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Covington & Burling LLP

Covington & Burling counts approximately 1,311 attorneys in 14 offices worldwide. Founded in Washington, DC in 1919.

$225,000

Announced by the firm (Oct 2026)

118

Reporting year not confirmed; 99.3% reported offer rate

8 years

Estimate. The firm does not publish this

#12

Overall firm rank

$3.3M

Am Law #30

$2.1B

Rank #30; $1.6M per lawyer

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Openings

Every firm on the Job Board

  • 1L Summer 2027 · Class of 2029Open

    . Separate 1L application.

    New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Boston

    Opens

    Opened Nov 1

    Deadline

    Not announced

    Checked 1d ago

    Separate 1L application, by practice and office. The 2L program opens December 1, 2026.

    Materials: Cover Letter · Writing Sample · Law School Transcript · Undergrad Transcript · References

    Requirements shown for the Washington DC corporate M&A 1L position; some items may be submitted later.

  • 3L / Entry-Level · Class of 2027Open

    Entry-Level Corporate Associate

    Washington, DC

    Opens

    Open now

    Deadline

    Apr 26, 2027

    Checked 1d ago

    Washington DC Corporate/M&A entry-level position for Spring 2027 JD graduates. Official portal deadline April 26, 2027. October 5 is a posting date; first opening day not stated.

    Materials: Cover Letter · Law School Transcript

  • 2L Summer 2028 · Class of 2029Opening Soon

    . Separate 2L application.

    New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Boston

    Opens

    Dec 1, 2026

    Deadline

    Not announced

    Separate 2L application. Opens December 1, 2026. The 1L program is a different application and opens November 1, 2026.

    Materials: Cover Letter · Writing Sample · Law School Transcript · Undergrad Transcript · References

    Send the law school transcript when it is available. Apply to each office separately.

About Covington & Burling

Covington & Burling LLP was opened in Washington, DC, on January 1, 1919, by J. Harry Covington and Edward B. Burling. Dean Acheson joined as an associate two years later. One of the firm's first cases was an international arbitration in The Hague for the Kingdom of Norway.

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New Deal legislation increased demand for its regulatory work, and antitrust litigation became a staple of the practice after World War II. In the late 1960s it launched a lawyer rotation program at a Neighborhood Legal Services office, which is still running. The firm describes combining its litigation, investigations and corporate practices with policy knowledge and a regulatory practice. It opened offices in London (1988), Beijing and Palo Alto (2008), Seoul (2012), Los Angeles (2015), Dubai and Johannesburg (2017), Frankfurt (2018) and Boston (2023). It also has offices in Brussels, New York, San Francisco, Shanghai and Washington.

Description Source

Practice Strength by Market

Every band below appears on this firm’s Chambers USA 2026 profile, checked September 26, 2026. Where Chambers splits a table into The Elite and Highly Regarded, every Elite firm ranks above every Highly Regarded firm.

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PracticeMarketRecognition, 2026

Corporate Crime & InvestigationsThe Elite

Nationwide

Band 1

Corporate/M&A: Deals in Asia

California

Band 1

False Claims Act

Nationwide

Band 1

Financial Services Regulation: Consumer Finance (Enforcement & Investigations)

Nationwide

Band 1

Food & Beverages: Regulatory & Litigation

Nationwide

Band 1

Government ContractsThe Elite

Nationwide

Band 1

Government Relations: Congressional Investigations

Nationwide

Band 1

Healthcare: Pharmaceutical/Medical Products Regulatory

District of Columbia

Band 1

Insurance: Dispute Resolution: Policyholder

Nationwide

Band 1

Insurance: Policyholder

California

Band 1

69 reported ranking rows

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Rankings

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Latest published editions. Each links to its source.

Size and Standing

Associate Life

Pro Bono and Inclusion

Vault Practice Rankings

Show All 17

Practice Areas

Covington calls its assignment system the centerpiece of the summer. The firm says it "carefully match[es] assignments with each summer associate's interests" and, because its practice groups are informal and flexible, summers "explore a variety of substantive assignments in diverse practice groups." Assignments are tailored as a summer's interests evolve, and each summer has a senior and a junior mentor.

Source

Inclusion

Covington's Firm Resource Groups are open to all colleagues, lawyers and business professionals, and focus on the workplace experience of people who share a background, identity or interest. The firm also runs a Women's Forum and has earned a top score in the HRC Foundation's Corporate Equality Index for 17 consecutive years.

Source

Pro Bono

Average Hours Per Attorney
182 hoursAm Law pro bono rank #2Source

How pro bono work is assigned

Covington says it regards pro bono service as a professional obligation. In 2025, 97 percent of its lawyers volunteered on pro bono matters. The firm has met the D.C. Circuit Judicial Conference's 40 at 50 benchmark (at least 40 percent of attorneys doing 50 or more pro bono hours) every year since 2003, and The American Lawyer has ranked its pro bono practice number one twelve times.

More about Covington & Burling

Covington runs three 1L summer programs: Patent Litigation (Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco and Washington), Life Sciences (Boston) and Life Sciences Transactions (Washington). The 2L program runs in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco and Washington. Applicants submit a cover letter, resume, undergraduate transcript, writing sample and references, one application per office.

Source

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