Our Dallas office is Akin Gump’s founding office and home to many of the firm’s key practices, including corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, investment funds, private equity, tax, litigation, intellectual property, financial restructuring, labor and employment, real estate and finance, real estate financial services and environmental. Our summer program allows students to work in a variety of these areas and also gain a strong sense of what it is like to practice law in Dallas.

We view our summer associate program as an important part of our hiring process. As a result, we want our summer associates to have a clear picture of the diversity of work, resources and culture available to them. Our summer associates not only work on interesting and challenging assignments, but they receive excellent training and mentoring. They also participate in social activities that allow them to get to know our lawyers and each other in informal settings.

Legal Assignments

“The most rewarding experience was getting to see work product start to finish, when I knew that it was actually helpful and being used in some way. It showed that I was getting the opportunity to do ‘real work’ and motivated me to make sure that my work product was the best it could be.” –Dallas Summer Associate

Dallas summer associates receive exposure to interesting legal assignments from a variety of practice areas. At the beginning of the summer, we work with our summer associates to identify potential areas of interest. We make sure our summer associates receive ample opportunity to work in these areas while also exploring other practices of law. 

During the program, assigned work coordinators oversee the work assignment process. The work coordinators and a group of attorney advisors ensure that summer associates receive the proper amount and variety of work. They also monitor the summer associates' progress during the course of the program. 

Special Opportunities

One of our top priorities is giving our summer associates a realistic view of the work performed by our lawyers. Depending on the type of assignment, summer associates may also participate in out-of-office opportunities to see their project through to completion.

Recent summer associate assignments and out-of-office opportunities include—

• observing a client’s shareholders meeting
• attending a pro bono asylum hearing in immigration court
• conducting witness interviews
• assisting in the preparation of an in-house counsel social networking speech
• attending an out-of-state bankruptcy hearing.

Pro Bono

The Dallas office remains committed to the firm’s pro bono efforts. As a result, we encourage summer associates to participate in pro bono projects in addition to their billable work.

Summer associates are involved in Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) petition cases and asylum cases throughout the summer.

We take VAWA petition cases through Human Rights Initiative (HRI), a Dallas legal services agency that helps immigrants and refugees. The VAWA Project involves helping immigrant women who have been the victims of physical and/or psychological abuse. In this process, summer associates, supervised closely by Akin Gump attorneys, take the lead on meeting with the clients and assisting them in filing petitions, supporting affidavits, and documentation with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS).

Our asylum cases come from South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (“ProBAR”). ProBAR is a national effort to provide pro bono legal services to asylum seekers detained in South Texas by the United States government. The asylum seekers have fled civil war, ethnic fighting and religious and political persecution.  Summer associates, supervised closely by Akin Gump attorneys, have the opportunity to prepare the clients for trial as well as prepare briefs, affidavits and any other supporting evidence. These asylum cases offer the chance to appear in immigration court.

Summer Pro Bono Scholars Program

The Akin Gump Dallas Office Pro Bono Scholars Summer Program is intended to be a two-year program (two summers) for top law school students who show a strong interest in making pro bono an integral part of their Akin Gump careers. The Pro Bono Scholars, rising second-year law students, work with a public interest organization before joining the firm for several weeks at the end of the first summer. During the second summer, the Pro Bono Scholars are part of the firm’s regular summer associate program.

Click here for more information about this program.

Training & Development

In addition to work assignments, we provide our summer associates with development and training opportunities throughout the summer. Summer associates attend legal writing workshops, pro bono trainings, a judicial clerkship advice panel and all-attorney meet-the-section lunches. All sessions are designed to enhance their legal career and experience at the firm.

Mentoring

Each summer associate is assigned three attorney mentors: a partner advisor, a mid-level advisor and an associate advisor. We try to match the attorneys and summer associates based on practice areas, law schools, similar backgrounds and/or experiences. The responsibility of the partner and mid-level advisors is to oversee the summer associates’ workload and development throughout the summer; the associate advisors facilitate the summer associates’ social interaction and integration into the firm.

Getting to Know Us

“The attorneys here all seemed so down to earth and enjoyable to work with. It makes a huge difference that I would sincerely look forward to working with the attorneys here in the future. Not only does it make me want to return to the firm, it makes me want to do an outstanding job on my work for them.” – Dallas Summer Associate

We not only want to see what type of work our summer associates can do, but we want to get to know them as well. For this reason, a good portion of the Dallas summer program entails spending time with attorneys of all levels inside and outside of the office. In order for our summer associates to gain a full view of life in the Dallas office, we arrange a variety of social activities such as attorney lunches, small-group dinners, happy hours and events. 

Past events include—

• sailing on Lake Lewisville
• interactive cooking classes
• concerts
• broadway shows
• movie nights
• community service projects
• sporting events
• dinners at lawyers’ homes
• women and diversity events.

