For recruits, money's no object; Firms tout lifestyle issues, pro bono opportunities.(Focus: Law Firms)

Crain's Chicago Business, November, 2004 by Davis, Kevin

Byline: KEVIN DAVIS Law firms, like professional basketball teams, start their scouting early. "As soon as you start law school, they have meet-the-employer nights,'' says Kate Marzo, who graduated in the top 10 percent of her class last spring at Northwestern University School of Law. Because many firms make hiring decisions based on law students' summer associateships after their second year of law school, getting good grades in the first two years of law school has become more important than graduating at the top of the class.

And for the firms, choosing good summer associates is the vital part of recruiting. Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP recruits about 60 summer associates in its Chicago office, sending a rotating team of lawyers to campuses to...