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Summer Associate Program
for our Corporate Partners
“It was one of the best learning experiences of my life. It was an amazing feeling to have such a tangible, positive impact on the life of an entire family as a summer associate.”
— 2010 Summer Associate
That was the comment of one summer associate who participated in inMotion’s 2010 Summer Associate Program. Our summer program, now in its 17th year, offers summer associates a chance to make a lasting difference in the lives of families in need, while enhancing their legal skills and growing in confidence as lawyers and advocates.
View a list of firms participating in our 2011 Summer Associate Program
Give your summer associates an opportunity to advocate on behalf of the City’s most vulnerable families
It is a wonderful opportunity for summer associates and supervising attorneys to work together on challenging and compelling matters, and to experience first-hand the firm’s commitment to assisting some of the most vulnerable and neglected members of our community.
Your summer associates will take an active role representing clients in cases involving at least one of the following:
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- Custody and/or visitation
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- Child and/or spousal support
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- Uncontested or contested divorces
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- Violence Against Women Act immigration matters
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They will have a chance to:
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- Build attorney-client relationships
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- Draft and file pleadings and motions
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- Negotiate with opposing counsel
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- Interact with court personnel
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- Develop general litigation skills
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Summer associates may appear and speak on the record in Family Court and Supreme Court (at the discretion of the presiding judge or magistrate), if they are accompanied by an attorney from the firm admitted in New York State.
Earn free CLE credit while mentoring summer associates at your firm
Supervising partners and associates receive CLE credit for the trainings they attend or watch on video, and pro bono CLE credit for the representation.
2011 Summer Associate Program training schedule
View our training schedule and register online for our summer trainings
“InMotion is a great, professional, organized, and efficient organization. I had very positive interactions with every inMotion representative with whom I spoke.”
— 2010 Summer Associate
How does it work?
- Teams
One or more summer associates accept a legal matter for representation in late May/early June. Each summer associate team must be supervised by an associate and/or partner at the firm who will be the attorney of record, supervise all work done by the summer associates and attend all court hearings with the summer associates. If applicable, supervising attorneys are responsible for bringing the matter to conclusion once the summer associates have left the firm. We cannot guarantee that matters will conclude during the summer.
Please note that many of our clients are Spanish-speaking and cannot communicate in English. Many firms staff these matters with paralegals or other firm employees who can serve as interpreters and gain a rewarding pro bono experience. Please let us know if you have any special language concerns or can offer interpretation and/or translation skills in connection with these matters.
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- Trainings and scheduling
Multi-firm CLE trainings in each of the practice areas are scheduled from June 1 through June 9, 2011. Trainings are three or three-and-a-half hours long, depending on the practice area, and include an interactive question and answer session to address issues that may arise.
All summer associates must attend the trainings or watch our video trainings relevant to their assigned matters. We strongly suggest that summer associates attend the live trainings so that they can ask questions about their cases and the substantive areas of the law. Supervising attorneys must attend the trainings or watch our video trainings if they have not practiced in, or been trained in, the relevant practice area.
We forward matter descriptions and copies of clients’ documents in advance of the training sessions to enable firms to complete conflicts checks.
Firms may request matters of each type up to the limits specified below. Requests for additional matters will be placed on a waitlist and, to the extent available, additional matters will be provided once all participating firms’ initial requests have been satisfied.
View our 2011 training schedule.
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- Manuals and Mentoring
We supply our detailed substantive and procedural practice manuals to firms prior to the trainings so that firms can copy and distribute the manuals in advance to the participating summer associates and supervising attorneys. Our experienced staff attorneys provide intensive mentoring during the course of the representation until the matters are concluded.
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What are the options?
- Family Court—Orders of Protection, Custody/Visitation, and Child and Spousal Support
Summer associates are introduced to an area of family law and practice and see how litigants who are indigent or working poor fare in our city’s Family Courts. We select matters with at least one Family Court appearance scheduled during the summer so that summer associates will have the opportunity to go to court at least once.
Each firm may request up to 2 Family Court matters, designating a preference for one or more practice areas.
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- Supreme Court—Uncontested and Contested Divorces
Summer associates are introduced to Supreme Court practice and to the basics of matrimonial law in New York State. Teams handling uncontested matters will prepare the initial and final pleadings before the end of the summer.
Contested divorces have issues that need to be litigated, such as equitable distribution of a house or pension, custody, child support or maintenance. Summer associates handling contested matters will prepare and file the initial pleadings. They may also see responsive pleadings, prepare an emergency motion for support, participate in the commencement of negotiations with opposing counsel, and attend a court appearance before the end of the summer.
Firms handling divorces must use the latest version of Drafting Libraries divorce software which is available for purchase at www.draftinglib.com. Please contact us for further information.
Each firm may request up to 3 uncontested divorce matters and up to 2 contested divorce matters.
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- Federal Immigration Assistance—Petitions for Lawful Permanent Residency
This option is available only to firms with prior experience handling VAWA matters by special invitation. Under the Violence Against Women Act, women who suffer abuse at the hands of husbands who are U.S. citizens or legal residents can seek lawful permanent residency in the United States for themselves and their children without the permission or assistance of their abusive husbands. Summer associates are introduced to basic immigration law concepts and practices, and assist clients in preparing affidavits and supporting documents for filing with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. After the summer, the firm will be responsible for continuing to represent the client through her adjustment of status hearing before an immigration court officer.
Each firm may request up to 2 immigration matters.
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| Download program details |
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For more information
legalprogram@inmotiononline.org |
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