Summer Associate Programs Remain ‘a Special Place to Build a Career’

The total number of new hires of summer associates in New Jersey stayed strong this year, with 100 summer associates hired across firms surveyed. The average number of summer associates hired per firm was about 4, which has stayed consistent in the last two years.

New firms surveyed this year include: Barnes & Thornburg; Laddey Clark & Ryan; Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper; and Trenk Isabel Siddiqi & Shahdanian. Very little change occurred with firms surveyed in previous years, with Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi and Connell Foley bringing on three fewer hires than 2023. The majority of firms either hired the same number of summer associates or more associates than previous years. Firms such as Fox Rothschild; Lerner, David, Littenberg, Krumholz & Mentlik and Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer increased their number of hires from previous years. 

Lowenstein Sandler hired the largest number of summer associates, with 15 students. The results show that the hiring of summer associates is a priority in the state. The firm with the second-highest number of summer associate hires is McCarter & English with 11 new summer associates. The firm doubled the number of summer associates hired in 2023. 

Christine Lydon said the increase in class size is affected by projected client demand and the needs of the firm’s practice groups. “Looking at the near future, both of those metrics are trending up, so we are pleased to increase the size of our 2025 summer class,” said Lydon, chief human resources officer at McCarter & English. “So many of our current partners started their career as a McCarter summer associate.”

Are you interested in learning more about how summer associate programs can help your law career?  Read more in this law.com article.