Since last year, the use of AI has become nearly universal for future lawyers in summer programs, and most firms are encouraging their summer associates to use it.
Meanwhile, pay for summer law gigs is climbing, topping $57,000 at the largest firms, the survey found.
Law360 Pulse received 486 responses between July 1 and Aug. 18, 2026, to the second installment of its summer associates survey. Summer associates answered questions about their compensation, satisfaction with their experiences, their use of AI tools and more.
The survey found that the maximum stipend exceeded $57,000 for some summer associates, up from $50,000 last year. The typical pay this year stood at $42,000, up from $40,000 last year.
For firms, summer programs are "an amazing long-term talent pipeline," said Nathan Peart, executive director of the associate practice group at legal recruiting firm Major Lindsey & Africa. "In the associate world in BigLaw, firms are willing to pay a premium to entice and attract that talent."
For students, summer programs give a realistic taste of their long-term career, he said, while also helping them with "those softer things that are harder to teach," such as networking skills.
The programs give law students a firsthand view of the workplace at a time when "the industry is changing so quickly," he added.
This year's results showed 96% of respondents used AI tools during their summer program, up from 80% last year.
AI use among summer associates was widespread in firms of all sizes, ranging from 83% at firms under 100 attorneys to 99% at firms with 1,000 or more attorneys, according to this year's survey.
When Seyfarth Shaw LLP launched its AI & Innovation summer training program in 2024, "there was a lot of nervousness at the time" among summer associates about generative AI, said Zeynep Ersin, the firm's chief innovation and strategic design officer. Just a few years later, summer associates are now much more comfortable with the idea of AI and they know it will be part of their legal practice, she said.
Even if they're not using AI in law school, most incoming and first-year associates today are "probably familiar with it in their personal life," she said.
"Most of them are at least comfortable with the different user interfaces and understanding what the tech is, how to interact with it, the concepts around things like prompting," she said.
At Seyfarth, AI training is about "arming them with the ability to think about it as a supplemental tool, not as any form of replacement to judgment and thinking and context," she said.
The AI program emphasizes concepts such as ethics, critical thinking skills, problem-solving, innovation and collaborating with colleagues, she said.
Firms are now widely encouraging summer associates to use AI.
The survey found 87% of respondents said their firms encouraged them to use AI for at least some purposes, while 9% said their firms required them to use it.
Just 1% said their firms discouraged or prohibited their use, and another 3% of respondents said their firms had no AI policy.
As AI use has quickly grown in the legal industry, Jasmine McCall, legal talent recruiting manager at Troutman Pepper Locke LLP, said the firm's embrace of AI has helped with recruiting students.
"They see that it's not something that we've backed away from," McCall said. For instance, summer associates have always been able to use Athena, the firm's internal generative AI assistant launched in 2023.
The firm focuses on ethics and responsible use of such tools, and ensuring that summer associates understand their own judgment is critical, she said.
"The bottom line is, we want your judgment. How do you look at this?" McCall said. "The systems are created for you to use to improve work or to make things easier, but you are the subject matter expert, not AI."
Legal research and analysis was the most common use for legal AI tools; 97% of those who used AI said it was for that purpose.
Almost half used it for communications, including correspondence. About a quarter used AI for information processing, including translation and transcription. About a quarter also used it for litigation support, such as e-discovery or trial preparation.
Most summer associates have positive or neutral attitudes toward adoption of generative AI in the legal industry, with 37% saying they believe it will benefit the legal industry and 54% saying there are sizable pros and cons.
Only 8% of respondents said they think the changes are likely to damage legal practice overall.
With AI use now widespread, fewer than one in five respondents said they were concerned or very concerned that their job prospects would be threatened by the rise of legal AI tools and the increased efficiencies they may bring.
Half of them said they were not very concerned or not concerned at all about this, while just over 30% were somewhat concerned.
Ersin of Seyfarth said a lot of summer associates there understood AI has limitations.
"It cannot be something that is relied upon blindly, and it needs oversight," she said. "It needs the human in the loop. So they appreciated that there is still the human judgment aspect that is so mission critical."
Summer associates in the survey reported largely positive experiences with their firms, with most saying their program left them confident that they are on the right career path and well prepared.
Ninety percent said their experience affirmed their belief that practice at a private firm is the right career choice for them, while only 4% said it made them want to rethink their career path. Another 6% said it made them consider pivoting to a government position, in-house counsel, solo practitioner or other legal role.
And 87% were either confident or very confident that their associate experience left them fully prepared to embark on a career at a law firm.
McCall of Troutman said summer experiences at her firm give future lawyers the opportunity to do real client work while receiving training and building relationships with attorneys there.
"Our summer program gives our summer associates a pretty candid view of what life looks like as a future associate," she said.
—Editing by Daniela Porat and Tim Ruel. Graphics by Jason Mallory.
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