Are We Seeing the Death of Summer Associate Programs?

Last year, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan announced that it would largely do away with its summer program. Will the litigation powerhouse just be the first in a longer line of lemming-like law firms to scrap their young summer ranks?

Edward Colbert, managing partner of Kenyon & Kenyon, said in an interview on Thursday, that some firms he’s discussing a possible merger with “are not having summer programs.” That prompted his recruiting head Elizabeth Knechtges to call the firm’s incoming class of seven summer associates and alert them about the uncertain situation.

“Because we are discussing mergers, there might be a situation where ...