An associate attorney is a lower-level employee of a traditional law firm who does not hold an ownership interest as a partner.
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An associate may be a junior or senior associate, but normally does not yet hold an ownership interest in the firm even if they have been associated with the firm for many years. First-year associates are entry-level junior attorneys and are generally recent law school graduates in their first year working in a firm.[1]
Junior attorneys were initially called "law clerks"; the term "associate attorney" was coined by Emory Buckner, hiring partner of Root, Clark & Bird (which subsequently became Dewey Ballantine) in the 1920s.
Summer associates are current law school students who have usually completed their second year of school and are interning at the firm for the summer. Summer associates have not passed the bar exam and are not lawyers.[1]