The basic choices for a law student's second summer are working as a summer associate in a law firm, which usually pays well; working for a nonprofit public interest organization, which usually pays nothing; and gathering more law school credits in academic programs, domestic or foreign, which costs the student money. Some students cobble together summers that involve a combination of these options. They split their summers, for example, between working for a nonprofit and at a law firm or between two different firms or between a nonprofit and a study-abroad program. Sometimes, these split summers are coordinated, with the whole summer paid for by a law firm. A handful of law firms around the country have organized programs that allow some summer associates to split their time between working at the firm and working at a nonprofit or government organization—while being paid for the whole summer. Because firm programs differ in scope and requirements, we will look at a few of them, along with more traditional ways for a law student—first- or second-year—to spend the summer. All of the summer associates at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius are given the opportunity to join the firm's Public Interest and Community Service (PICS) program. Law students working at any of the firm's offices—including Los Angeles; Miami; New York; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; or Washington, DC—can opt to work at least six weeks at the firm, and then the rest of the summer at a nonprofit organization or government agency. "They're all encouraged to participate," says Eric Kraeutler, Chair of the firm-wide professional recruiting committee and partner in Morgan Lewis' Philadelphia office. Morgan Lewis' summer-associate roster is about 80 students, spread among all its offices and mostly rising third-years. At least a quarter of those participate in the PICS program every year, says Kraeutler. Also, Morgan Lewis pays its summer associates for ten weeks of work—whether the work is all done at the firm or split between the firm and a nonprofit group. The law student's stipend is based on the firm's first-year-associate salary, prorated for three months. "We pay at the top of the market" for each city where the summer associate is working, says Kraeutler. Some firms with split-summer programs limit the number of summer associates who may participate. Some also preselect the public interest groups that qualify for the program. Others do not pay the same rate for law students while they do the public interest portion of their summer. Morgan Lewis offers the PICS program to all the associates hired for the summer and, for the public interest piece of the summer, allows those participating to choose from a list of suggested organizations in that city or propose their own organization. The firm developed the list five years ago at the program's inception. "We put our focus in services to the indigent," says Kraeutler, although summer associates are also encouraged to work for arts, charitable, and policy organizations. The firm's Philadelphia list includes the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, the September 11 Victims' Compensation Fund, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights, and Community Legal Services. In Washington, Morgan Lewis' summer associates can work at the Kennedy Center for the Arts, National Public Radio, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In New York, some have worked at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office; in Los Angeles, at the Feminist Majority Foundation and the Asian Pacific Legal Center. "It's a very long list," says Kraeutler, and "often, they have their own proposals based on their interests." The firm's representatives tell law students about the PICS program during recruitment. After the firm accepts its summer associates, they receive more information on the program and how it's run. In late winter and early spring of their second year, the firm helps the next summer's associates identify the groups where they would like to work and set it all up. At the firm, summer associates can select assignments among practice areas in a particular office. The summer associate will "determine the content of her program based on her interest," says Kraeutler. Then, when the summer associates move on to work with the outside nonprofit groups, they usually do similar work to what they did in the firm, such as legal research, says Kraeutler. The reasons behind the PICS program's creation at Morgan Lewis are threefold, explains Kraeutler. First and foremost, "it's consistent with what we view as our mission," says Kraeutler, of doing pro bono work. The split-summer program is also intended to attract top law students to the firm, which "it has," says Kraeutler. And those summer associates who choose to participate are "consistent with what we look for" when the firm is hiring, says Kraeutler: law students who are "energetic, with many interests, and care about the community."

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