The decision was announced to the 700-lawyer international firm by partner John Quinn in an email. He said that there is a mismatch between what the summer placement students are able to do and the high level trial work that Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan is normally engaged in. 

Waste of time

The costs of running the scheme will instead go to people who are more firmly tied in with the firm. He wrote: 'We will redirect money saved on the summer associate program to signing bonuses for summers, third-year students and judicial clerks who join us on a permanent basis.' He also suggested that the scheme is not held in high regard when he said that the people who are recruited 'will appreciate our efforts to put more money in their pockets as they come in the door rather than excessively spending on summer programs that many view as a waste of time'. 

Main recruitment filter

Summer placements have been used as the main filter by many firms recruiting their new trainees. They have become more expensive to finance as Freshfields and some other firms have started adding on a two-country element to the scheme for selected invididuals. Rival firms will be interested to see if other litigation specialists or US firms follow Quinn Emanuel's example. Quinn Emanuel has 18 offices around the world. Source: ABA