Careers
Summer Associate Program Coordinators
Frequently Asked Questions
What benefits does Jennings Strouss offer Summer Associates?
Jennings Strouss offers Summer Associates a competitive salary structure and real-world work assignments.
How do Summer Associates receive their assignments?
Projects are submitted by the firm’s attorneys to the Summer Associate Program Coordinators, who then evaluate, assign, and monitor all work product.
What types of assignments are Summer Associates given?
We strive to give each Summer Associate a variety of assignments, including work for actual client matters.
Will Summer Associates have the opportunity to attend depositions, oral arguments, trials, and other similar events?
Yes, Summer Associates are encouraged to attend as many of these events as their time and workload permit.
How is the work of Summer Associates evaluated?
Each project completed by a Summer Associate is reviewed at least twice: (1) by the assigning attorney and (2) by a member of the firm’s Writing Committee. We also hold evaluations in the middle and at the end of the summer.
Jennings Strouss Summer Associates Alumni Q&A
William Bassoff
Law Student, Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law
Describe your experience with being integrated into the firm and learning its culture.
The firm clearly went out of its way to make me feel at home this summer. Happy hours, events, and daily lunches gave us the opportunity to meet a vast majority of the firm’s employees. All of the lawyers and staff were incredibly helpful whenever I brought them a question or concern. I also worked on projects with a wide variety of attorneys, giving me the chance to meet many of the firm’s lawyers. The firm definitely has a collaborative culture, and a collegial atmosphere.
What is the best advice you received during your time at Jennings Strouss?
On my first day, I was told that one of the most important things a summer associate can do is ask questions. I think it would be very easy to feel intimidated and not ask an assigning attorney a question that might otherwise seem silly. However, in following this advice, I asked many, many questions to all of my assigning attorneys. They consistently either told me it was not a bad question or that it raised interesting sub-parts that I should explore in my memo. By asking any question that came to mind, I definitely turned in better final work products.
What was the most challenging work assignment you received?
One bankruptcy assignment I received was the most challenging assignment because the subject was entirely new to me. I have not taken bankruptcy yet in law school. Everything about the subject confused me – including the vocabulary. However, the assigning attorneys were very accessible, and I managed to get all of my questions answered. They went even further and allowed me to attend a CLE on my memo’s topic so that I could overcome this challenge.
What was the most rewarding work assignment you received?
One project was particularly rewarding because the assigning attorneys made me feel like I was a critical part of the team. It was by far the most time consuming project I worked on, and the final work product was almost twenty pages long. However, it felt like the work I was doing was actually important to our potential legal arguments. Beyond that, the assigning attorneys frequently updated me on various things happening in the case.
Describe practical training opportunities you received during your summer program.
The firm provided me with many practical training opportunities. I was able to attend a deposition and a settlement conference, an arbitration hearing, an “inoculation meeting”, a deposition, and a client call. I also attended several CLE’s, including two with SRP and one about a bankruptcy rule change.
Attending the hearing was a highlight of my summer. I really enjoyed seeing a real life arbitration hearing. Furthermore, I appreciate that the attorney went out of their way to send over the parties’ briefs and some background information so that I could fully understand what was going on.
The deposition I attended was also an outstanding opportunity to see real life lawyering in action. I appreciated the lawyers letting me ask questions afterwards to better understand the dispute and eminent domain.
Describe how the “real-world” experience you received during the summer program has helped prepare you for entering private practice after graduation.
I received a tremendous amount of real-world writing experience this summer. By the end of this summer, I will have written six memos and several other long writings. This was a lot of practice, and I think my writing has improved from writing these memos. Each project I worked on had real-world implications, and I believe that helped me better understand how to do legal writing in a professional setting.
What advice would you give to law students who are applying for summer associate programs?
I think the best thing to focus on during interviews is whether you feel comfortable when talking to the attorneys at the firms. It is easy to feel like the onus is on you to impress the lawyers to get them to hire you. While this is surely important, it is also important that an applicant tries to get a feel for whether the attorneys seem like nice people. If the firm’s culture is a good fit, the law student will get more out of the program. Of all of my interviews, I felt the most comfortable during my interview with Jennings Strouss. That experience translated into a work environment that made me feel very excited to come to work every day.
Overall, what did you enjoy most about your summer program at Jennings Strouss?
Above all else, I enjoyed getting to know the people at the firm. Every person I met was incredibly kind and engaging. My assigning attorneys were always excited to work with me, and they made me feel like I was welcome. My projects were also consistently complex and engaging. The projects provided me with the opportunity to utilize some legal creativity in coming up with solutions.
