Opportunities for Law Students

Getting Started

Orrick's summer associate program is our most important source for recruitment. We hire students with strong academic records and a focused dedication to performing exceptional legal work. Other factors considered in our selection process include participation in law review and moot court, as well as student activities and previous work experience.

Throughout the interview process, we also take into consideration attributes we believe are important to succeed at Orrick, including leadership ability, independent thinking, poise and maturity. The weight given to any one factor varies with each person. For example, previous legal and nonlegal work experience can be important if it is relevant to the practice area in which a candidate has expressed an interest.

During the fall on-campus interview season, we visit nearly 40 law schools and job fairs across the United States. Although we hire most of our summer associates come through the on-campus interview process, we welcome applications from students at schools not on our recruiting schedule. If we are not scheduled to visit your school, we encourage you to send your résumé, cover letter, transcripts and references to the recruiting contact in the Orrick office in which you desire to work. We will contact you if we would like to schedule an interview.

Thrive

Once you are here, we want you to thrive. Orrick offers robust educational opportunities to help each lawyer strengthen existing skills, gain new ones and develop a knowledge base that contributes to each lawyer's individual success, to the firm and to our clients. These include:

• training focused on legal skills, including litigation and transactional work;
• programs addressing business skills, including presentation skills, client relationship management and client service, as well as deal and case management;
• first-year associate orientation, providing a comprehensive introduction to Orrick including an overview of our strategy, our culture and practices and an opportunity to develop skills that will be critical to early success; and
• a midlevel associate development program designed to help associates transition effectively to more senior roles in the firm.

Focus

Orrick's practice groups have established development benchmarks that provide associates with practice-specific descriptions of expectations for an associate's development over time. The benchmarks focus on development of legal knowledge, legal skills and experience, professional skills, and contributions to professional and community responsibility.