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Law Students

Who says you can't have it all? 

Let's start with exceptional training for our Summer Associates and Attorneys. But it's not just our training programs that set us apart. We take a sincere personal interest in each of our new attorneys and we do our best to ensure they not only succeed as lawyers, but also enjoy what they do -- and the people with whom they practice law.

We hope you will picture yourself at Sheppard Mullin -- a firm that will take the time to invest in you and your future.

Click here for just some of our many benefits for associates.

On-Campus Recruiting

Sheppard Mullin attorneys interview at approximately 25 national and regional law schools each recruiting cycle, and the firm also participates in various job fairs across the US. Our attorneys interview second-year (or third-year evening) students only during this process.  

Visiting Your Law School: Each Sheppard Mullin office selects the schools where it wishes to interview. If you are interested in a particular office that is not represented at your law school, or if our schedules are full, you are welcome to apply directly through our website.

Receiving A Callback: Our on-campus interviewers extend callback invitations as soon as possible after the interview day. However, if you interview with an attorney from an office that is not your preferred location, the attorney will forward your resume to the desired office, in which case it may take a little longer for you to hear back from us. 

We attempt to notify students by email as soon as possible following the on-campus interview if they are not receiving a callback. So that the firm does not over-recruit, our attorneys are given authority to extend only a certain number of callbacks and often have difficult decisions to make. We may put students on a waitlist following a campus visit if our interviewers want to exceed their quota.

The Callback: Students will usually interview with 4-5 attorneys in our office. The interviews will typically last around 2 hours.

After The Callback: Each office's Recruiting Committee meets periodically to review evaluations of students. We strive to notify students of the results of their callback as soon as possible.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to interview with more than one Sheppard Mullin office if different offices are on campus the same day?

If we have separate schedules representing different Sheppard Mullin offices, you should sign up to interview with each office in which you have an interest. If a single schedule represents multiple offices, please be sure that the interviewer knows the office(s) in which you are most interested.

How soon should I expect to hear back from the firm after the OCI?

Decisions to extend callbacks to students are usually made within a few days after the interview. Occasionally we will put students "on hold" if we are over-subscribed at a particular school.

If I receive a callback, how do I go about arranging it?

You will be given the contact information for the recruiting coordinator in the office to which you are invited. We appreciate early notification if you intend to accept the invitation, even if you are not yet in a position to select an interview date.

What travel expenses does the firm reimburse?

The firm will pay directly for flights and hotel rooms as needed through its travel agent. Please save your receipts for expenses such as transportation to and from airports and hotels, and meals related to the interview trip, for reimbursement after you return home. Please submit your request for reimbursement within 30 days of your callback. Please click here for NALP's Travel Expense Reimbursement form.

How soon after the callback will I hear from the firm?

The firm tries to get back to students within a week of their callback interview. Delays beyond that are usually due to the timing of each office's Recruiting Committee meetings. On occasion, students may be put on “hold” pending resolution of previous offers.

Summer Associate Program

Sheppard Mullin places a major emphasis on its Summer Associate Program as the primary vehicle to attract high-achieving law students from diverse backgrounds to the firm. The program is designed to acquaint students with the firm's practices (through hands-on work experience) and lawyers (through a variety of fun social activities). By the end of their summer, summer associates gain a full and realistic exposure to the range and quality of the firm’s work, the structure of the firm and the personality of the office.

Sheppard Mullin's Summer Associate Program has consistently secured high rankings in national surveys.  Throughout this decade, our annual firm-wide score in The American Lawyer has always been above 4.5.   

What To Expect

We structure our Summer Associate Program to give law students a realistic view of the way we practice throughout the year. Our summer associates do meaningful work for clients of the firm and work closely with partners and associates in practice fields that they select. In the past, our summer associates have drafted briefs and other pleadings, credit agreements, acquisition agreements and other significant legal documents. Summer associates also attend depositions and court hearings, and work on pro bono projects with supervising attorneys. Our attorneys are urged to provide feedback to summer associates when a project has been completed, and each student receives a mid-summer and end-of-summer review.

The pay range for this 10-week position is $215,000 - $215,000 per year, or $4135 per week for our summer associates in 2023.  Please note that the foregoing compensation information is a good-faith assessment associated with this position only and is provided pursuant to the New York City Salary Transparency Law. 

Social Events

The purpose of our Summer Associate Program is to recruit students who will return to Sheppard Mullin as associates and form a lasting relationship with the firm. To that end, we provide our summer associates with opportunities to become well-acquainted with the partners and associates in the office, and with the cultural resources of the region in which the office is located. Events in our various offices during past summers include beach days, white-water rafting, sailing, scavenger hunts, art tours, and cooking classes. Summer associates are invited to cocktail parties and dinner parties at attorneys' homes, giving them a perspective on the lives of our lawyers outside the office. Summer associates also attend cultural and sporting events, including music and theater productions and major league baseball games.

Sheppard Mullin provides an extensive hands-on training program to summer associates in all of our U.S. offices. 

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does the summer program run?

Our Summer Associate Program typically runs for 10 weeks starting in mid-May and concluding in late July. Adjustments can be made for students attending schools that are on the quarter system. We do not allow students to split their summer with another employer.

What do I wear to the office?

All of our offices are "Dress for your Day" but summer associates should keep a suit easily accessible for important meetings.

What kind of mentoring will I have?

Summer associates have at least one associate mentor and, in some offices, two.

Are spouses or significant others included in events?

Our general rule of thumb is that spouses or other guests are included in events which take place over the weekend.

New York City Local Law No. 144 Notice

Pursuant to New York City Local Law No. 144, Sheppard Mullin provides the following disclosures:

Sheppard Mullin uses the automated employment decision tool Suited to assess candidates who seek employment with the firm as attorneys, including candidates who reside in New York City.  Suited exclusively collects and analyzes psychometric data provided by individual candidates during each candidate’s assessment.  Pursuant to its data retention policy, Sheppard Mullin retains candidate scores generated by Suited for three (3) years.  For more information regarding Sheppard Mullin’s use of Suited, please contact Caroline Menes at (310) 228-6163 or cmenes@sheppardmullin.com.

To access Sheppard Mullin’s most recent bias audit of Suited, please click the following link: Audit Results (notion.site)

Recruiting Contacts

Century City

Chicago

Dallas

Del Mar

Houston

Los Angeles

New York

Orange County

San Diego

San Francisco

Silicon Valley

Washington, D.C.

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to the maintenance of an employment environment which is welcoming of persons from diverse backgrounds and free from unlawful discrimination and harassment, and in which all of the legal rights of our employees are recognized and protected. Unlawful discrimination based upon race, color, religious creed, sex, gender, pregnancy, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status, genetic information, medical condition, physical or mental disability, military and veteran status, and all other characteristics proscribed by law is strictly prohibited.


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