Dina Aouad
Law Student, University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law
Describe your experience with being integrated into the firm and learning its culture.
The culture at the firm is very encouraging and inclusive. I never felt afraid asking anyone for help, even if I personally felt like it was a silly question. Everyone has been so open, honest, and real about their past experiences when they were a new lawyer, which has been very positive and reassuring for me to hear. No one ever spoke to me as if I should already know how to be doing something or acted as if they were better than me in any way. Furthermore, the camaraderie between all the employees at the firm is so refreshing and fun to witness/be around. Jennings Strouss truly feels like it has a uniquely friendly and supportive culture, which I have greatly enjoyed being a part of.
What is the best advice you received during your time at Jennings Strouss?
The best advice I received during my time at Jennings Strouss was: don’t panic about being expected to know how to do something already; you will learn how to do it with practice. Hearing this advice really put things into perspective for me and allowed me to find some comfort and be confident in the abilities that I have now and the abilities that I will gain in the future.
What was the most rewarding work assignment you received?
There were two work assignment for which I was told by the assigning attorneys that they were able to take my work product and easily incorporate it into their own work or present it directly to the client. It felt great being able to contribute to the firm and knowing the work I was doing was actually being utilized and helping someone out in the real world. Since I’m interested in labor and employment law, knowing that the work I did for an attorney in that department was useful for both him and the client was an incredibly rewarding experience.
Describe practical training opportunities you received during your summer program.
I really enjoyed the practical training opportunities we were able to attend this summer. It allowed me to get the feel of what it’s like being a practicing attorney in an everyday setting. One of the first practical training opportunities I had was attending a family law hearing in superior court. Witnessing the firm’s attorneys address the court, conduct direct and cross-examination, and deal with expert witnesses was very informative and exciting. Attending CLEs were also a fun experience because, although I didn’t always fully understand the subject matter, it was interesting to observe other attorneys in a CLE setting and see what I have to look forward to as a future attorney. The writing program was by far the program I took part in the most since all of our assignments were writing-based.
Describe how the “real-world” experience you received during the summer program has helped prepare you for entering private practice after graduation.
During this summer program, I was able to have the “real-world” experience of drafting writing assignments with short deadlines, experimenting with various research techniques, learning about varying legal practice areas, learning how to spot discrete issues and how to go about addressing and solving those issues, learning how to reach out to others for help when I needed it, observing how to be a great oral advocate, and more. This type of experience has been exponentially helpful in preparing me for entering private practice after graduation since this is the exact type of work I will continue to do, but on a much larger (and likely more difficult) scale. Additionally, this summer allowed me to experience what it’s like working in a firm setting in terms of learning how to keep time, how to interact with senior attorneys and staff members alike, and proper office decorum.
Overall, what did you enjoy most about your summer program at Jennings Strouss?
Overall, I would have to say the thing I enjoyed the most about the summer program was working with all of the people at Jennings Strouss. I thoroughly enjoyed the work I received during the summer program since it was equally challenging and interesting, but I believe a big part of the reason why I liked the work so much was because I enjoyed working with the assigning attorneys. All of the attorneys – as well as the legal assistants, paralegals, and staff at large – were so incredibly kind, helpful, friendly, and generally fun to be around. Working with all of them was truly such an enjoyable experience and it made my summer at Jennings Strouss a fabulous one.
Additional comments?
I cannot say enough good things about Jennings Strouss. The people are amazing, the work was stimulating, and it was overall a fantastic experience. The practice of law is arduous enough as is, but working at a firm like Jennings Strouss made it a truly enjoyable experience.
Summer Associate Events
Bowling | July 11, 2019 | Lucky Strike
Our summer Associates, Lauren Smith and Dina Aouad, enjoyed a night of bowling fun with Jennings Strouss colleagues.
Professional Women’s Networking Luncheon | July 25, 2019 | Jennings Strouss
The Honorable Patricia K. Norris spoke at the Professional Women’s Networking luncheon hosted by the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She provided valuable insight into her own experiences from law school up to serving on the bench. Judge Norris also shared several career tips, and stressed that we must all support each other’s success in order to continue to make strides as a whole. Our two summer associates, Lauren and Dina, attended the event and were able to spend some one-on-one time with Judge Norris. In addition, they attended the Diversity and Inclusion Committee’s monthly meetings, providing valuable insight from a law student perspective.
The Law Firm Alliance
Jennings, Strouss & Salmon is honored to be a member of The Law Firm Alliance (LFA), a strategic
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