In Business Las Vegas, June 22nd, 2007
Call them interns, call them clerks — heck, some even simply call them summers — either way, the law school students who come to
Las Vegas
every summer to work are expected to do much more than simply fetch the coffee.
Every summer, dozens of plucky, young would-be lawyers pack up their best slacks, skirts and ties and seek their futures in the law firms of
Las Vegas
. While in other cities summer interns might still be treated only slightly better than the dregs in the bottom of the communal coffee pot, in
Las Vegas
most firms treat them with respect and put countless hours into training and guiding them. Law internships here are not an opportunity for cheap, short-term labor, but a months-long job interview.
"I don't think there is one law student coming into this process who doesn't have the fear of God put into them about being buried in work and worked to death," said
Eric
Gassman, a summer clerk
at Kummer Kaempfer Bonner Renshaw & Ferrario. "It's been anything but. It's been interesting and challenging but not stressful. For the first week I kept waiting for the shoe to drop and it just wasn't there."
Gassman
just completed his second year of law school at McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific in
Sacramento
. He was drawn to
Las Vegas
because he has family here and because he thinks it is one of the few growing markets where he could distinguish himself. If the partners of Kummer Kaempfer are pleased with his work this summer, he will be offered a job.
The opportunity for advancement here is almost limitless.
James
Smyth
started at Kummer Kaempfer as a runner, became a summer clerk and eventually worked his way up to partner. It is examples like that and the ever-expanding nature of the market here that has droves of ambitious law students applying for summer internships.
"Coming out of law school I want to be in a pretty place, but a place with growth and potential,"
Gassman
said. "I think there's a lot more opportunity here than in
California
. There's a lot more niches to fill. That was probably the biggest pull to come out here."
His fellow
summer clerk, Valerie
Del Grosso
, is a
Las Vegas
native attending Pepperdine University School of Law in Southern California
. She pointed out that for those lucky enough to land an internship at a firm focused on training the next generation of associates, the experience can be life-changing. She is currently working in the firm's litigation practice, digging through documents.
"I like it because there's a disconnect in school between what you're studying and what you're going to be doing. And you have problems with confidence,"
Del Grosso
said. "Being in the office every day builds that confidence and helps take some of the mystery out of it."
Kummer Keampfer sends its summer clerks through at least three departments during their eight- to 10-week tenure. The firm wants the summer clerkships to be a process of self-discovery as well as an opportunity to dig into real legal work. Associates at the firm hand off some of their excess workload to interns, each of whom is assigned a mentor. They are also required to attend weekly training sessions in which they discuss everything from ethics, billing and case scenarios to balancing work and home life.
"We treat the clerks like any associate. They have the same expectations on them as any lawyer in the firm," said Kummer Kaempfer
Partner
Bob
Gronauer
. "Our clerks are definitely busy. They don't just get to sit back and enjoy life."
Interns here are recruited from those applicants law firms feel are most likely to want to remain in Southern Nevada
. The major firms get hundreds of applications each year from across the country. That was not always the case.
"In the old days you'd use the intern program because it was hard to get people to come here, because if you could get them to come for a summer, you could convince them to stay," said
Paul
Hejmenowski, a partner
, of Lionel Sawyer and Collins. "Now it's a sought-after location. We started getting thousands of applications for permanent positions and that old idea disappeared. (Internships) are now an extended interview and you can find out if someone is a bad fit — you can find out if someone is going to fit in with the culture or not."
As the
Las Vegas
legal community grows in prominence nationally, law firms still have to contend with the fact that this city — and region — is not a good fit for everyone. Every firm has a different tactic for weeding out those they feel might not make it in the long term.
"What you're really looking for, when you're looking for summer associates, is people who will become permanent associates for the firm,"
Hejmenowski
said. "No intern program can support itself economically, in terms of the investment in the intern, unless they return to work for you."
