Carrie Nie says she was ready to jump in and get to work as a first-year associate with Winstead’s Dallas office, especially since she already had met many of the shareholders and associates while a summer associate in 2011.

“I reached out to them my first week, and said, ‘I’m here, can I help you with anything?’ ” says Nie, a 2012 graduate of Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in Dallas.