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Crowell & Moring Makes a Tradition of Summer Associate Public Service Program
[by Erica Winter] Crowell & Moring is, by all accounts, a good place to work. Recent accolades of the Washington, DC-based law rm include making Washington Busi-

ness Journals list of the 50 Best Places to Work and winning the Constance L. Belore Quality of Life Award from the Bar Association of the District of
Columbia.
For its summer associates, one big opportunity the rm offers is the chance not to work there. About one third of Crowells summer associates take the rm up on its offer to go out into the community, working at public interest organizations for part of their summer stint in the rms Summer Associate Public Service Program. Crowells in-house split-summer program is one of the oldest around, in existence since 1989. The number of participants varies from year to year, ranging from three to eleven. There are ve law students in the program this summer, splitting their time between working in the rms ofce and interning at public interest organizations. Students who join the program are paid the full summerassociate rate for the whole summer. Unlike similar programs at other law rms, Crowells program has a handpicked list of public interest organizations for students to work with, instead of having students nd groups on their own. Groups on the list include the ACLU, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the State and Local Legal Center, the public defenders ofce, and legal aid, says Susan Hoffman, Public Service Partner at Crowell & Moring. While at the rm, summer associates work Having the program coordinated by the rm took the pressure off the summer associates, who wanted to nd variety in their summers, but may not have been able to pull a split-summer together on their own, says current summer associate April Nelson, who attends Duke Law. The program is a real opportunity to be part of the rm for a whole summer and get public interest experience, says Nelson. Crowells program sets it apart
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from other rms, says Nelson. The rms staff members tell prospective summer associates about the Public Service Program during the on-campus-interview process. If the rm extends a summer associate an offer and the law student accepts, then Hoffman sends each law student a list of groups participating in the public service program. Students who wish to participate then rank the groups in order of preference. When Hoffman receives this information, she pulls out the students resumes and consults the nonprot groups to hear their desired picks. Then she charts both student and group preferences and makes assignments. I usually try to honor the groups choices, says Hoffman. Students usually spend ve weeks with the public interest group and seven at the rm. The exact timing depends on the public interest groups needs, says Hoffman. For example, because Congress is in recess in August, summer associates working at policy-oriented groups like the ACLU start out there in the earlier summer months. Others, such as those who work with legal aid, start off at the rm and do public interest work at the end of the summer.

once, just like how attorneys work, says Hoffman. Traditionally, summer associates working at law rms (the vast majority of whom are in between their second and third years of law school) are actually on extended job interviews/ networking sessions, hoping to be offered a position at that rm after graduation. Does the rm risk losing a law student to the public interest organization down the line? Not really, says Hoffman, although she has seen program participants realize that public interest law is the way to go in their careers, rather than rm life. Ascertaining this while still a law student is better than coming to the rm and being unhappy, says Hoffman. The rm does not frown on these changes of mind. Instead, for those who do receive offers and come to Crowell, past program participants have established connections with public interest groups in the area and want to continue their work with them. It makes for a richer pro bono practice here, says Hoffman. Program participants are not excluded from summer-associate activities or from receiving permanent job offers. Crowell, says Hoffman, is traditional in that the job-offer rate to summer associates is pretty high. In fact, the job-offer rate for program participants is slightly higher than for summer associates who spend the whole summer at the rm, says Hoffman. Program alumni rise within the ranks as well. One of the programs former participants has made partner.

on a project-by-project system, says Hoffman. The summer associate will request a certain type of project from the rms stafng coordinator. The student will contribute to that project and learn practical legal skills in that area of the law. When the student has completed that project, he/she can request one in another area and go from there. The goal of this system is to have students juggling many projects on several issues at