The goal of FLH’s summer associate program is to give our summers real-life experience as an intellectual property attorney at FLH, as well as a detailed window into daily life at the Firm. We view the program as a compelling and effective training ground for bright, driven and passionate law students – many of whom will in the future serve as FLH’s newest attorneys.
When summers begin the program, they are assigned to a patent prosecution docket and also are staffed on an active litigation. This way, our summers are guaranteed to experience two key areas of intellectual property practice. We make it a point of matching each of our summers’ technical education and experience to the science of the docket or case. This way, we both tap our summers’ strengths and ensure they are positioned to participate as fully as possible in the matters to which they are assigned. Summers are intended to remain on these matters for the entire program in order to gain an appreciation of how we handle projects through various stages and critical events.
Throughout the 10-week program, summers receive additional work from all practice areas to allow for a well-rounded experience and thorough understanding of FLH’s many areas of expertise. To reinforce this knowledge, summers have a lunch with each of the practice groups to get an overview of all of the areas of law in which FLH practices – an excellent way to get to know the Firm and our attorneys.
We also strive to give our summers an in-depth introduction to life at our Washington, DC office. The DC office sits in the heart of the District and provides an important connection between FLH attorneys and many of the courts that hear FLH cases on a regular basis. This exciting proximity is a critical advantage for many of our clients – and for the development of our young attorneys.
For this reason, we ensure that all of our summers spend time in our DC office. While in DC, they attend an oral argument at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Before they attend the argument, our summers read the full briefing and discuss it with a partner so that they get the most out of the oral argument. They also tour the USPTO and attend a dinner with all DC partners, creating a thorough and informative introduction to our DC practice and presence.
The program routinely concludes with individual reviews of our summer associates, which includes input from both the partners and associates with whom the summer has worked. Offers for first year associate positions are generally made by mid-September, following the summer program.
Because of the thoroughness of the summer associate program, summers are not permitted to split their experience into 5-week segments.
back to Summer Associates