Summer Program

The application period for 2nd year law students for the 2025 summer program has concluded. We will begin accepting 1L applications for the 2025 summer program on December 1, 2024.

We will accept 2L applications for the 2026 summer program beginning May 1, 2025.

Mentoring

Mentoring is considered a cornerstone of legal practice at Cleary.  In addition to mentoring our lawyers to develop technical legal skills, we are committed to mentoring our lawyers to develop into world-class international lawyers. 

• Summer associates are provided with multiple levels of mentorship during the Summer Program, including junior associate ‘siblings,’ mid-level associates who are members of the Summer Program Committee and senior lawyer mentors. In addition, each summer associate is mentored by one of our Summer Program Co-Chairs, who monitors the summer associate’s experience and progress over the course of the summer.
• In our corporate and litigation groups, individual mentoring is complemented by group mentoring in our Attorney Development Teams, which brings partners, senior lawyers, and associates across a range of seniority together for bonding, socializing, and substantive conversations around critical topics for career development. 
• All of our associates are assigned senior lawyer mentors who meet 1:1 with our associates. 
• Our first year corporate transaction associates enjoy our Corporate Associates Foundation Initiative, a program to bring group mentoring, partner mentors, trainings on vital topics and social events geared towards building relationships to our new class of corporate associates to integrate into the firm. 
• Most of our practice groups offer Office Hours – time to meet with senior lawyers to ask questions and discuss the latest goings on.

Work Assignments

• Summer associates may request assignments from among all of our practice groups and can try their hand at a wide variety of pro bono work. Work is assigned based on your practice area preferences and the current needs of our clients. Since there are no formal rotations, you may explore different practices without being required to rotate among groups. You will receive detailed reports on your performance in the middle and at the end of the summer, as well as informal assessments from associates and senior lawyers throughout your time working with them. There are opportunities for summers to participate in a two-week internship program at a leading investment bank or public interest organization.

Overseas Rotation

• We offer summer associates the opportunity to spend four weeks during the summer in one of our overseas offices, provided that it is safe to do so. One of the goals of our overseas rotation program is to allow summer associates a chance to experience the work of our overseas offices and assess the possibility of a future rotation. Summer associates can express their interest in spending time abroad, and placements are made based on the needs of each overseas office as well as language ability and practice area interest, among other factors. 

Training and Development

• Corporate Training Seminar
  
  Gives an understanding of transactional practice areas and the skills required to succeed
• Interactive Litigation Workshop 
  
  You’ll take and defend depositions before testing your knowledge in a series of exercises
• Practice Group Presentations 
  
  Hosted by partners and associates geared toward describing their practices and their day-to-day work
• Cleary Core Skills Training
  
  Provides a roadmap on practical professional skills including managing workflow, communicating effectively with clients and building leadership skills
• DE&I Education and Events
  
  Guests speakers will introduce new ways of thinking about leadership, diversity, equity, and inclusion at Cleary while maintain an inclusive work environment
• Internal Online Learning Tools and Resources
  
  Hundreds of training modules with forms, deal outlines, and case summaries