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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Law - "Supply-and-Demand Has D.C. Top Law Firms' 'Summer Associates' Hitting Pay Dirt Without Breaking Much of a Sweat"

The Washington Post has a longish story today by Ian Shapira about summer interns. Some quotes:

Amy Jenkins considered her fortune. She's pulling down $2,700 a week this summer, the equivalent of about $140,000 a year -- all as a 24-year-old summer "associate" or, in more common terminology, intern. Her last serious job was working as a camp counselor in North Carolina.

"I definitely feel like a grown-up for the first time, because it's the first real responsible type of job I've had, as opposed to taking girls out to the river," she said, flanked by two tables of twentysomething contemporaries.

There has been no better time to inhabit the stratosphere of law firm summer associates than now. With a domino effect, some of Washington's elite firms have been boosting salaries over the past several months as they compete for a talent pool that is not expanding as rapidly as the caseloads. Prominent firms have hit a controversial high: about $3,100 a week for summer associates, or what would be just over $160,000 a year for fresh law school graduates. Perks are plentiful and full-time job offers all but guaranteed.

"I feel like I deserve it," said Vincenza Battaglia, 25, a rising third-year law student summering at Steptoe & Johnson. "We work really hard in law school."

As pointed out later in the story: "For the academic year 2005-06, students from public university law schools owed an average of $54,509. Those from private schools: $83,181."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 24, 2007 12:05 PM
Posted to General Law Related