Program Description
Our Summer Program includes both second- and first-year students. Unlike many firms our size, we believe that outstanding first-year students should be included in our Summer Program, and we have been pleased with the quality of our first-year recruits. We make no distinction between second- and first-year summer associates with respect to the projects allocated to summer associates.
We recognize that your participation in the Summer Program may likely be your first exposure to the practice of law in a law firm setting. To help bridge that gap from student to practitioner, each participant in the program is paired with a mentor. In addition to being a familiar face to turn to, mentors are a great resource offering counsel, support and information concerning questions you may have during the program. This ability to learn from the experiences of a seasoned practitioner — someone who has already been through that transition — provides additional assistance for you to begin to develop the professional skills necessary to succeed in your chosen profession.
Hand in hand with work assignments and experiences is timely feedback from those with whom you are working. Summer associates are provided with formal mid-summer and end of program evaluations. As important, summer associates receive less formal evaluations of their work on an ongoing basis by supervising attorneys, who are encouraged to provide timely critical input and support thoughout the Summer Program.
In addition to work assignments, we seek to schedule a variety of professional meetings and lunches, affording you an opportunity to learn more about SGR’s practices, firm governance, firm history as well as some of the time-honored firm “lore” handed down over the years. SGR also strongly believes in the importance of life outside the firm for all of our attorneys, consequently, an important part of the Summer Program is to provide you with varied opportunities to get to know our attorneys outside of the work setting. In recent years, these activities have included white water rafting, weekend trips, sporting events, concerts and dinners at partners’ homes and other smaller group events.
