The Bowles Rice Summer Clerk Program is designed to provide a realistic, informative and well-balanced experience that provides each of our participants with a full picture of our firm, our practice areas and the quality of life in the cities in which we live and work. The program also gives the firm an opportunity to get to know and evaluate each summer clerk as a potential associate upon his or her law school graduation.
We recognize that our clerks come to Bowles Rice with varying degrees of experience or knowledge of how a law firm operates and with a wide range of professional expectations. Our kick-off orientation program gives our new and returning clerks a clear understanding of what to expect and introduces them to the lawyers, staff and other students with whom they will be working.
Each summer clerk is paired with a Bowles Rice lawyer as a mentor, to ensure that the clerk has the opportunity to participate in all aspects of the summer program and receives a well-rounded experience. Their mentor is the summer clerk’s principal contact for general firm matters and questions.
Our summer clerks are not assigned to a particular department. Instead, the assignment of cases is done by two lawyer coordinators who provide each clerk with assignments and practical experience in as many practice areas and with as many attorneys as possible, including not only research and drafting assignments, but also participation in meetings, closings, depositions and observation of trials. We provide the clerks with feedback on the projects they are assigned so that there is a complete learning experience during their stay.
Summer clerks from all Bowles Rice offices come together to participate in weekly meetings with the aid of our video conferencing technology. As a group, they also visit two or three of the firm’s offices during the summer, which provides additional opportunities for them to interact with lawyers, learn about the firm’s practice areas and clients in our different locations and have some fun.
That’s right – fun! We believe it is important for our clerks to get to know us, and each other, on a more personal level, and we plan a full complement of social activities (such as a whitewater rafting trip, firm-wide parties, baseball games, small dinners at attorneys’ homes, organized and unorganized athletics, and other informal gatherings) to encourage such interaction.
In short, our goal is to create an experience for each of our summer clerks that is informative, enjoyable and provides a perspective on the practice of law at Bowles Rice that we believe compares favorably with any other firm, anywhere.
