Winthrop & Weinstine has high expectations for associates but at the same time we're committed to creating the best environment to foster their success. Our overall success is, after all, dependent on the initiative of our individual lawyers and the skills they develop while working at our firm. Because of this, we make every effort to assist with an associate's professional development.

The common goal at Winthrop & Weinstine is to provide excellent legal services while supporting individual approaches to the practice of law. Associates are encouraged to expand their professional skills and assume greater responsibility as quickly as they are able to do so. As a reward, Winthrop & Weinstine offers associates a unique opportunity for early shareholder status and additional compensation.

 We believe that an associate's development and long-term enjoyment of practicing law also depends on the office environment. We strive to maintain a collegial atmosphere where attorneys and staff truly enjoy working with each other, and also sponsor formal and informal social and recreational activities during the year. These include an all-attorney golf outing every summer, an all-firm picnic every fall, and an all-firm holiday party in December.

Summer Program

The Summer Associate program is designed to provide an experience that fairly reflects life at the firm as a lawyer. It is offered to law students after their first or second year, and presents a challenging variety of legal work:

Summer associates prepare agreements, briefs, interrogatories, and other legal documents and are encouraged to attend client meetings, depositions, court hearings, negotiations, and closings. Each summer associate is assigned a mentor who helps them with administrative, professional, and personal questions. Assignments and workloads are monitored to give each summer associate an opportunity to work with a number of different attorneys throughout the summer.

A formal rotation program is not used, but summer associates get to work in different areas of practice throughout their experience. We make an effort to ensure that the summer associate has significant exposure to a particular practice area, if they so desire. As a measure of the program's success, almost every summer associate who has received an offer to join the firm has accepted it.

Compensation

Our associate compensation system is designed to attract and recruit the top law students throughout the United States and rewarding those associates whose productivity contributes to the growth and profitability of the firm. This includes not only a market rate compensation and bonus structure, but also opportunities to participate in activities traditionally reserved for shareholders and to attain early shareholder status.

First-year associates receive base compensation of $120,000 per year and are eligible for certain discretionary and non-discretionary bonuses.

Winthrop & Weinstine has also a unique program that confers upon associates the status of "Managing Associate". Managing Associates are invited to attend shareholder meetings, receive most financial information regularly distributed to shareholders, and serve on most firm committees. In addition, Managing Associates are eligible for early shareholder consideration. Through this program of enhanced benefits, the firm has eliminated many of the traditional distinctions between shareholders and top performing associates. This approach reflects our commitment to reward qualified associates with aspects of law firm ownership.

• University of Iowa College of Law - TBD
• MN Minority Recruitment Conference - Friday and Saturday, August 15 - 16 
• University of Minnesota Law School - Thursday, August 28 
• University of Minnesota Law School - Friday, August 29
• University of Wisconsin Law School - Madison
• University of Michigan Law School - TBD
• Hamline University School of Law - TBD
• William Mitchell College of Law  - TBD
• University of St. Thomas School of Law  - TBD