Being a summer associate comes with a certain amount of prestige and an immense amount of possibilities. Don’t be fooled however, it’s not all rosy pleadings, post-bar offers and weekends in Catalina. Truth is, your friends, your fellow summer associates that are supposedly “barreling through the trenches” with you in pursuit of the coveted post-bar offer, could quite possibly be sabotaging you for their betterment.

This really shouldn’t be a surprise to you, especially not in the current legal market. We can start by setting up the typical summer associate situation.

During your 2L year, you should be applying and interviewing for summer positions. There’s a few different types of summer positions:

• Unpaid Intern
• Judicial Extern
• Law Clerk
• Summer Associate

Obtaining a summer associate position usually means you’ve excelled in the grueling multiple interviews at a mid to large firm and have been invited to be part of their summer associate program. Essentially, they see potential in you and want to bring you in for the summer (usually a 10 week period), along with the rest of their summer associate class, pay you (usually pretty well), and have you work closely with the attorneys to help and observe while also sending you to periodic trainings. This is a try-out. As a summer associate, you’re a potential associate attorney and depending on your performance and the firms need, you could be offered a post-bar position. So it’s just you and the other men/women, all vying for a limited number of associate attorney positions. I hope you’re starting to catch on.

It’s your livelihood or theirs. Using any piece of negative information, giving incorrect advice, or going behind your back isn’t out of the realm of possibilities for most summer associates. You’re nothing but a speed bump on their road to three-piece suits, weekend retreats, corner offices and personal secretaries and paralegals.

Here are some tips to help avoid falling victim to sabotage by your fellow law students and help you obtain that post-bar offer.

Don’t get too comfortable. You want to be well-liked amongst your fellow summer associates, but keeping your private life private will benefit you in the long run. Don’t be so quick to go out drinking and open up your entire life to them. In sum, avoid giving them access to your Facebook. It’s called privacy settings, use them.

Be Self-Sufficient. Don’t rely on your fellow associates. If you need help, go to an attorney or seek advice from professors, or other attorneys you know. Asking a fellow associate for help means a few things: First, clearly you feel they’re superior and the most competent individual on the planet (in their minds at least). Second, when a supervising attorney tells you good job on the project, be assured the student you asked for help will be quick to chirp in that they helped, or more likely, go behind your back to tell the associate you weren’t competent enough to even align the heading properly. Lastly, it shows a lack of confidence in your own work and your ability to approach a supervising attorney when necessary. Asking for help isn’t always a terrible thing. Remember, you want to work for them, so asking for some help on how to do something their way, isn’t necessarily negative (DISCLAIMER: USE YOUR LEGAL MIND! Never ask a stupid question. If you had to pause for a second and ask yourself if its a dumb question, it is).

Give Advice. While you should be self-sufficient, don’t be that guy/girl that won’t help the others when they’re struggling. Take the high road. Use discretion when doing this however, you don’t want to help “Mr. I Watched A lot of Perry Mason Re-Runs, So Clearly I’m Going to be a Fantastic Lawyer” too much. Don’t forget, he’ll throw you under the bus in a heart beat to get that coveted corner office and plush salary in order to object all day in court.

Work (i.e. BILL HOURS). What do firms like? Money (and justice and ethics and all of that as well). But seriously, the minimum billing hours is no joke, that happens and they will expect you to bill a minimum amount of hours as a summer associate as well. Don’t pad your hours, just go to work on-time (“to be early is to be on time, to be on-time is to be late.” My grandma said it, so it is essentially law), maybe even stay a little late. Showing the firm you can make them money and are willing to put in the hours will keep you out of harms way as long as you’re being efficient.

Get Noticed, Stay Noticed. This is somewhat irrelevant to avoid being sabotage and more relevant to helping you get that post-bar offer. Tell your supervising attorney what you’re working on all the time. When you’re done with a project, tell them immediately, don’t sit around thinking they will come to you. Don’t forget, they’re actual attorneys and are much busier than you. Sitting at your desk feeling good about yourself because you wrote ten special interrogatories isn’t going to get you any closer to their good graces. In addition, pop in to their office at least once a day and let them know what you’re up to. You never want your supervising attorney to ask themselves the question, “what’s Jane Doe working on right now? Is she still even here?” Stopping in, without interrupting, and giving them a quick note, maybe even an estimated date of completion, is always a good thing.

Keep Doing What You’re Doing. You got the summer associate position remember? Not only did they like your stats on paper, but they liked you in person (at least enough to not run you out of the interview and then proceed to use your interview as what they don’t want in an associate). This is the easiest piece of advice to keep you from getting sabotaged and help you get the position.

Good Luck summer associates.