Law Students
Find your next opportunity at Paul Hastings
Law Students / Clerks
Make Your Impact—From Day 1
Our approach to talent is simple – we recruit, train and develop elite talent at all levels. Our goal is to further our culture of excellence with talented people who deliver distinguished intellectual capital and superior execution to our clients in a collaborative way.
We are future-focused, challenging ourselves to anticipate the next opportunity or challenge—for our clients and our people. We recognize that attracting and developing the next generation of legal leaders is critical to our strong upward trajectory.
From day one, we will help you stretch beyond your comfort zone—to develop a meaningful career, gain valuable experience, and help guide our clients’ success and yours. A core business philosophy of the firm is a firm-first mentality where all of our elite talent coming from a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives have a common goal to serve our clients with a culture of excellence. You will join a team of people doing impactful, challenging work that will continuously help you develop your business skills.
We are a destination for elite talent with wide ranging backgrounds, but with a common denominator of collective ambition and shared vision of excellence to help some of the world’s leading companies address some of their biggest challenges around the globe. We take pride in fostering an open and inclusive work environment that enables us to provide clients with the innovative thinking of teams rich in talent, experience and creativity. You will also have opportunities to be a catalyst for change in your community, championing pro bono projects with the same culture of excellence we bring to all our work.
Training and Development
At Paul Hastings, we are dedicated to the growth of our lawyers, and we are committed to providing the resources necessary for success. Our efforts are guided by our Talent Development department, which continues to enhance our extensive training and career development programs.
By choosing Paul Hastings, you will be working alongside some of the world’s top legal professionals. We are a respected global leader and provide a wide range of professional development services including legal training, integration opportunities, career development, and performance management.
LEGAL TRAINING
Our Talent Development department works with the firm’s practice area leaders to provide a wide variety of professional development programs, many of which offer Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits. Our robust training offerings include:
- Talent Development Office Visits — Firm management regularly meets with associates across the firm. These informal, face-to-face visits provide more meaningful communications between associates and management.
- PH DNA (Paul Hastings Developing New Associates) — This program introduces first-year associates to the firm by communicating the firm’s vision and strategic direction, outlining department-specific goals and structures, increasing associate skills in delivering excellent legal services and establishing professional relationships across offices and departments.
- Mid-level Retreat — This program for fourth-year associates focuses on communicating firm and department business strategies and linking those strategies to associate development and advancement. It is designed to provide associates with a greater understanding of the paths to partnership and alternative career options, individual career development plans, and how to distinguish themselves. The program also provides fourth-year associates with opportunities to meet their career goals.
- Department and Group Academies — We provide robust training programs, enabling associates to continually expand their legal expertise. Our department and practice groups embrace a culture of ongoing learning.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
- Career Coaching Services — Our career development services include assessing your skills, helping you to draft a personal career development plan, assisting you in seeking additional opportunities for growth and mentorship and guiding you in the development of a networking strategy. The firm has an in-house Director of Attorney Careers who offers group and 1:1 coaching, including 1st year associate coaching cohorts.
- In-house Counsel Job Opportunities — We offer client career opportunities for associates to confidentially search potential opportunities in-house and other legal positions.
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
We continually enhance and improve the performance management process for our lawyers. Associates are given valuable performance feedback aligned with individual professional development goals not only during the annual review period, but frequently throughout the year.
Benefit Highlights
Comprehensive Health Benefits
Retirement Plan
Family Planning and Parental Support
Holistic Well-Being Support
Professional Development, Coaching and Mentorship
Back-Up Childcare and Elder Care
Generous Paid Time Off Program
Employee Discounts
Paul Hastings:
A Recognized Leader
Summer Associate Program
Our Summer Associate Program serves as a cornerstone, not just for the recruitment of outstanding associates, but for the future success of Paul Hastings. During the program, summer associates in each of our U.S. offices will work on several projects with different lawyers in a variety of practice areas. Summer associates also observe and, when possible, assist in trials, hearings, depositions and negotiations, and participate in client meetings and closings. At Paul Hastings, we aim to provide you with a realistic view of practicing law and, from day one, give you the tools to take ownership of your career.
We are committed to the professional development and career aspirations of our associates. We encourage coaching conversations at the earliest stages of an associate's career and provide development programs to help you navigate your path, whether it leads you to partnership, in-house with a client or a position in government or other organizations.
Our Fellowship and general applications for our 2026 2L Summer Associate Program are now open.
Judicial Clerks
Paul Hastings offers a special opportunity for impactful experience and professional growth after your clerkship. With our wide-ranging and dynamic litigation practices on a major growth trajectory, you will play an important role in building upon the firm’s many successes.
At our firm, former clerks can expect to play a key role in prominent cases and take on substantive work right away. Using the writing and analytical skills that you have fine-tuned while clerking, you will have the opportunity to help world-renowned clients and international market leaders by providing solutions for their most challenging and complex matters.
Fueled by former clerks and high-level government litigators, our prominent investigations and disputes work excels in areas including:
- administrative law
- antitrust
- arbitration
- securities
- white-collar defense
- fintech
- privacy
- employment
- class actions
- intellectual property
In addition to doing cutting-edge work, you will be surrounded by people committed to helping you succeed. Our collaborative firm culture promotes a positive, team-oriented work environment. Additionally, our firmwide talent team provides ongoing professional development training, specifically targeted to associates at various levels as they progress through their careers.
Paul Hastings’ policy is to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. It is the firm’s policy not to discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of ethnicity, race, creed, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions), national origin, immigration status, ancestry, age, marital status, protected veteran status, military status, disability, genetic information, medical condition, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other basis prohibited under applicable federal, state or local law.
Paul Hastings provides reasonable accommodation for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in job application procedures. If you have any difficulty using our online system and you need an accommodation due to a disability, you may use the following alternative email address to contact us about your interest in employment: CareerOpportunities@paulhastings.com. NOTE: This email address is not for general employment inquiries. We will not respond to inquiries to this email address that are not related to requests for accommodated accessibility of our online application system by individuals with disabilities.
Note to search firms: All agencies must sign a Paul Hastings search firm agreement. Our search firm agreements are office specific. Candidates submitted by a search firm without an executed search firm agreement with the appropriate office will not be considered an applicant. All applicants must be submitted to a job posting through our online process. Resumes sent directly to Paul Hastings attorneys or the Talent Acquisition & Development Department will not be accepted or considered an applicant. If you would like to sign a Paul Hastings search firm agreement, please send a request to CareerOpportunities@paulhastings.com.
Disclaimer: Any communication sent by you to Paul Hastings inquiring about employment or in response to an invitation to submit your resume on our website shall not be considered an application for employment and creates no obligation on the part of Paul Hastings to respond. Should Paul Hastings be interested in exploring employment opportunities with you, we will contact you in response to your inquiry. See our Terms and Conditions for more information.