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(Editor’s note: This piece originally ran in the June 9, 2011, issue of the Briefly Legal PDX e-newsletter)

For decades, working at a law firm during the summer nearly always guaranteed law students a job offer upon graduation. That sure-fire foot in the door, as with most employment dynamics, changed drastically with the recession.

Like many firms across the country, several Portland firms either trimmed back their summer programs or shelved them altogether. Other firms retained their summer programs, but deferred job offers for months after graduation.

For many years, Perkins Coie has had summer programs in each of its offices across the country. The firm’s overall summer program actually peaked with the largest number of participants in 2008, according to Michael Gotham, director of attorney recruiting and retention.

While the firm’s overall summer program is smaller now than it was then, many of the individual offices 鈥� including the Portland office 鈥� have maintained a fairly consistent number of summer job openings, Gotham says.

鈥淥ur recruiting outlook remains strong and our summer program will remain consistent in size with the program for the past couple of years,鈥� he says.

Lane Powell has retained its summer program, though it has reduced the number of participants to four. The recession hasn’t driven the change. Instead, the firm is filling openings with lateral hires of attorneys who already have a year or two of experience, according to President Lewis Horowitz.

鈥溾�� We never like to have more summer associates than we are sure we will need the following year, so perhaps we are more conservative in our summer programs than some other firms,” Horowitz said.

While the summer job outlook for law students is nothing like pre-recession levels, the National Association for Law Placement sees the 鈥渕odest rebound鈥� taking place as encouraging.

In its annual recruiting report, NALP notes that law firm recruiting programs rose slightly last summer and fall after spiraling in 2008 and 2009. Here are some highlights from the report:

鈥⒙犅� 聽About 17 percent of law firms did not offer a summer program in 2010. Less than 5 percent say they will not offer a program this summer.

鈥⒙犅� 聽Firms that do employ law students this summer will offer fewer jobs. The average summer program employed six students in the early 2000s; the average has fallen to four.

鈥⒙犅� 聽The average summer program size for West Coast firms is two or three students.

鈥⒙犅� 聽Some law firms are still deferring associate start dates, but Class of 2010 graduates face deferments to a much lesser extent than 2009 graduates.