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Summer Program
We take great pride in our Summer Program and strive to give our Summer Associates a complete experience. Our Summers contribute immediately and are given substantive assignments, not only researching key issues and drafting briefs, but also participating in high-level case strategy and decision-making. We encourage our Summers to dive in, take ownership over complex assignments, and show us what they're made of.
We’re a complex litigation law firm that tackles problems other firms shy away from
We have prosecuted some of the largest and most cutting-edge consumer class actions in recent years, and have secured over $45 billion for our clients in settlements and judgments. We have been recognized as a “Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar” and a “Plaintiff’s Class Action Powerhouse”. Commentators have singled out our willingness to tackle complex problems and our creativity in finding winning strategies that were not readily apparent.
Our practice groups primarily consist of:
We Care About our People
Compensation
2L's get paid $4,300 per week.
Healthy Meals
Our kitchens are stocked and lunches are catered so you’ll have meals and snacks when you need them.
Office Outings
Our firm culture emphasizes genuine connection. Team members often socialize outside of work through movie outings, golf games, and our volleyball team that competes in a community league each week.
Here’s What Our Former Summers Had to Say
Where You Fit In
We believe that people produce their best results (and are happiest) when they’re doing work they genuinely enjoy. If you love delving into the granular details of circuit splits, you’ll thrive on our Issues and Appeals team. If you’re energized by courtroom advocacy, you belong on our Litigation team. If you enjoy diving into factual research and creating novel theories of liability, you’ll find a home on our Investigations team. As a Summer Associate, you can explore all our practice areas and discover what excites you most.
Giving Back
We take our commitment to promoting access to justice seriously—not just through our class action work, but also through a wide range of pro bono efforts. Our cases have included representing elderly victims of abuse, advocating for survivors of sexual abuse, and challenging wrongful convictions. We’ve taken on cases involving clients exploited by their own attorneys, and we’ve pursued claims involving consumer fraud and privacy violations.
We’ve co-counseled with attorneys from the Northwestern Center on Wrongful Convictions on criminal appeals tied to the Jon Burge torture scandal. And we’ve partnered with the Settlement Assistance Program in the Northern District of Illinois to support pro se litigants and help ensure fair outcomes in federal court. This work remains central to who we are as a firm, and we continue to seek opportunities to use our skills and resources to serve those who need them most.
How to Apply:
Applications for the 2026 Summer Associate Program will open August 1, 2025.
To apply, please send your resume, cover letter, and transcript to: Kelsey McCann, kmccann@edelson.com
Law Schools Represented 2017-2024:
We also have fun
Being a lawyer can be stressful. And sometimes boring. A core principle we have always operated under is the need for balance and having fun. We pick cases we think are fun. We take on projects we think are fun. And we do things we think are fun that have nothing to do with work at all. From an early morning round of golf or a game of beach volleyball, to midday trips to the movies, having fun is an important part of who we are. Our holiday parties are epic events featuring increasingly high production video content, and at times, live performances. Our summer program has been known to include fake summer associates, polar bear lawyers, and several other pranks never made public. In fact, our primary summer recruiting tool in Chicago is a beach party with multiple levels of volleyball competition.
Think you'd be a good fit?
2L Applications for our 2026 program open in August.