The founders of Nelson Mullins began the practice of law in Columbia in 1897, making it one of the oldest law firms in the Southeastern United States. With 131 attorneys, the Columbia office of Nelson Mullins is thrilled to host the Firm's largest Summer Program in the capital city of South Carolina. The Columbia office's Summer Program is its principal source of entry-level associates. Summer associates are placed on teams based on practice area preferences and are rotated during the summer to provide opportunities to work on a wide variety of projects. The Columbia office provides a full complement of services in its Corporate, Litigation, Employment and Labor, Banking, Intellectual Property, and Government Relations departments. Mentors and Team Work Project Coordinators are assigned to each summer associate and opportunities are provided to attend depositions, negotiation sessions, client interviews, closings, hearings and trials. Formal evaluations are held twice during the summer, with input received from each attorney with whom the summer associate worked.

Educational luncheon seminars are held regularly to assist summer associates with their professional development. Weekly social and recreational outings such as golf, tennis, boating, dinner parties, wine tastings, and baseball games allow summer associates to get to know our attorneys outside the office. Our goal is to provide a balanced summer experience that enables summer associates to learn what it would be like to work in our office on a permanent basis.

The Columbia office hosts a 12-week program, beginning mid-May and ending the first week of August. First-year students are encouraged to spend an entire summer with our Firm, while returning second-year students are encouraged to split with other firms. New second-year students are generally offered full-summer employment, but are allowed to split with other firms, if they so choose.

Current Summer Associate Salaries: $1,300 per week for First Year Summer Associates; $1,500 per week for Second Year Summer Associates.

Nelson Mullins' Columbia office generally hires approximately 25 first and second-year law students each summer. We hire our summer associates in a variety of ways. Nelson Mullins' South Carolina offices conduct on-campus interviews at USC, UNC, Duke, Vanderbilt and Virginia. We also participate in the Southeastern Minority Job Fair and the Southeastern Law Placement Consortium. Our IP Practice Group conducts on-campus interviews at Franklin Pierce Law Center and the Patent Law Job Fair in Chicago, Illinois. Nelson Mullins' South Carolina offices will also accept resumes from students who are unable to participate in on-campus interviews. Please contact your career services office to determine the dates of our visit to your campus or write directly to our Senior Recruiting and Development Coordinator, Janet Hamilton (P.O. Box 11070, Columbia, S.C. 29211).