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Alex Gallucci, left, a second-year law student at Notre Dame, said an internship like the one he’s completing at WNJ this summer, helps provide meaningful experience that only hands-on work can provide. PHOTO: JOE BOOMGAARD

By Kym Reinstadler | Knowledge
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GRAND RAPIDS — Summer brings a new class of law students eager to intern with West Michigan law firms.

For second-year law students, summer internships are essentially a 10-week job interview that they hope will culminate with an offer of employment. For law firms, internships are a summer-long discovery process. They scrutinize interns to identify those with talents that will enhance the firm.

“We look for professional and personal characteristics that shine through in the course of doing real, high-level legal work,” said Brian Masternak, a partner at Warner Norcross & Judd and chair of the firm’s recruitment committee.

“We’re looking for lawyers who will take ownership of a client’s problem as his or her own,” Masternak told Knowledge. “We want team players who won’t advance themselves at the expense of helping the firm.”

Soft skills are crucial, too.

WNJ summer interns go through several screenings on and off campus so committee members see how easily they interact with others. Sometimes, which law student gets the internship boils down to who the committee would most like to work with, Masternak said.

This summer WNJ selected 11 summer law interns — eight of them from law schools in Michigan — from a pool deep with 2,000 applicants.

Front-loading the recruitment process works well, said Masternak, himself a WNJ summer intern in 1993. More than 90 percent of second-year law students completing summer internships at WNJ get job offers to work at one of the firm’s four Michigan locations.

Other large Michigan firms also use summer internships to identify new talent. This summer Varnum Riddering Schmidt & Howlett has 10 law clerks doing 10-week internships. Rhoades McKee has four interns for its 10-week summer program. Smith Haughey Rice & Roegee has three clerks doing 12-week internships.

Summer internships launch law school lessons in the work-a-day world. They also provide up-and-coming lawyers with an idea of what area of law they might wish to specialize.

“You learn how to think like a lawyer by doing what a lawyer does,” said Alex Gallucci, a second-year law student at Notre Dame, who’s interning at WNJ. “It’s also a great opportunity to learn a firm and see whether it’s a good fit for you.”

WNJ’s summer intern program has operated since 1947, 16 years after the firm started. The biggest class of interns was 31 in 1991, when a robust economy put the firm in fast growth mode. Ten to 12 summer interns are typical at WNJ, which employs 222 attorneys statewide.

This summer, interns — which the firm calls associates — will be assigned to the Grand Rapids and Southfield offices.

Cathleen Dubault, WNJ’s director of lawyer recruitment, gives interns several tips for making a good impression:

Get to the office early, work late when you need to, and resist the urge to kick back when others are taking vacation.

Be enthusiastic, but don’t become a brownnoser.

Don’t complain. Find the positives in project assignments.

Participate in social gatherings, but take care to dress appropriately. “Dress casual” may mean jeans and a T-shirt to the student, but khakis and a golf shirt to mentors.

Be a team player.

Demonstrate initiative and creativity.

“There are two kinds of summer clerks who aren’t worth their salary — those who never do what is asked and those who only do what is asked,” Dubault told Knowledge.

She coordinates a two-day orientation to teach interns how to use the firm’s technology to manage their workload, research in ways that minimize costs to clients, and work with legal secretaries.

Masternak said the faltering economy has reined in summer internships that had become lavish courting rituals.

Ball games, concert tickets and meals in five-star restaurants were routine perks of law internships in Chicago, where Masternak worked one summer.

“I’m very impressed with the amount of responsibility they give us,” said Emily Bakeman, a University of Michigan law student who’s interning at WNJ for a second summer. “You get assignments that aren’t just to test your skills. There’s work that actually goes out to clients.”

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• brian masternak
• cathleen dubault
• education
• grand rapids
• smith haughey rice & roegee
• summer interns
• warner norcross & judd