Working at Covington
Our distinctively collaborative culture allows us to be truly one team globally, drawing on the diverse experience of lawyers and advisors across the firm by seamlessly sharing insight and expertise.
What sets us apart is our ability to combine the tremendous strength in our litigation, investigations, and corporate practices with deep knowledge of policy and policymakers, and one of the world’s leading regulatory practices.
This enables us to create novel solutions to our clients’ toughest problems, successfully try their toughest cases, and deliver commercially practical advice of the highest quality.
Learn more about our firm through videos:
What Makes Covington a Special Place?
Memorable Moments at Covington
Professional Development
We provide lawyers with the resources, experience, and support necessary to succeed. This means assisting lawyers with their professional development and career satisfaction.
Mentoring Program. Mentoring is integral to our culture, and associates can expect to be supported and benefit from a variety of mentors throughout their Covington career. Upon arrival at the firm, new associates are assigned a mentor to help with their integration and guide and support their careers.
Training Programs. With well over 200 in-house training programs offered each year, Covington fosters a learning environment for our lawyers. Our practice group-focused and skills training complements on-the-job learning to ensure associates develop the skills and knowledge needed to be successful practitioners.
Assignments. Our legal personnel partners are assigned a group of associates for whom they monitor individual growth and development throughout the associates' careers, whether they choose to specialize early on or try a variety of practice areas.
Associate Advisory Committee. This committee, which is comprised of both associates and partners, provides an organized way for the firm's management and associates to exchange views and perspectives.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
At Covington, we strive to put our diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) values into action every day. We recognize that diversity enriches our culture, enhances our work with clients, and strengthens the profession.
Covington lawyers bring a wide variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences to our practice. The firm emphasizes DEI principles in its recruitment, retention, development, and promotion practices. We are intentional, deliberate, and focused on what we want to achieve – a diverse, equitable, and inclusive firm.
Affinity Groups: An important part of our work and culture, Covington’s seven firm-wide affinity groups help us connect with one another and provide mentoring, learning, and development opportunities in professional forums.
- Asian Pacific Islander
- Black
- Latino
- LGBTQ+
- Middle Eastern and North African
- Women's Forum
- Veterans
Pro Bono
Since its founding over 100 years ago, Covington has been committed not only to the highest professional standards of representation but also to public service. In 2022, over 1,200 Covington attorneys devoted more than 248,000 hours to representing organizations and individuals in pro bono matters, with our U.S. lawyers committing an average of 191 hours of pro bono service.
Many of our efforts focused on meeting the significant needs of economically disadvantaged or marginalized individuals and families in our surrounding communities, as well as providing outside counsel to the nonprofits that serve those communities. The firm's longstanding loaned-associate program reflects this commitment to serving people of limited means; since the program was established as a first of its kind model in 1969, Covington has sent over 300 associates to work at D.C.-based civil legal aid organizations for six-month rotations.
The firm also handles impact litigation and systemic reform projects on a range of issues including: criminal justice reform, racial justice, immigration, LGBTQ equality, the First Amendment, gun violence prevention, mental health, voting rights, and veterans' benefits.
Summer Program
Through our summer associate program, we provide a select and diverse group of law students from around the country the opportunity to actively participate in a broad and exciting range of legal matters.
Through immersion into our practice, summer associates are exposed to Covington’s enduring cultural values—the values that shape our delivery of the highest quality service to our clients and our contributions to the public interest through dynamic and precedent-setting pro bono legal work.
Assignments: Work with Us. Our interactive and individualized assignment system is the foundation of our program. We actively solicit input from summer associates on desired assignments and encourage them to try projects in multiple practice areas.
Customized. Summer associate assignments are tailored to individual practice interests. We encourage summer associates to explore and find those practice areas that resonate most with their individual interests.
A Variety of Real Legal Work. Our goal is to evaluate a summer associate’s abilities based on real assignments, whether researching issues and drafting briefs, or negotiating contracts. Our lawyers and clients rely on the work product that our summer associates help produce.
Education: Learn with Us. Our substantive summer training programs include depositions, advocacy writing, communication skills, and transaction and settlement negotiations. Summer associates are also invited to participate in client and internal strategy meetings and court hearings.
Social: Get to Know Us. We ensure that our summer associates get to know our lawyers. Typical activities include sporting events, concerts, cooking classes, and hiking.
To Learn More, Download the Summer Associate Program Brochure.
