This site is run by the BLS Co-Chairs, not NUSL or the Co-op Office — always defer to official university resources for requirements, deadlines, and policies.
Associate
A lawyer employed by a firm who is not a partner — typically ranges from first-year associates fresh out of law school to senior associates with seven or more years of experience.
Partner
A firm owner who shares in its profits, as opposed to earning a salary. Often split into “equity partners” (full ownership stake) and “non-equity” or “income partners” (a senior title without full ownership).
Of Counsel
An attorney affiliated with a firm who is neither a standard associate nor a partner — often a senior lawyer with a specialized role, flexible arrangement, or transitional status.
General Counsel (GC)
The most senior in-house lawyer at a company, who leads its legal department and typically reports directly to the CEO or board.
In-House Counsel
An attorney employed directly by a company (rather than a law firm) to handle its legal needs. See the “Beyond Firms” section of the Business Law Map guide for more detail.
Summer Associate
A law student working at a firm for the summer, typically after 1L or 2L year, as part of the firm's primary pipeline for hiring full-time associates.
OCI (On-Campus Interviewing)
A structured recruiting program, run through a school's career office, where firms interview students on campus (or virtually) during a designated window, often using a bidding or lottery system to allocate interview slots.
Screener / First-Round Interview
An initial, usually shorter interview — often virtual — meant to narrow a large applicant pool down to a smaller group invited to a callback.
Callback
A more extensive follow-up interview, often in person at the firm's office, typically involving multiple attorneys across a half or full day.
Resume Collect
A recruiting process where students submit a resume and cover letter for a firm (or group of firms) to review, without a live interview at that stage — common for firms not participating in formal OCI.
Return Offer
A permanent, full-time job offer extended to a summer associate at the end of their summer program, based on their performance and fit during that summer.
Diversity Fellowship / Scholars Program
A program, run by many firms, offering targeted recruiting, mentorship, and often a scholarship to law students from underrepresented backgrounds, frequently aimed specifically at 1Ls.
Split Summer
A summer program structure — most common in in-house recruiting — where a student splits their summer between a law firm and a corporate legal department.
BigLaw
An informal term for the largest, highest-revenue law firms, generally overlapping with the AmLaw 100 or Vault 100 rankings, known for high starting salaries and large-scale deals and litigation.
AmLaw 100 / AmLaw 200
Annual rankings, published by American Lawyer, of the 100 (or 200) highest-grossing law firms in the U.S. by revenue.
Vault Law 100
An annual ranking of the top 100 U.S. law firms based on prestige, compiled from surveys of practicing attorneys — widely used by students as a recruiting reference.
Chambers USA / Chambers Associate
A legal industry research and ranking service. Chambers USA ranks firms and individual attorneys by practice area; Chambers Associate is aimed specifically at students researching firms for recruiting.
Boutique Firm
A firm that specializes deeply in one or a small number of practice areas, rather than offering the full range of services a large full-service firm provides.
AmLaw / NLJ 500
Broader industry rankings covering more firms than the AmLaw 100, useful for researching mid-size firms that fall outside the very largest tier.
Practice Group
A team within a firm organized around a specific area of law (e.g. M&A, tax, restructuring) that attorneys are typically assigned to, either upon hire or after an initial rotation period.
Billable Hour
The unit firms use to track and bill attorney work to clients; associate performance and compensation are often tied, at least in part, to billable hours logged.
Lateral (Move / Hire)
An attorney who moves from one firm (or from in-house) to another firm, rather than joining as an entry-level hire — as opposed to being trained and promoted from within.
This site is run by the BLS Co-Chairs, not NUSL or the Co-op Office — always defer to official university resources for requirements, deadlines, and policies.