FIRST-HALF SUMMER PROGRAM
At Jackson Walker we offer a first-half summer program, which typically starts in mid-May and runs for six weeks.

COMPENSATION & PARKING
We offer a competitive summer associate compensation package. Currently we pay our summer associates $3,077 per week subject to withholdings required by law. In addition, parking fees are paid by the firm for summer associates during the summer program.

RELOCATION & HOUSING
The firm will reimburse your one-way travel expenses if you do not live in the city in which you will work. We can also provide you with reputable sources to assist in finding summer accommodations.

MENTORS
Each summer associate is assigned two or three Responsible Attorneys, a team of partners and associates who will contact you a month or two before you start to welcome you and answer any questions you may have before you arrive. They will also take you to lunch on your first day, keep in touch with you throughout the program to help integrate you into the firm, and take you out for your farewell dinner at the conclusion of the program.

TRAINING
You will go through a one and a half day comprehensive training and orientation session when you start, and our librarians will schedule Westlaw and Lexis training for you within a few days of your start date. Workshops and other opportunities for additional training are frequently made available throughout the summer.

OFFICE & ASSISTANT
You will be assigned your own office and will have the support of an administrative assistant during your clerkship.

WORK

• PRACTICE AREAS: We offer you the chance to complete projects in practice areas for which we are most likely to have a hiring need when you graduate from law school. Most of our offices encourage you to work in more than one practice area as interests can change and evolve.
• QUALITY: In addition to putting your legal research and writing skills to use on real work assignments, you'll have the opportunity to attend client meetings, closings, negotiations, depositions, trials, and courtroom hearings.
• QUANTITY: We do not have an hours requirement for our summer associates, but you'll work on two or three projects at a time so you'll get an accurate idea of what your workload would be as an entry-level attorney.
• PROCESS: We use LawCruit.net, an online application, to manage our summer work projects. All Jackson Walker attorneys can enter projects, and each office has attorneys who are designated as work assignment coordinators to distribute the work to the summer associates. You will have your own portal to manage your projects, and the work assignment coordinators will be available to answer any questions you may have. Once you receive a project, you will work with the assigning attorney, who will provide you with feedback on that project.
• MOCK TRIAL: Feedback from previous summer associates has shown this to be one of the most rewarding experiences of the summer program. Summer associates will have the opportunity to spend one week preparing for and participating in a mock trial before an outside jury. Attorneys at the firm, acting as presiding judges, trim down actual cases that have been tried, or will be tried, to a manageable size for two teams, which usually consist of two summer associates.
  

SOCIAL EVENTS

Each city has a full social calendar for the summer. These planned events afford you the opportunity to get to know as many of our attorneys as possible. These events also provide our attorneys with the opportunity to get to know you. This allows you to get a feel for our culture and find out if we're a fit for you.

Some notable past events have included Rangers/Astros baseball games, wine tastings, horse races, cooking classes, spa days, in-home dinner parties, concerts, bowling, happy hours, in-office ice-cream/cookie socials and associates' night out.

We also have a statewide summer associate event in which all the summer associates visit our head office in Dallas and are given a special presentation by the firm's Managing Partner and Professional Development Partner. This is followed by a cocktail reception and dinner. This event is a great opportunity for all the summer associates to meet one another.

2011 Social Events Photo Gallery

WHEN ARE OFFERS EXTENDED?
Offers are extended a few weeks after the conclusion of the summer program. Because of the smaller size of our summer program, we are consistently able to maintain a high offer rate to our summer associates.

SIZE OF SUMMER PROGRAM
When determining how many clerks to hire, we try to forecast what our practice group needs are likely to be in two years' time, when the summer associates graduate; this drives the size of our summer program.