffee to hear about your summer and talk about their own experience at Weil, a great informal mentoring opportunity.

“I appreciate how generous Weil associates are with their offers to meet up… I don’t like buzzwords, but warm and collegial are two words that really do describe the relationships people have with one another here, and it instantly rubs off on you.” – A former Weil summer associate

Once the work day concludes, you gear up for an event that evening: a team dinner, Giants game or concert with other summers; hallmarks of the summer experience and a great way to bond with your class and Weil attorneys alike!

“The events, both substantive and social, have exceeded the expectations set forth by my legal network.” – A former Weil summer associate

Why Weil:
Weil’s summer program strikes a unique balance of substantive work experience and exciting social networking opportunities. Our summers have an excellent time, but they also work hard and are treated like full members of the team.  With this approach, summers get a clear picture of what it means to be a Weil lawyer.

If you want to be challenged with market-leading work, make meaningful individual contributions and launch your career, Weil’s summer program is the place for you.

We’re eager to connect with you:
For more information, please visit Weil’s careers page or the Firm’s Vault profile.

Contact recruiting representatives from each of our offices here, and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram to stay up-to-date on all things Weil.