Benesch's exploratory Summer Associate Program is designed to provide a realistic view of a career in private practice including client interaction, courtroom activities and teamwork with Benesch attorneys. The ten-week experience provides our summer associates with the opportunity to take on work projects and build relationships with attorneys across our seven core practice areas to help increase your understanding of those practices and start to define your career interests.
Our comprehensive professional development sessions and training programs, such as our mock negotiation and mock deposition simulations, go hand-in-hand with your direct work experience and are designed to build a foundation for success in our firm. Some of the training programs offered are part of the firm’s ongoing operations, such as practice group meetings and specially planned events. Other programs, such as our Summer Associate Retreat, Client Spotlight on Diversity Series, and practice group overviews are exclusively created for you. The summer will include a variety of planned social events designed for you to meet and build relationships with our attorneys and become better acclimated to the city and the culture of our firm.
Our summer associates have immediate contact with clients and are involved in strategy, negotiating and drafting sessions, as well as business development meetings. You can expect to receive a variety of work, both in terms of substantive areas of law and in the types of projects assigned. We review each summer associate’s work on an individual basis and attempt to include assignments which go beyond standard research projects, although such projects are important in developing your skills and enabling us to learn more about your strengths and weaknesses. Prompt and constructive feedback will be provided, and you will participate in a formal midsummer and end-of-summer work performance evaluation. Each summer associate will have a dedicated partner mentor to provide career advice, make internal connections and help navigate the many career options that exist within the firm.
Criteria
Candidates must be full-time 2nd year law students or part time 3rd year law students enrolled in an ABA-accredited law school, with an expected graduation date of December 2024 or spring 2025. Requirements for application include:
- Exceptional academic performance-top 25% of class preferred
- Moot court, law journal or other previous legal experience is a plus
- Outstanding leadership abilities and on campus involvement
- A commitment to community service
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills
- Completion of the Suited candidate assessment by your law school’s bidding deadline
Your resume, updated law school transcripts, and cover letter are required. Please note that we do not accept incomplete applications or applications from students for more than one office location.
Suited Candidate Assessment
Benesch has partnered with the predictive candidate screening platform Suited to help us better understand our applicants and what makes each one unique. Our goal is to make the recruiting process as fair and seamless as possible, so that we can find the candidates who will be fulfilled in their roles and complementary to our culture. In addition to your academic background and experience, the traits and competencies captured by these assessments have been proven to be both highly relevant and predictive of on-the-job success as a law associate, while reducing bias in the process.
Completion of the Suited assessment is a required part of our application process, and you will receive an email with a link to complete the assessment once you submit your application materials. If you have already complete the Suited assessment for another firm, you will not be required to complete it again and will instead receive an invitation to share your results with us. If you completed the Suited assessment for Benesch as a part of your 1L application process, you will not need to complete it again. Click here to learn more about Suited.
