Mentoring is valuable on every level, but especially so for summer associates. Each summer is assigned one or two partner mentors and an associate mentor. The pairings may come from a recognition of common background or interest, or from a special connection made during the interview process.

By way of welcome, mentors take their summer associates to lunch when they first arrive; it’s the first of several meetings throughout the summer. Partner mentors are not only available to talk and advise, but often assign their mentees projects, helping to build true working relationships. Each summer associate also has the benefit of an additional, informal small group — usually a partner on the Recruiting Committee and several associates — who host dinners and informal gatherings for their group during the summer.

Affinity groups within the firm for women, African-American, Asian, Latino and LGBT lawyers host additional social functions to welcome summer associates to their community and the Firm.

But more than anything, perhaps, it’s the give and take of daily work that affords the most profitable mentoring opportunities. All Simpson Thacher lawyers assume a responsibility to engage our summer associates and contribute to a valuable summer experience. Both socially and professionally, the result of all this is exposure to a dynamic mixture of lawyers across practices and positions and a wealth of opportunities to learn.

The summer associate review process helps to close the mentoring circle. The process here mirrors that of permanent associates and provides prompt and specific feedback and appraisal. Supervising lawyers offer verbal work assessments both during assignments and at their completion. They then complete a written questionnaire, and a Recruiting Committee partner reviews all of these with each summer associate in mid-summer as well as at summer’s end.

We want feedback and advice to flow in the other direction as well. We welcome comment on ways to improve the quality of the summer experience. The mid-summer and final review is an excellent moment for this. Our partners and associates maintain an open door.