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Law360 (May 5, 2020, 9:41 PM EDT ) Milbank LLP and Fenwick & West LLP confirmed Tuesday they have pushed back the start dates of their summer associate programs, the latest firms to amend their summer offerings as the COVID-19 pandemic slams the legal industry.
Milbank will offer a 10-week program that is slated to begin June 8, while Fenwick will operate a six-week program that is scheduled to start June 15, according to firm officials. Both programs will be operated virtually.
Fenwick will provide a stipend to participants in May, according to the firm.
In an email sent Tuesday to its summer program participants, Milbank said it opted to keep the program at 10 weeks because it wants its summer associates to get to know as many people in the firm's community as possible before they begin work as first-year associates.
"A remote summer program is not what you or we ever envisioned, but our goal remains the same: to give you the most representational experience we can," the email says. "It won't be perfect, but we will learn as we go, as we all have over the past weeks."
Many firms have opted to amend their summer program offerings in the novel coronavirus' wake. On Monday, Ropes & Gray LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC confirmed adjustments.
Latham announced that its program would run for eight weeks, starting June 1, and would be entirely remote; Wilson Sonsini, which previously said it would shorten its program, confirmed that it would hold the program virtually; and Ropes & Gray said it would offer a remote, five-week program starting July 6 and would pay associates their full expected salary.
Other firms have opted to cut their programs entirely: Nixon Peabody LLP confirmed Monday that it has canceled its 2020 summer associate program. It was the first firm to do so without also promising to extend job offers to the second-year law students affected.
Although the firm said it planned to offer first-year law students who were selected as summer associates a spot in the program in 2021, it did not follow in the footsteps of the other firms that have taken the same step and assured 2L summer associates that they would receive job offers after graduation.
Nixon Peabody will offer summer associates a $5,000 stipend, a firm representative said.
The firm has also deferred the start date of its incoming 2020 first-year associates "until we can better anticipate future client needs," the representative said. Those deferred associates will receive $10,000 salary advances, according to the firm.
--Additional reporting by Emma Cueto. Editing by Michael Watanabe.
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