The purpose of our summer program is to introduce law students to the real-world practice of law and to build relationships with individuals who will, we hope, become our colleagues. We also hope to introduce our summer associates to all that living in Greenville – a vibrant, growing community – has to offer.
We are looking for exceptional lawyers, so we begin by looking for exceptional law students. Our hiring criteria include high academic standing, membership on law reviews or other significant journals, honor society memberships, judicial clerkships, and a demonstration of vitality and enthusiasm for extracurricular interests.
We participate in the official on-campus interview programs at Duke University, Harvard University, University of North Carolina, University of South Carolina, University of Virginia and Yale University, and we enthusiastically accept résumés from law students at schools where we do not participate in formal interview programs. Our 2007 summer associates were from Duke, Harvard and Virginia.
Wyche summer associates work on real matters for real clients. Summer associates frequently attend depositions, help prepare for trials, go to court, participate in business negotiations, assist with closings, research federal and state law, draft documents – all under the guidance of a seasoned attorney. We make every effort to expose summer associates to a wide variety of practice areas in our firm. We believe that, in the practice of law, you cannot know what you like until you try it.
The Wyche summer program runs from July through August. We encourage all summer associates, especially first-year students, to split their summers between two legal jobs. We believe it is important for students to experience a variety of law practices and firm cultures before they make a permanent decision about where they will practice and what kind of law they will pursue. We require that summer associates spend a minimum of four weeks with us.
Offers for second- and third-year law students are extended throughout the fall semester on a rolling basis but generally after we have interviewed most of the students we expect to have visit us. Offers for first-year law students are extended throughout the spring semester in a similar manner.
We typically host four to eight law students in our summer associate program. Keeping our summer associate program small allows us to get to know all summer associates and ensure that they are fully engaged in the firm’s practice and culture.
From hikes in the nearby mountains to canoeing and kayaking on mountain lakes, a Wyche summer associate will see the beauty of the area. In addition to these outdoor events, there are excellent dining and theatre evenings at the Peace Center for the Performing Arts and local music and comedy clubs. A private tour of the Greenville County Art Museum led by the curator is scheduled every year. Downtown Greenville also hosts a variety of evening concerts and outdoor movies that are within walking distance of the office. The BI-LO Center, a 12,000 seat arena, often books major concert tours and sporting events during the summer.
You can volunteer, or you may be drafted, to join our River Rats softball team. Our enthusiasm on the field is driven by our natural competitive spirit (we have won the championship in our law league division for the last two years) and the prospect of cold beer and pizza after the game. And then, to get tips from the pros, there's an evening at beautiful West End Field to watch the Greenville Drive, the Single-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, hit a few out of the park.
Many of our summer associates seek clerkships or other prestigious legal opportunities before they seek permanent employment with our firm. Although we will hire graduating law students directly from our summer program, many of our current members and associates came to us after spending several years with large law firms in New York, Washington, Atlanta, and other cities, and/or one or more years of judicial clerkship after summer clerkships at Wyche. We do not follow the practice of many firms that hire large numbers of associates with the knowledge that most of them will never become members (to the contrary, although we obviously cannot guarantee membership, we anticipate that every associate we hire will eventually become a member of the firm), and our size and culture do not permit us to hire a large number of entry-level associates at any given time. Thus, Wyche generally does not make formal offers of permanent employment to any summer associate unless and until the candidate requests that an offer be made and is prepared seriously to consider permanent employment with the firm. Similarly, students who clerk with our firm following their first year of law school should indicate to us at the end of the summer whether they are interested in a summer clerkship following their second year of law school. In addition, with regard to those students seeking judicial clerkships, formal offers of permanent employment are not extended until they have begun their clerkships and received authorization from their judges to apply.
Marshall Winn, Chair of the Recruiting Committee
Fritzie Mumford, Recruiting Coordinator