We believe in investing in our people right from the start, and many of our partners have spent their entire careers at the firm.
Jackson Walker maintains a strong partner-to-associate ratio and take pride in staffing clients’ matters efficiently, so our associates have the opportunity to take on a great deal of responsibility early on in their career. Plus, our broad range of clients allows our associates to handle a wide variety of high-value work.
Jackson Walker is looking for candidates who demonstrate:
- Leadership capabilities
- Academic excellence
- Strong interpersonal skills
- Community involvement
- A desire to develop a practice over the long term
- Goal to become a partner at the firm
How to Apply
For questions about 1L or 2L recruiting, contact: Law School Recruiting
For 3L’s, LLM Students and Current Judicial Clerks, please submit your application to Lateral Associate Recruiting
We accept write-in applications from 1L students starting on November 1 and 2L students starting on June 1.
We offer a first-half summer program, which typically starts in mid-May and runs for nine weeks with summer associates required to work for a minimum of six weeks. We work hard to tailor the size of our program to the needs of the firm and current legal market in order to maximize the potential for students to receive full-time offers.
Participants in the summer program receive the same administrative support and privileges as our associates, as well as the opportunity to work side-by-side with partners on sophisticated projects. We offer a competitive summer associate compensation package. Currently, we pay our summer associates $4,134 per week subject to withholding as required by law.
Mentors
Each summer associate is assigned two Mentors, a team of partners and associates who keep in touch with them throughout the program to maximize the opportunities available to them for meaningful legal work and watching attorneys in action. They 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.
Work
- Practice: Over the course of the program, summer associates work on junior associate-level projects within their assigned practice areas and attend client meetings, closings, negotiations, depositions, trials, and courtroom hearings. If a student indicates a strong preference for multiple practice areas, we will provide the opportunity to work on projects within the indicated practice areas over the course of the summer program.
- Assignments: We involve summer associates in a variety of the work our attorneys experience throughout their careers. For instance, a summer associate interested in a transactional practice group may draft documents or attend client meetings, closings, or negotiations. Those interested in litigation may attend hearings, witness depositions, or mediations and could participate in client meetings or conference calls.
- Mock Trial/ Mediation Seminar: In what is often one of the most rewarding experiences of the summer, summer associates will typically have the opportunity to prepare for and participate in a mock trial before an outside jury. For this exercise, 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 summer associate teams. In other cases, summer associates may participate in a Mediation Seminar, where they will receive practical instruction designed to make young lawyers better advocates for their clients in mediation. The valuable skills developed in the Mediation Seminar can be successfully applied in either a transactional or litigation setting.
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.
We also have a firmwide summer associate event that brings all of our summer associates together in one office for a 2 day event with presentations from our firm’s managing partner, guest speakers, panel presentations and our annual firmwide summer associate challenge. The event typically includes a reception and dinner that allows the entire summer associate class to socialize as a group and meet JW attorneys from other offices.
Check out more photos of our Summer Associate Events!
2023 2L On Campus Interview Schedule
- July 13 – Southeastern Minority Job Fair (SEMJF)
- July 20 – Vanderbilt Texas Interview Program (Dallas/Houston)
- July 20 – Midwest California Georgia Consortium (MCGC)
- July 20 – Washington & Lee
- July 21 – SUNBELT Minority Job Fair
- July 21 – Notre Dame Interview Program (Dallas)
- July 24 – Lavender Law Career Fair
- July 31 – Southern Methodist University
- July 31 – University of Texas
- August 1 – South Texas College of Law
- August 1 – University of Houston
- August 2 – Baylor University
- August 2 – Texas A&M University
- August 7 – St. Mary’s University
- August 8 – Texas Tech University
We collect resumes at the following law schools’ career services offices:
- Duke University
- University of Chicago
- Columbia University
- Emory University
- Georgetown University
- University of Virginia
- Harvard Law
- Howard University
- Northwestern University
- Stanford University
- Thurgood Marshall College of Law
- UC Berkeley
- UCLA
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
- Wake Forest University
- William & Mary
Jackson Walker has a competitive compensation package for entry-level attorneys in the amount of $215,000.
Summer associates who accept an offer of full-time employment on their graduation from law school receive the following benefits before their first day:- Graduation bonus
- Universal Bar Exam (UBE) review course expenses
- Relocation expenses
- Medical, Dental, Vision, Long Term Disability, Basic Life and AD&D Insurance, Voluntary Life and AD&D Insurance
- Telemedicine -24/7 access to US board certified doctors through the convenience of phone or video conference
- Fertility & Adoption Benefits
- Calm Membership
- Peloton Partnership
- Access to virtual coaching and therapy through Modern Health
- Business Travel Accident Coverage
- Personal Travel Emergency Assistance
- Flexible Spending Accounts – Health, Dependent Care and Transit
- Health Savings Account (HSA)
- Employee Assistance Program
- Backup Child Care and Elder Care
- JW FIT – Wellness Program offering discounts on medical premiums, team challenges, education and motivation for your health and well-being
- 18 weeks paid Parental Primary Leave/3 weeks paid Parental Secondary Leave (for parent but not primary care-giver)
- Alternative work schedule policy
- 401(k) retirement plan
- Laptop computers and technology support (including iPhones and iPads)
- Membership dues to national, state and local bar associations and cost of participation in various activities
- CLE opportunities including State Bar of Texas online CLE
- Comprehensive associate professional development programs
- Business development and client entertainment expenses
Jackson Walker believes diversity and inclusion make us better. By actively recruiting, retaining, and advancing a diverse team, we are better equipped to serve our sophisticated, global clients and contribute to making our communities better places.
