Summer Clerkship Program
"This summer at Bowles Rice has been educational, immersive, and fun. Every employee of Bowles Rice is helpful, friendly, and willing to guide their summer clerks in the right direction to produce the best possible work. Throughout the summer, the attorneys ensured I was exposed to various legal fields and different types of assignments, which has prepared me well to go back to law school in the fall. I am grateful for this experience and know I will use the skills I honed here for the rest of my legal career."
Elizabeth Stern
Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University
2024 Summer Clerk | Southpointe Office
"I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to spend a second summer with Bowles Rice. The firm has allowed me to work with a number of practice groups and gain invaluable experience. The culture provides for a great learning environment — where exploring new practice areas is encouraged. Most importantly, the attorneys at Bowles Rice are friendly and welcoming to all their summer clerks. The firm’s efforts to make their summer clerkship program a meaningful and enjoyable experience is what sets it apart. I cannot recommend a Bowles Rice clerkship enough!"
Gage Herb
West Virginia University College of Law
2024 Summer Clerk | Parkersburg Office
"I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work with the amazing Bowles Rice attorneys and staff this summer. I had the privilege of working closely with seasoned attorneys in several practice areas on a range of assignments. Bowles Rice has given me an invaluable experience of honing my analytical skills, deepening my understanding of legal principles, and allowing me to network with some of the leading attorneys in the state. The firm fosters a supportive and collaborative environment that has motivated me to step outside my comfort zone and has reinforced my passion for pursuing a career in law."
Taylor Cochran
West Virginia University College of Law
2024 Summer Clerk | Charleston Office
“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work with the amazing Bowles Rice attorneys and staff this summer. I had the privilege of working closely with seasoned attorneys in several practice areas on a range of assignments. Bowles Rice has given me an invaluable experience of honing my analytical skills, deepening my understanding of legal principles, and allowing me to network with some of the leading attorneys in the state. The firm fosters a supportive and collaborative environment that has motivated me to step outside my comfort zone and has reinforced my passion for pursuing a career in law."
Hunter Mullens
University of Pittsburgh School of Law
2024 Summer Clerk | Morgantown Office
"As a clerk that returned for a second summer, I have now twice seen the effort made by Bowles Rice to make each summer an individualized and personal learning experience. The attorney’s and staff are always willing to lend a much needed helping hand in the experience of learning how to be a lawyer (while also having fun). I will always be grateful to Bowles Rice for providing me with practical legal knowledge and skills that I can take into my last year at law school. For any clerk searching for a firm to provide you with practice in a variety of legal fields or searching for a firm to help you grow in a particular field, Bowles Rice is the place for you."
Sabrina Taylor-Perotti
West Virginia University College of Law
2024 Summer Clerk | Martinsburg Office
"The Summer Clerk Program at Bowles Rice was a phenomenal experience. The firm is filled with so many wonderful people and I will truly cherish the relationships I have built over the course of this summer. The work that was given to me was challenging yet rewarding, and I learned so much about so many different areas of the law. I feel as if I will go into my 2L year with a much better understanding of the law due to the assignments I have completed and helpful feedback that I have been given. I cannot thank the staff and the attorneys enough for all they have done to accommodate me and my fellow clerks this summer, and I am sincerely grateful for this opportunity."
Ben Greear
West Virginia University College of Law
2024 Summer Clerk | Charleston Office
“Being a summer law clerk at Bowles Rice is an experience that I will be forever grateful for. Despite being in the Southpointe, PA office, as summer clerks we got to interact regularly with our peers and got to work on assignments through all different offices. It never ceased to amaze me how supportive and over the top thoughtful the people at this firm are from the top down. The attorneys assigning work have always gone above and beyond to support me in my assignments, provide legal work related to my specific interests, and explain the bigger picture on the projects I assisted with. I have felt nothing but supported throughout the summer and hope I was able to make meaningful contributions to a place that was so good to me."
Drew Gudenburr
Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University
2024 Summer Clerk | Southpointe Office
"I am very thankful that I chose to work at Bowles Rice this summer. Bowles Rice is one of the top firms in this region with top attorneys in every practice area, and yet, they still prioritize a family and team-first culture. All of the attorneys and staff are available for you to reach out to and ask questions. The firm and summer program prioritize you to make sure that you get to work in the areas that you are interested in, while ensuring you have some time outside of work to enjoy the city. Again, I am very grateful that Bowles Rice gave me such great legal and learning experience and let me join their outstanding team and family."
Aaron Cobb
West Virginia University College of Law
2024 Summer Clerk | Charleston Office
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, projects are assigned by a team of lawyers who strive to provide each clerk with work and practical experience in as many practice areas and with as many attorneys as possible. This includes not only research and drafting assignments, but also participation in meetings, closings, depositions and observation of trials. Clerks are provided with feedback on their projects, 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 use of our video conferencing technology. As a group, they also visit two or three of the firm's offices during the summer. This provides additional opportunities for them to interact with lawyers, learn about the firm's practice areas and clients in our different offices 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.