Splitting Your Summer
1. Should I split my summer between two employers?
2. What about trying to split between two firms in the same city?
3. My 1L summer firm has asked me to return for part of the summer – is this standard?
4. What if I'd like to split between a public interest organization or a government employer and a
firm?
5. When should I ask the firms if they are open to a split?
6. How do I convince the firms to let me split?
7. Does OCS have any tips on getting firms to let you stay on after their program formally ends?
1. Should I split my summer between two employers?
This is a decision only you can make. Given the SLS calendar constraints, it may be tough to find a firm that
would be willing to take you second half of the summer. And, in this market, you may want to think twice about
giving firms the impression that you’re not as committed to them as the other summer associates. That being
said, each year we’ve had students split their summers and have very positive experiences that have ended in
offers. But, let’s look more closely at the issues.
Pros:
Splitting can be a great opportunity to live and work in two different cities or to explore the differences
between big and small firms or private firms and public interest/public sector organizations.
Splitting can also provide some measure of comfort because you're not betting all of your money on one
employer. You'll (hopefully) have two employers from which to choose - if you have a bad experience at
one, you can accept the offer from the other.
Splitting may give you the opportunity to work a longer summer and get more experience.
Cons:
Splitting leaves little room for mistakes. Six or seven weeks goes by very quickly! If you split, you'll have
less time to make a good impression on both employers. If one attorney is unhappy with your work, you
won't have much time to change his or her mind. Although splitting gives you an opportunity to explore
different career options, you need to keep in mind your ultimate goal (at least with firms) – to get a
permanent job offer. Contrary to the rumors, firms will not "ding" you simply because you split. After all,
they’ve agreed to let you do it! However, splitters tend to be at slightly higher risk of not receiving an
offer. If you're the type who takes awhile to acclimate yourself to a new environment, i.e. it takes time for
people to get to know you and vice versa, you should think twice about splitting. Firms may hesitate to
extend an offer to someone whom very few attorneys have gotten to know.
Office of Career Services * OCS@law.stanford.edu * 650.723.3924
If you decide to split, keep in mind that you'll need to do more in less time than those students who are at
the employer for the whole summer. You need to make sure that you take on enough projects with
enough attorneys that they can easily make a decision about your work product. However, for firms, you
also need to socialize. You don't have the luxury of the full-summer students to skip a lot of the planned
social events. You have to convince the firm that you are serious about them, which you can only do by
both working hard AND socializing with attorneys.
The calendar isn’t your friend in this market. Firms nowadays have hard beginning and end dates to their
programs. In addition, their end dates tend to be late July/early August – which makes it tough to get
enough weeks in. You might be able to get an additional week or two, but firms are focused on OCI in
August and really want the students gone from the summer program.
Most firms, and some of the government agencies, require that you spend at least 8 weeks with
them. Often, you can negotiate at least one of them down to 6 or 7 weeks. However, even if you get
both employers down to 7 weeks, it means that you'll have only one week of vacation. In addition, your
moves (to and from school and to your different jobs) will most likely be hectic. You'll have to move over
the weekend and you'll have little time to make the transition from one place to another. It also means
that you are likely to be spending some time at an employer after their formal program is over. In short,
even if firms agree to keep you on after many of the other summer associates have left, the program will
be winding down quickly. And while the extra time may address the acclimation issues, it does not erase
the other issues in the pros and cons of splitting.
2. My 1L summer firm has asked me to return for part of the summer – is this standard?
Yes. Most firms do not consider the 2-3 weeks that you need to spend with your 1L-summer firm to be a true
“split.” If you're concerned about it, when you call to accept your offer, mention your commitment when you
discuss start/end dates (i.e. "What I'm thinking about right now is starting the week after finals and working
th
through July 30 and then fulfilling my 2-week summer commitment with Jones, Smith in August. Would those
dates work for you?").
Also, be sure to verify with your 1L firm that they will take you later in the summer. Some firms expect you to
return for the first half for 4+ weeks. You need to know that before you negotiate with your 2L summer firm.
3. What about trying to split between two firms in the same city?
Most firms REALLY frown upon this. They believe that, through the interview process, students should be able to
figure out which firm they like best in a particular city. Firms are much more likely to agree to a split if you're
splitting between two cities or between the public and private sector.
4. What if I'd like to split between a public interest organization or a government employer and a firm?
As mentioned above, public interest employers are generally open to splits. Firms also tend to be more open to
splits with public interest or government employers, because they recognize that the public interest experience is
quite different and one that students may want/need to compare to the private sector. Most firms will insist on the
first half and may ask for more weeks, i.e. a 9 wk/6 wk split. It's all a matter of negotiation once you have an offer.
