Your journey of discovery starts here

Our program lasts nine weeks. It begins in mid-May and ends in mid-July.

We typically host summer programs in Atlanta, Austin, Berwyn, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Hartford, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Orange County, Philadelphia, Princeton, Providence, Richmond, San Diego, Washington, DC, and Wilmington.

1L applications will be accepted on our website beginning November 1st. Click here to explore current openings.

Applications for the 2027 summer associate program are accepted through our online portal beginning December 15. Click here to explore current openings. Join our mailing list to be the first to know about new opportunities.

If open to multiple office locations, please indicate your preferences in order on your cover letter and submit an application for each office of interest.

Yes! Our summer associates are assigned to an advisor team of associates and partners who serve as mentors with a focus on work performance, social integration, and practice group guidance.

Summer associates select the assignments they work on throughout the summer from our database of available projects. Summer associates work closely with teams of seasoned Troutman Pepper Locke attorneys on each project. The assignment selection process encourages summer associates to seek out assignments from practice groups of interest, and to explore areas they have not been exposed to previously.

Yes! We encourage all our summer associates to work on at least one pro bono assignment during the program. Troutman Pepper Locke has a long-standing commitment to pro bono work. Pro bono work benefits the public, the individuals we serve, and the development of our attorneys’ skills. We believe that each of our attorneys should provide public-interest legal services, as a matter of professional responsibility and in recognition of the great need for these services, and we encourage our associates and summer associates to do so.

Troutman Pepper Locke will hold a firm-wide summer associate orientation week to kick off the program, where summer associates will get an introduction to the firm, how the program will work and what the expectations are, an introduction to legal writing, as well as other information that you need during your first week in order to jump right in and get started on your first assignment. Throughout the summer, we will hold training and informational programs for summer associates that are scaled-back versions of programs that are part of our Entry Level Academy for new associates, including the following:

Social Media and Personal Branding

Communication and Presentation Skills

Implementing Feedback

Pro Bono Opportunities

Summer associates receive informal and formal feedback from the attorneys they work with on each assignment. Informal feedback is delivered throughout each assignment. When an assignment is completed, the assigning attorney submits a formal evaluation form. Advisors track these evaluations to ensure that summer associates receive timely feedback, and they meet with summer associates to review feedback.

Summer associates also have a mid-summer review so that they can get clear guidance on their performance through the first half of the summer and receive tips on how they can finish strong throughout the rest of the program. Summer associates also have a final review where they receive a full picture of how they performed overall.

Our Legal Talent Recruiting team organizes a variety of social events for each office to give summer associates the opportunity to integrate into our firm culture and build relationships with our attorneys.

We typically recruit from the law schools listed below. Click on the link to locate Troutman Pepper Locke attorney alumni from each school. For details on our participation at your school, please connect with your Career Services Office.

• Baylor University School of Law
• Boston College Law School
• Boston University School of Law
• Brooklyn Law School
• Columbia Law School
• Duke University School of Law
• Emory University School of Law
• Fordham University School of Law
• George Washington University Law School
• Georgetown University Law Center
• Georgia State University College of Law
• Harvard Law School
• Howard University School of Law
• Michigan State University College of Law
• New York University School of Law
• Northeastern University School of Law
• Notre Dame Law School
• Rutgers University School of Law
• Seton Hall University School of Law
• South Texas College of Law
• Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law
• Suffolk University Law School
• Temple University Beasley School of Law
• UC Irvine School of Law
• UCLA School of Law
• University of Georgia School of Law
• University of Houston Law Center
• University of Michigan Law School
• University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
• University of San Diego School of Law
• University of Southern California Gould School of Law
• University of Texas School of Law
• University of Virginia School of Law
• Vanderbilt University Law School
• Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
• Wake Forest University School of Law
• Washington and Lee University School of Law
• Washington University School of Law
• Wayne State University School of Law
• William & Mary Law School

Visit the NALP Directory for detailed information about each of our offices.

The summer associate weekly salary is $4,327.