Summer Associates
“The summer experience at Oppenheimer Blend is about building relationships”
Jerry B. Cohen
Summer Associate Program Director
Relationships
At Oppenheimer Blend, we take pride in our summer associate program and in the relationships built with the law students we bring into our firm. The goal of our summer associate program is to recruit the best and the brightest law students to our firm so that they may experience our practice and our culture, learn what it means to be an attorney at Oppenheimer Blend, and build lasting professional relationships with our firm’s shareholders, associates and staff. Most new associates are recruited through our summer associate program and many current shareholders were one-time summer associates, as well. Relationships built over one summer developing into careers – that is how we measure the success of our summer associate program.
How We Recruit
Oppenheimer Blend recruits second year law students for our summer associate program, primarily through the on-campus interview process at Texas law schools. If you wish to interview with our firm, confirm that we will be at your school and, if so, be sure to register for an interview with us. If we are not coming to your school, don’t worry. Simply send us your cover letter, resume and transcript in early August so you may be considered along with the candidates we will be meeting at other schools.
Who We Recruit
Clearly we are looking for the best and the brightest candidates in their second year of law school. While there is no single mold into which all candidates will (or should) fit, stellar academics and writing skills are key. Equally as important are a candidate’s life experiences, work and education background and extra-curricular and community activities. Therefore, we also consider each candidate’s potential fit with our firm’s values and culture. Ultimately, the number of students hired for each summer associate class will depend upon the anticipated number of new associates we expect our practice groups will wish to hire in the year that class will graduate from law school.
The Summer Work Experience
Do you know what type of law you want to practice? Don’t worry; few, if any, second year law students have made this decision. Hopefully, our summer program can help you narrow your focus. We strongly believe that the summer associate program should provide each summer associate with a realistic view of what it is like to be a full time associate attorney at Oppenheimer Blend. Therefore, our program is designed to give each summer associate real world work assignments on real matters for real clients.
We start by making sure that no summer associate is pigeon-holed. In fact, our summer associates are not even assigned to a firm practice group. Instead, work assignments filter through the director of our summer associate program so that we can make sure that each summer associate is working in as many of our practice groups, and with as many of our attorneys, as possible. By doing so, it is our goal to provide each summer associate both with work experience in most, if not all, of our practice groups and with the opportunity to work with, and get to know, the attorneys in each practice group. Therefore, it is quite possible that on any given day, a summer associate may be drafting motions, doing legal research, attending a hearing, deposition or trial in a litigation matter, as well as reviewing and drafting documents or attending a meeting or a closing for a corporate or other transaction matter.
Mentoring
Each summer associate is assigned a shareholder mentor and an associate mentor from different practice groups to serve as a guide and resource for the summer. While a summer associate works on projects directly with the attorney assigning the project, mentors, in contrast, serve as a summer associate’s day to day contacts and are available to provide insight into firm events, firm culture, firm resources as well as perhaps a little extra guidance on work assignments.
Social Events
Of course all summer associate programs involve their fair share of social events. While anyone can host a party, our social events are designed with one purpose in mind – the furtherance of relationship building. Consistent with our family-oriented and informal culture, the social events hosted for the summer associates include casual happy hours, burger nights, movie nights and community service events during which the summer associates and the firm’s attorneys can get to know one another in a relaxed and friendly environment.
More Information
Law students interested in additional information regarding our summer associate program should contact:
Barbara Bentley
Director of Human Resources
bbentley@obht.com
At Oppenheimer Blend, we value diversity. As an equal opportunity employer, our policies prohibit unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.