Through the Eyes of Adam Childers, 2009 Recruiting Chairman (Oklahoma City Office)

"I'm uniquely qualified to answer that question.  I only had one summer at Crowe & Dunlevy, the summer of 1999 as a second year summer associate.  I received an offer for permanent employment at the Firm and started in August of 2007.  Consistant with my summer associate experience I got to do a lot of the same things, obviously it was a step up in terms of responsibility and workload when I became an associate.  I felt very prepared for what was in front of me.  I was working with the same people, I was facing the same legal issues.  I was asked to do many of the same projects, and what was so comfortable about it is that although it was only a six week window of time I had an opportunity to really forge a relationship with a lot of the folks that I worked with. 

I was invited to attend events the following summer while I was studying for the bar so I would come out to various parties.  I went to the Christmas breakfast in December of 1999 so I had opportunities to integrate myself with the group so when I came in I kind of hit the ground running.  People often times think of starting a new job you spend your first week trying to find out where the coffee is and who your next door neighbor is and I knew all that.  So I really came in feeling like I was part of the team, which I think is a tremendous asset you get from being a part of the summer associate program. 

From that transition I did my seven years as an associate, becoming a shareholder in April of 2008.  To me that was sort of the culmination of a long journey that made it that much more valuable to me.  I can look back and say I remember when I was a second year law student that was afraid to ask my secretary to help me with a memorandum, to the position I hold today where I'm a partial owner of this business and in a capacity where I can help direct and guide the future of the firm through out summer associate program."