Summer Associates Program in Los Angeles
Our Los Angeles office, located in Century City, was established in 1988 to create a strong bi-coastal presence for the firm and provide the ability to service clients nationwide. With approximately 65 attorneys, the Los Angeles office offers the sophisticated practice and depth of resources of a large New York firm in a more intimate West Coast setting.
The Los Angeles office handles litigation and transactional matters, on both domestic and international levels, and counsels clients on a wide range of business matters including Litigation, Products Liability, Antitrust, Corporate, Commercial Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions, Capital Markets, Project Finance, Aircraft Finance and Leasing, Labor and Employment, Intellectual Property, Entertainment and Entertainment Finance, Bankruptcy and Reorganization, Real Estate and Real Estate Finance, and Taxation. (Click here for the Los Angeles office's list of Practice Descriptions).
In January 2006, The American Lawyer chose Kaye Scholer as the winner of its biennial competition as the best product liability practice in the country, citing its "unparalleled expertise in cutting edge product liability defense work," and recognizing, among others, the work of Los Angeles partners Jan Dodd and Pamela Yates.
The Kaye Scholer summer program is an opportunity for law students to get a complete picture of the work and life of a Kaye Scholer associate. Summers can expect substantive assignments in all practice groups, including litigation, corporate, real estate, bankruptcy, entertainment and intellectual property. In addition to research, writing, and other in-office work, summers will have an opportunity to attend court appearances, negotiations, deal closings, and meetings with Kaye Scholer attorneys.
Our Commitment to Pro Bono Work
Kaye Scholer-LA proudly recognizes its responsibility to provide pro bono legal services. Pro bono work performed by attorneys in the Los Angeles office has varied from high profile impact litigation to providing personal services to individuals and charitable organizations and to serving as mediators in the pro bono mediation program offered by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.
The summer program also reflects Kaye Scholer's commitment to pro bono work. Summers participate in Public Counsel's General Relief Advocacy Program, as well as the active pro bono cases in the office, which include asylum cases, adoptions, foster care benefits litigation, real estate fraud cases, and unlawful detainer defenses. Kaye Scholer often works on its pro bono cases in conjunction with Bet Tzedek Legal Services, Public Counsel, and the Alliance for Children's Rights.
Summer associates in the Los Angeles office participate in Public Counsel's General Relief Advocacy Project, receiving training and spending a day at the welfare department helping General Relief applicants in a program to assist the poor. Opportunities for summer associates to participate in pro bono projects within the office vary from summer to summer.
In addition, we draft appellate briefs for non-residents opposing immigration deportation proceedings; we help foster parents seeking to adopt their foster children; and we provide legal services to the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation.
Past pro bono projects include the successful representation of a class of all girls in Los Angeles in which we won equal facilities for softball as for baseball at city-sponsored parks. We also represented a Holocaust survivor who was defrauded out of her life story rights by a dishonest producer.
Summer Program
Commensurate with its more intimate size and "everyone knows your name" atmosphere, the Los Angeles office typically hosts three to six summer associates. Our summer program is designed to provide challenging and practical experience in both our litigation and transactional groups. You will be assigned to actual matters, participate in our mentoring program, participate in pro bono activities, attend various workshops, including legal writing workshops, and attend presentations by guest speakers.
Alongside full-time associates, summers participate in the Kaye Scholer trial training program, which leads to placement as volunteer prosecutors for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office. Summers can expect formal mid-summer and exit reviews, along with a great deal of informal assignment-based feedback. Summers are assigned an attorney mentor to guide them through the summer.
Because our program does not follow a strict rotation, you may have the opportunity to "follow" a matter as it develops over the course of the summer. We also have many opportunities for our summer associates to attend oral arguments, depositions, negotiations, closings, practice group lunches, and video or teleconferences with clients and our other offices.
Social Events
The social aspect of the summer program provides an opportunity for summers to get to know most of the attorneys in the office. In summers past, activities have included Dodger games, concerts, rock climbing, a trip to Las Vegas, Hollywood Bowl, horseback riding, show tapings, high tea, and many informal lunches, dinners, and happy hours. These events are designed to give summer associates the opportunity to develop a sense of what life is like as a junior or midlevel attorney in the Los Angeles office.
While the events vary from summer to summer, past summer events have included a taping of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the National Air Guitar Championships, the Grunion Run, rock climbing, Dodgers games, softball games, Disneyland, barbeques, charity functions, happy hours, and a "Margarita" ride. In addition to the planned events, which are stretched out over the summer to allow a balance between "Kaye Scholer" life and personal life, there are plenty of opportunities for impromptu lunches with the attorneys throughout the summer.
On Campus Information
We are committed to providing you with a well-rounded summer including
substantive work and socially stimulating events. Our summer program is
geared to provide exposure to both litigation and transactional
practice areas. For more information, please contact Aurel Van
Iderstine, 1999 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1700, Los Angeles,
California 90067, (310) 788-1000, Fax: (310) 788-1200, email: avaniderstine@kayescholer.com.
On June 11, 2008, the Los Angeles summer associates and associates
enjoyed a tranquil Hornblower Summer Sunset Cruise, which took them on
a two hour trip through the Marina Del Ray harbor. The event included
appetizers, drinks, good conversation and, of course, clear blue skies
and a beautiful sunset. It was a great opportunity for summer
associates to learn what a day in the life of an associate at Kaye
Scholer looks like and the firm's culture and attitude regarding
work/life balance.
