Susman Godfrey Jumps Off Speedy Law School Recruiting Track

Susman Godfrey wants to see law students’ full first-year transcripts before hiring summer associates, bucking the trend among top firms vying to land candidates early.

The Houston-founded litigation powerhouse announced Wednesday a new hiring approach for its summer program. Susman is accepting 2027 applications through June 30 and won’t review candidates until after that date.

Several firms have moved up recruiting timelines, with some pushing students to decide on offers in their first semesters on campus. Summer associate programs are the main pipeline for hiring new lawyers at Susman and other top firms, where first-year associates made $345,000 in salaries and bonuses on average last year.

“We took a hard look over the last 18 months or so at the changes in the recruiting landscape and in particular how OCI had been moving up faster and faster in law school,” said Hunter Vance, co-chair of the firm’s employment committee. “We decided that the changes weren’t working for Susman Godfrey,” he said.

Susman is known for its work in high-stakes trials, including a $788 million defamation case against Fox Corp. for Dominion Voting Systems Inc. It is one of four Big Law firms fighting the Trump administration in court over executive orders targeting the firms.

Big Law firms in 2024 abandoned the on-campus interview systems managed by schools and long used to recruit students for second-year summer positions. They’ve switched to direct hiring methods, opening applications much earlier in students’ first year in law school.

Other firms also are dialing down the race for talent. Cooley LLP recently said that it would put off hiring half of its incoming 2028 class until law students have more time under their belts.

Susman, which had about 25 summer associates last year, said it will review a full year of grades for all applicants and evaluate them on the same timeline with the same criteria.

“This gives us a chance to see the full picture of a student after a full year of law school,” said Nick Spear, who co-chairs the committee with Vance. “It helps us find the right candidates and it also helps the law students find the right firm,” he said.

Susman’s roughly 2020-lawyer headcount is much lower than most of the country’s other largest law firms by revenue. The firm also gives associates a faster track to partnership, six years.

Retention is a key goal in its hiring strategy, according to Spear.

“We hire people with the plan to make them partners,” he said.