Diversity

Akin Gump is committed to a diverse workplace and seeks to hire lawyers from all backgrounds. We actively participate in several events and programs throughout the year to attract diverse applicants. We have a firmwide Diversity Committee as well as a local Diversity Committee with representatives from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds and orientations. 

Hiring Criteria

We seek exceptional students who will have completed their second year of law school upon the start of our program and who are interested in practicing law in Dallas, TX. We look for students with outstanding academic credentials, law review or journal membership, moot court experience, previous work experience, excellent interpersonal skills and extracurricular activities that demonstrate leadership abilities.

Where to Apply

All interested applicants should send a resume and transcript to:

Claire Kelley Attorney Recruiting and Development Manager
1700 Pacific Avenue, Suite 4100
Dallas, TX 75201
214.969.4737
214.969.2766 (fax)
ckelley@akingump.com

Dallas Summer Program FAQs

Q: How many summer associates does the Dallas office expect to have in 2012?

A: We expect to have between 5 and 8 summer associates in 2012.

Q: Do you hire 1Ls for your summer program?

A: We hire 1Ls for our Pro Bono Scholars Summer Program. We do not hire 1Ls for our general summer associate program.

Click here for more information about the Pro Bono Scholars Summer Program.

Q: Do you allow split summers?

A: Although we encourage students to spend the entire summer program with us, we do consider split summers on a case-by-case basis and require a commitment of at least six weeks at the beginning of our program.

Q: What are your hiring criteria for the summer associates?

A: We seek exceptional students who will have completed their second year of law school upon the start of our program and who are interested in practicing law in Dallas, TX. We look for students with outstanding academic credentials, law review or journal membership, moot court experience, previous work experience, excellent interpersonal skills and extracurricular activities that demonstrate leadership abilities.

Q: Do I have to choose a particular practice area in the beginning of the summer?

A: Summer associates can request practice areas they would like to receive work from during their clerkship.

Q: What if I am unsure of the area in which I would like to practice?

A: In addition to receiving assignments from a variety of practice areas, we host luncheons for most sections represented in the Dallas office. These informal presentations led by partners and associates provide an overview of their work and further insight into the practice.   

Q: What can I expect as far as training in your summer program?

A: In addition to work assignments, we provide our summer associates with development and training opportunities throughout the summer. Summer associates attend legal writing workshops, pro bono trainings,a judicial clerkship advice panel and all-attorney meet-the-section lunches. Summer associates also have the opportunity to observe and participate in real life training scenarios by attending client meetings, witness interviews, depositions, hearings, etc. All sessions are designed to enhance their legal career and experience at the firm.

Q: Do you have a summer associate mentorship program?

A: Each summer associate is assigned three attorney mentors: a partner advisor, a mid-level advisor and an associate advisor. We match attorneys and summer associates based on practice areas, law schools, similar backgrounds and/or experiences. The responsibilities of the partner and mid-level advisors are to oversee the summer associates’ workload and development throughout the summer; the associate advisors facilitate the summer associates’ social interaction and integration into the firm.

Q: In such a large law firm, how do the summer associates get to know the attorneys?

A: We offer many social opportunities for summer associates to get to know our attorneys throughout the summer. Past social events have included sailing on Lake Lewisville, concert at the House of Blues, private wine tasting, Rangers game, daily attorney lunches and small group dinners at partners’ homes, as well as the opportunity to participate in the summer softball league.

Q: What type of feedback should I expect?

A: We take a proactive approach to ensure that our summer associates succeed. Each project a summer associate works on is evaluated by the attorney(s) who supervise(s) the assignment. In addition, summer associates have two formal evaluations throughout the summer: mid-point and exit review. In the evaluations, each summer associate meets with his/her work coordinator and partner and mid-level advisors to discuss his/her work assignments, progress and summer associate experience.

Q: What is your salary for summer associates?

A: The summer associate salary for 2011 is $3,077 per week.

Dallas Office First Year Associate Hiring

Q: What is the salary for first year associates starting in the fall of 2011?

A: Our current salary for first-year associates is $160,000.

Q: Do you hire judicial clerks or 3Ls for associate positions?

A: Yes, we will consider judicial clerks and 3Ls as needed.

Q: Are your associates assigned to one practice group or do they rotate?

A: Our associates are assigned to one practice, based on their interests and our needs in the office. This assignment enables our associates to focus on a particular area of law and maintain consistency with clients and cases. However, there is often overlap with other sections, allowing broader exposure to many areas of law.

Q: Who should I contact with questions about associate positions in Dallas?

A: Applications for all associate positions should be addressed to:

Claire Kelley Attorney Recruiting and Development Manager
1700 Pacific Avenue, Suite 4100
Dallas, TX 75201
214.969.4737
214.969.2766 (fax)

Akin Gump's employment practices are practiced without regard to applicants' age, race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, religious creed, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability unrelated to the job to be performed or any other basis of discrimination prohibited by law.