Careers 

Dickinson Wright maintains a 10-week Summer Program that combines high-quality client work, professional activities outside the office and fun, often unique, social activities.  Our Summer Associates participate fully in our sophisticated and diverse legal practice, and they gain realistic insight into life at our firm and the lives of the diverse attorneys who make up Dickinson Wright.

The program is designed primarily for second-year law students, although first-year students (and to a lesser extent), third-year students, sometimes also participate. The program is carefully structured and administered to provide a supportive environment of success because we want every summer associate to earn and accept an offer to become a Dickinson Wright associate. We view the Summer Associate Program as key to our goal to identify and attract the most highly qualified law students, who will drive the firm’s strategic growth.

The Summer Associate Program is run by a "Summer Team," led by the Chair of our Recruitment Committee together with two Assignment Coordinators and two Social Coordinators. Each summer associate is assigned two formal mentors (one member and one associate).

Summer associates complete high-quality writing assignments that could span nearly every department in the law firm - from commercial, appellate and employment litigation, to corporate finance, real estate, bankruptcy and intellectual property. Summer associates also participate in “real world” attorney experiences, such as attending deal closings, strategic meetings with clients, depositions, trials and arbitrations to provide an understanding of the work they will perform if they continue their career at Dickinson Wright.

Dickinson Wright recognizes the importance of balance between our professional and personal lives for all employees – ranging from Members to summer associates. While we work hard, we also recognize and respect the need for family time and other personal priorities. Summer associates work an average of 35-40 hours a week and complete 10 to 15 substantive assignments over the course of the summer.

Summer associates also have the opportunity to participate in a number of social activities, such as baseball games, concerts, trips to the Detroit Institute of Arts, golf and dining experiences.

In Southeastern Michigan, our summer associates spend the majority of time in the Detroit office, but also typically complete a two-week rotation in our Bloomfield Hills office.  Our Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Las Vegas, Nashville, Phoenix, Toronto and Washington, D.C. offices recruit law students specifically for those particular offices.

Check with your placement office to see whether and when we are interviewing on-campus at your law school, who we are interviewing. If we are, sign up for an interview. If we are not interviewing at your law school, submit a cover letter, detailed resume, law school transcript and at least two writing samples (via e-mail or U.S. mail) to:

 We will respond in writing to all expressions of interest.