FAQs

One of our primary recruiting events is the Loyola Patent Law Interview Program in Chicago, because it has grown over the years to include a considerable number of the national candidates sincerely interested in patent litigation as a career. We encourage anyone interested in a summer associate position to attend the Loyola Patent Law Interview Program and apply for an interview with us.  Desmarais LLP also participates in on-campus recruiting at leading national law schools during the spring and fall. If you currently attend one of the law schools on our On-Campus Interviews list, you may sign up for an interview with us through your career services office. You may also apply directly by sending a resume, law school transcript and undergraduate transcript to recruiting@desmaraisllp.com.

Not specifically.  But because our work frequently involves complex technology, we prefer that our associates have a technical background, generally a degree in engineering or the sciences and/or significant technical work experience. 

Desmarais LLP is interested in hearing from qualified 1Ls and 3Ls.
In the past, our summer associate class has typically included two to three 1Ls. In accordance with NALP guidelines, 1L students are encouraged to submit their applications to us after December 1. 
3L hiring varies by year, but we encourage you to apply if you are interested in a 3L position.

The firm regularly participates in the Loyola Patent Law Interview Program held in Chicago every summer, as well as on-campus interviewing at leading national law schools. We also recruit at several campuses through their OCI program. To find out if our firm will be visiting your campus this year, please see our On-Campus Interviewing List.

A typical call-back interview consists of four or more 30-minute interviews. We have both morning and afternoon interview times, depending on availability. We do not require students to attend lunches or dinners as part of their call-back interviews.

Our recruiting team will let you know when you should expect to hear back after your interview.

Like its peer firms, Desmarais LLP typically covers ordinary costs related to call-back interviews, but students should discuss any specific questions regarding reimbursement policies with our recruiting coordinator, Catherine Cervone. Students will be required to complete a NALP Travel Expense Reimbursement Form, which can be found here: http://www.nalp.org/uploads/2014TravelExpenseForm.pdf

Absolutely. We encourage students who have received offers to return to our office to meet as many attorneys as they would like.  You can also request to speak or meet with specific attorneys.

Desmarais LLP recognizes that the practical experience gained during clerkships benefits both our clients and our practice, and can significantly contribute to your development as an attorney. If a student who receives an offer is interested in clerking after graduation, Desmarais LLP will hold the offer open for up to two years for qualifying clerkships.

Desmarais LLP does not have a billable hour requirement. In fact, we do not have billable hours at all. Our flexible fee arrangements allow our summer associates to focus on doing their best work possible rather than worrying about how many hours they billed relative to their peers.

Our program typically spans ten weeks, from late-May through early August.

Because our summer program provides real work and intensive training to our summer associates, we strongly encourage our summer associates to spend the entire summer with our firm.  We will consider split summers on a case-by-case basis.  We expect summer associates who seek to split their summer with another firm to spend at least six weeks of the summer with us, so that everyone can participate in key summer events, including the trial advocacy program.

Our recruiting team works with the partners to distribute summer associate assignments. Let us know if you are interested in working on a specific type of case and we will take that into account.

Our dress code is generally casual, but we typically recommend that summer associates dress in business attire for their first few days to get a feel for our office culture and environment. We also ask that summer associates keep business attire in their offices in event that they are invited to attend court hearings or client meetings.

When opportunities present themselves, summer associates may have the option of traveling for work-related assignments. For example, past summer associates have traveled to attend court hearings, depositions, and trials.

We provide summer associates with real, substantive work. Summer associates are given the same type of assignments that first-year associates would receive.

Throughout the summer, we collect evaluations and feedback from each associate and partner with whom a summer associate works.  We use that information to provide direct informal feedback in the middle of the summer, and then for a more complete, formal review process at the end of the summer.

Desmarais LLP recognizes the importance of associate training and development. Indeed, one of the highlights of our summer program is the chance for summer associates to participate in our annual trial advocacy training. This multi-day mock trial experience, in which summer associates are teamed up with full-time associates to prepare a case for trial, incorporates live witnesses, a judge, and a jury. Real-time feedback from our partners make this experience invaluable to summer associates.

Absolutely! We believe that our people are our biggest asset, and we want to make sure you have plenty of opportunities to get to know them. Aside from informal lunches and dinners, we plan several large events where summer associates will have the opportunity to interact with associates and partners in a more casual setting. 

Prior summer classes have included 10-12 second-year students (some of whom return after summering with us as first-years) and 2-3 first-year summer associates. We expect the incoming summer class will be similar in size.

Historically, 100% of our 2L summer associates have been given offers to return as full-time associates upon graduation.

100% of our 1L summer associates have been invited back to join us for their 2L summer.