Once you have a sense of how flexible your firm can be, call and talk with the P/IPS employer. Can they take you
in August/September (many can) or for only 5 – 7 weeks. Just keep in mind that working through September
means that you will have to miss OCI or arrange with your employer some way to be on campus on particular
days.
Some firms actually sponsor split public interest summers. So, not only do they allow a student to split, they also
PAY for the student's stint at the public interest organization. You can view a list of firms sponsoring splits in the
Employer Research Tools section of our website (under Law Firm Surveys and Rankings  Public Interest Law
Firms).
Office of Career Services * OCS@law.stanford.edu * 650.723.3924
5. When should I ask the firms if they are open to a split?
It never hurts to ask about splitting. Employers will not hold against you the fact that you wanted to split.
However, HOW you ask can affect you chances of ultimately getting an offer from the employer. If you're overly
aggressive, demanding or peevish, you'll make a bad first impression that will be hard to overcome.
Our advice is to not ask firms about splitting until you receive an offer. If firms know during the interview process
that you intend to split, it may affect their decision to extend an offer. If you'd like to get a sense of which
employers allow split summers, take a look at their NALP forms on NALP Directory. One of the questions on that
form is "Do you allow split summers?"
6. How do I convince the employers to let me split?
Most public interest and government employers are open to splitting, particularly if you're volunteering. Firms,
however, are reluctant to allow splitting because they don't feel that they get as much of an opportunity to view
your work as they would if you stayed the whole summer. Also, historically, firms have lower returns on
splitters. Consequently, you need to convince employers that in your case, splitting makes sense. For instance,
if you want to split between two cities, emphasize that your struggle is over where you ultimately want to live - not
over which firm is best. Also mention that splitting would allow you to make a better-informed decision.
Keep in mind that the tougher sell will be the employer with whom you'd like to spend the second half of the
summer. Firms are reluctant to allow a second-half split because statistics have shown that the rate of return
from such splits is much lower than that for first-half splits. Additionally, they tend to “front load” their events and
training programs, so you can miss a lot by starting in the middle of the summer. Again, you need to convince
them that it is in their best interest to allow you to split.
Perhaps the biggest issue nowadays is with the shorter summer programs mentioned above. If you spend 7 or 8
st
nd
weeks at the 1 firm, you’ll be asking to come to the 2 firm in August, right when they’re ending their formal
summer program. So, you’ll have to convince them that they should keep you on while they’re in the midst of fall
recruiting. See our tips below.
7. Does OCS have any tips on getting firms to let you stay on after their program formally ends?
Most firms have set beginning and ending dates for their summer programs, and most summer programs end in
late July or the first week in August. Firms have set end dates for several reasons: 1) on-campus recruiting starts
in early August and many firms don't have the bandwidth to run both a summer program and fall recruiting at the
same time; 2) some firms like to make offers only after all summers have left, so having them all leave at the
same time makes that process much easier; and 3) many attorneys take vacation in August, so it is more difficult
to staff summers on projects and/or continue to provide them with the kind of attention and mentorship that they
received earlier in the summer. So convincing a firm to consider a second half split may be a tough sell –
certainly a tougher sell than just having you stay on a few more weeks. However, it doesn’t hurt to try. Here are
some points that will strengthen your argument:
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You're not looking for special treatment. You're just hoping to be able to make an informed decision, so
you want to do some work for the firm and get to know more about them and vice versa.
You won't need any hand holding or entertaining. You understand that August is very busy for the
recruiting committee and staff and, so, would expect that that there will not be social events and summer
training programs. You could say you're happy to be there working and aren’t interested in the social
events.
You know you're asking for an accommodation and you are VERY grateful for whatever flexibility the firm
can have on this.
Office of Career Services * OCS@law.stanford.edu * 650.723.3924
Two other points:
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Be prepared to compromise. You may not be able to convince them to let you stay until September 17th,
but they might be willing to let you stay through August.
Don't push it. If, after you give them your pitch, the firm still seems reluctant to take second half, don't
press them. This is not the time to show them your brilliant advocacy skills.
As always, for questions concerning Fall OCI logistics or Symplicity, contact Melissa Leger at
Melissa@law.stanford.edu.
For general career and job search advice - contact one of the OCS advisors:
Deidre Sparks, dsparks@law.stanford.edu
Elizabeth Di Giovanni, earmand@law.stanford.edu
Jo Anne Larson, jlarson@law.stanford.edu
Nicole Pitman, npitman@law.stanford.edu
Susan Robinson, susanr@law.stanford.edu
Zeenat Basrai, zbasrai@law.stanford.edu
Office of Career Services * OCS@law.stanford.edu * 650.723.3924