COVID-19 has Law Firms Considering Changes to Summer Associate Programs

Yvette Ostolaza, managing partner of the Dallas office of Sidley Austin, spent the weekend calling 18 summer recruits to let them know that the law firm is starting its summer clerkship program two weeks later than planned due to COVID-19 and that all recruits will be paid in full. Partners in Sidley’s Houston office contacted the 16 students scheduled to report the third week of May to give them the same news.

“The primary purpose of my call was to make sure that they were OK and healthy, to let them know that we are OK and to relieve any fear or stress they had about our commitment to them,” said Ostolaza, who is a member of Sidley’s global executive committee. “The key was to provide them assurance and stability.”