Mark Weber

This week brought some interesting developments out of Big Law that will play out in August as firms flock to campuses to recruit the next crop of summer associates. First was news that Quinn Emanuel is returning to on-campus interviewing after a six-year absence. After foregoing OCI in 2012, the firm nixed its summer associate program in 2015 and instead recruited third-year law students and former federal clerks. But now Quinn Emanuel says that it doesn’t want to miss out on promising 2Ls with an interest in litigation...So what does this all mean for the upcoming recruitment cycle? I reached out to Harvard Law School assistant dean for career services Mark Weber—who has been placing Harvard student in jobs for nearly 20 years—for his thoughts. He was enthusiastic about those developments, but let’s start with Quinn Emanuel, which has Harvard on the list of 19 campuses it’s hitting. (Harvard is one of the firm’s biggest feeders.)

The country’s top 14 law schools—including Harvard Law School—will now require firms that recruit on campus to reveal whether they require summer associates to sign mandatory arbitration agreements or non-disclosure agreements that may bar associates from going public with allegations of workplace misconduct...Sejal Singh [`20], a first-year Law School student and one of the organizers of the open letter, said she is “confident” that this survey will lead firms to remove the agreements in question rather than disclose them to the participating schools...Molly M. E. Coleman [`20], another Law student and organizer of the letter, said she and other organizers met regularly with Assistant Dean for Career Services Mark A. Weber over the course of the semester, and she praised his attention to the issue...“I have really enjoyed working with the student leaders at Harvard, who have been thoughtful, committed and effective; and it has been a real pleasure collaborating with my T14 colleagues on this important project,” Weber wrote. “It has truly been a team effort.”

A group of Harvard Law School students recently wrote an open letter calling for the school to ensure that law firms who recruit on campus “protect the rights of their employees” to come forward and seek legal action if they “experience harassment, discrimination, or workplace abuse.” The letter stated that several law firms that recruit summer associates from the Law School have recently begun requiring new hires to sign mandatory arbitration agreements along with non-disclosure agreements...Molly M. E. Coleman, one of the letter’s organizers, said in an interview Thursday that the issues were first raised by a lecturer at the Law School who found out firms were asking students to sign these agreements...Sejal Singh, another organizer of the letter, pointed to the particular salience of law firms requiring summer associates to sign mandatory arbitration and non-disclosure agreements in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which sparked national conversations about workplace harassment...Coleman also said students have had productive conversations with Law School administrators, including Assistant Dean for Career Services Mark A. Weber, to try to move forward with their proposed changes. ..“I understand their concerns, and we take them very seriously. We are examining how to address the issue in our recruiting efforts,” he wrote.

An article by Mark Weber. Lawyers beginning their legal careers in Big Law today earn more, specialize earlier and benefit from technology that affords them flexibility. I’ve spent 24 years working with students, alumni and employers. Here are seven notable changes impacting new lawyers today.

August may be beach time for many, but for law students it’s a serious month to get their careers on the right trajectory. Second-year students are gathering their nicest work clothes, real shoes – flip flops forbidden – and heading back to campus to undergo what may be the most important interviews of their work life. Law firm recruiters will be sizing them up and deciding whether to offer them an internship next summer, a position that — with hard work and luck — will lead to their first job in Big Law. “This is an event that can shape a student’s career and we do everything we can to make it a good experience for our students,” said Mark Weber, Assistant Dean for Career Services at Harvard Law School.

This week, The National Law Journal released its 2016 list of law schools that send the most graduates to the 100 largest firms, and Columbia led the pack. With 220 of its 2015 graduates becoming first year BigLaw associates, this is the third straight year the New York Ivy Leaguer won the title...The 2015 list does not include graduates who went on to complete judicial clerkships. This could explain Yale Law School, Stanford Law School, and Harvard Law School’s lower rankings on the list. Mark Weber, assistant dean of career services at Harvard Law, said that the school produces a large amount of judicial clerks who later move into big law firms. He maintains that law firm recruiting is up at Harvard Law.

Ah, to be a law-firm summer associate. For several thousand lucky law students, it’s the season to be courted by the nation’s top firms...Mark Weber, Harvard Law School’s assistant dean for career services, said the “wining and dining” element of summer associate programs is important to give the law students a sense of a firm’s personality. “If it’s just all about work and you really don’t know these people…that’s not good, either,” Mr. Weber said.