FAQs
Click on a question below to find out more about our summer program.
- What is the firm looking for in a summer associate?
Vorys is looking for students who have excellent academic records, who have demonstrated leadership and a strong work ethic through their past employment, extracurricular activities and other experiences, and who have a strong desire to do what we do – work collaboratively, creatively and vigorously to represent the needs and interests of our clients.
- How do I apply for a summer associate position?
Most of our summer associates are hired through the on-campus interview process. For a list of schools we visit to conduct on-campus interviews, click here. In addition, Vorys participates in a number of job fairs and other recruiting events in various cities. For more information on those opportunities, click here. If we are not interviewing at your school, or at a job fair in your region, we encourage you to submit a cover letter with your resume, transcript and writing sample to Bobbi Shoemaker, Legal Recruiting Coordinator, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, 52 E. Gay Street, P.O. Box 1008, Columbus, Ohio 43215.
- What are the start and end dates of the summer program?
Our start and end dates vary from year to year, but usually the summer program begins the Tuesday after Memorial Day and ends in late July or early August. The duration of the summer program is 10 weeks.
- Can I split my summer with another firm or between two of the firm’s offices?
We think it is very important that our summer associates spend their entire summer at Vorys and generally consider splits with other firms only under very special circumstances. We are often able to accommodate summer associates’ requests to spend some portion of their summer in one of our other offices. If this is something that is of interest to you, we ask that you let us know as early in your interviewing process as possible so that we can try to accommodate that request.
- What can I expect at a typical Vorys call-back?
Our call-backs normally consist of half-hour interviews from 9 a.m. until mid-afternoon, with a diverse group of our lawyers and include lunch with a few of our associates. We encourage candidates to let us know in advance of their call-backs if they would like to interview with lawyers in specific practice areas or with specific backgrounds.
- How quickly will I hear back after my call-back interview?
During the fall recruiting season, our hiring committee generally meets on a weekly basis to consider candidates, and endeavors to get back to candidates promptly.
- What kind of training and mentoring does the firm provide during the summer?
At Vorys, we take training and mentoring very seriously, both during the summer and throughout an associate’s career. In addition to “nuts and bolts” training regarding the firm’s computer, telephone, Lexis and other systems, all summer associates participate in multiple research and writing seminars, which include helpful tips and techniques from partners and associates. All summer associates also attend a 1-day seminar at the Columbus office to educate them about the firm’s practice and specialty groups, client base, and culture, history and traditions. The summer program also includes a number of topical presentations that vary from year to year depending on the interests of the summer class; in recent years, these presentations have included sessions on drafting contracts, performing due diligence, undertaking pro bono activities and other areas of interest to our summer associates.
- What opportunities are there to get to know the firm’s lawyers?
There are many opportunities to get to know Vorys’ lawyers, both inside and outside the firm. Through our project coordinator and partner mentor programs, discussed above, summer associates are matched with attorneys in formal mentoring relationships. Just as important, Vorys summer associates invariably develop informal mentoring relationships with attorneys throughout the firm. Also, as discussed in the summer program overview, we schedule a number of social activities throughout the summer, from sporting events to firmwide receptions to smaller and more intimate dinners at the homes of associates and partners.
- Will I have the opportunity to work on pro bono matters?
Vorys has a deep commitment to community service and pro bono work. We encourage our summer associates to volunteer for numerous pro bono activities. In recent years, our summer associates have volunteered their time on various pro bono matters, including local child advocacy/special education programs, local domestic violence programs and the bar association’s landlord/tenant advocacy program, as well as on cases for Lawyers for Justice.
- How will I receive assignments? What kind of assignments will I get?
Each summer associate is matched with a midlevel or senior associate who acts as the summer associate’s project coordinator and associate mentor for the summer. The project coordinators meet weekly with the partner in charge of the summer program to review and assign pending projects based on summer associates’ availability and interest. Summer associates who have particular practice areas in mind are encouraged to make that known so that their project coordinators can obtain appropriate projects.
In addition to projects assigned through the weekly process, summer associates are often asked to work on “rush” projects as they come in from clients, to follow up and/or expand on earlier projects, and to work closely with their partner mentor on a project throughout the summer.
- How will I receive feedback and evaluations?
After you complete a project, the lawyer with whom you worked on the project will fill out a written evaluation of your work and will sit down with you to review the evaluation. Your project coordinator also will review with you, as they are completed, each of the written evaluations you receive.
- How does Vorys make its hiring decisions at the end of the summer?
Our hiring committee meets at the end of the summer, after all of the summer associates have left, and carefully reviews the written evaluations of the summer associates’ work product as well as comments received from the project coordinators, partner mentors, and other lawyers who had contact with the summer associates. The criteria that the hiring committee uses to make hiring decisions at the end of the summer is not much different from the criteria it uses in making decisions to hire students for the summer: we look for students who have consistently provided us with excellent work product, who have demonstrated leadership potential and strong work ethic, and who have shown us that they have a strong desire to do what we do -- work collaboratively, creatively and vigorously to represent the needs and interests of our clients.