The Official 1L Summer Employment Thread - 2012 Edition Forum

[071816]

Quick question:

I'm sending out cover letters/resumes to federal judges on 12/1. Just wondering if it's acceptable to put them in the mail on the 30th?

I'm wondering the same thing.

[Anonymous User]

Quick question:

I'm sending out cover letters/resumes to federal judges on 12/1. Just wondering if it's acceptable to put them in the mail on the 30th?

I'm wondering the same thing.

Speculation: As long as you put it in the mail after your your local post office closes (usually around 6 pm?) on the 30th, I don't see why not.

[dabomb75]

so if really don't think I want to clerk, what are my other options?

Right now I'm looking into firms, in-house, and a couple of government positions. Am I screwing myself over limiting myself like this? I've just heard stuff about it being a terrible idea to turn down a judge, and I don't want to apply to judges and get an offer within the next month and not have a shot at anything else I think I would find much more interesting.

I'm a non-URM but still diverse (I think) when it comes to firm diversity categories.

[drmguy]

My school's career site doesn't have any links for sample cover letters for judges - does anyone have a helpful link for that? thanks a bunch!

Just google "law cover letter"

duh, I've already done that. The first couple of pages either have public interest or private, but none specifically for judges. I was just wondering if anyone had any that they had already seen and thought were good.

Google "judicial intern cover letter"

[Anonymous User]

Non-diversity t2 student here.

Is there any point for a person in my position to mail v100s?

[srfngdd6]

My school's career site doesn't have any links for sample cover letters for judges - does anyone have a helpful link for that? thanks a bunch!

Just google "law cover letter"

duh, I've already done that. The first couple of pages either have public interest or private, but none specifically for judges. I was just wondering if anyone had any that they had already seen and thought were good.

Google "judicial intern cover letter"

http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/career ... etters.htm

[Ernert]

0L here wondering how much of this preparation did you guys do prior to starting classes this past fall? I figure the writing sample has to happen after you start LRW, but the cover letters/resume/location scouting could all happen beforehand, right?

[NinerFan]

0L here wondering how much of this preparation did you guys do prior to starting classes this past fall? I figure the writing sample has to happen after you start LRW, but the cover letters/resume/location scouting could all happen beforehand, right?

I did it all after winter break and was, quite shockingly (sarcasm), just fine in terms of employment. In fact, most of my classmates didn't begin applying until January or February and they were all employed. Finding a job your 1L summer (at least at the T14 level) is not that hard.

So, everyone, please stop gunning so hard and calm down. Concentrate on your Finals now or you'll regret counting your chickens.

[minuit]

Federal District court judges - writing sample necessary? Preferred? Doesn't matter?

Also, did anyone definitively answer whether we can send out mail on the 30th so it arrives on the 1st, or do we have to wait til the 1st?

[NYC Law]

Federal District court judges - writing sample necessary? Preferred? Doesn't matter?

Also, did anyone definitively answer whether we can send out mail on the 30th so it arrives on the 1st, or do we have to wait til the 1st?

I think the protocol is not to send a writing sample to judges unless they request one. I'm thinking of just mailing mine out tomorrow. Still not 100% if that's allowed, but fuck nalp if they're going to bitch over sending snail mail 2 days early.

[minuit]

Federal District court judges - writing sample necessary? Preferred? Doesn't matter?

Also, did anyone definitively answer whether we can send out mail on the 30th so it arrives on the 1st, or do we have to wait til the 1st?

I think the protocol is not to send a writing sample to judges unless they request one. I'm thinking of just mailing mine out tomorrow. Still not 100% if that's allowed, but fuck nalp if they're going to bitch over sending snail mail 2 days early.

Haha yeah really. I'm dating the letter for Dec. 1st, so hopefully no one does a double take

I'm doing 30 State CoA and 25 Fed. Dist. judges. I haven't applied to any government/PI/private jobs - hopefully this will work out and I won't have to!

[23402385985]

Want to dot this.

[Eco]

Why are you guys even worrying about this. 140 mass judicial mails? You don't need a judicial internship. All you need is SOMETHING legal. All employers are going to care about when you go to OCI next year is a) you have high grades and b) you did something legal.

Finding a position as a 1L is pretty easy anyways, you're not getting paid, as long as you don't have a seizure during the interview you'll get the job.

[23402385985]

Why are you guys even worrying about this. 140 mass judicial mails? You don't need a judicial internship. All you need is SOMETHING legal. All employers are going to care about when you go to OCI next year is a) you have high grades and b) you did something legal.

Finding a position as a 1L is pretty easy anyways, you're not getting paid, as long as you don't have a seizure during the interview you'll get the job.

I lol'd

[r6_philly]

Taggin this. I am almost ready to go with SA applications. I think PI jobs are much easier to get and don't really have to work on them until the spring. We have a spring OCI and a couple of job fairs scheduled Feb-March. Just trying to aim at the hard to get stuff now.

[69Coronet]

27 Unique Mail-Merged LaserJet Printed Cover Letters on Almond 100% Cotton Resume Paper, 27 Copies of my Resume LaserJet Printed on the same paper, and 27 matching Envelopes Mail-Merged and Inkjet Printed.
Gotta go and get some stamps today, then I'll stamp each one, stack them up, and put them in the mail in the city either tomorrow morning or Thursday morning.

Any opinion on that? If I put them in the mail tomorrow morning, they'll get there on the 1st, but then they'll be postmarked on the 30th...

I think it was worth the small time cost of assembling the mail-merge off of my school's website and using Word's Mail Merge tools, and the monetary cost of buying the paper, envelopes, and stamps.

Compared to the opportunity that is offered by interning for a judge, I think its a worthwhile expenditure of time and money.

If nothing comes out of it, then I'll keep plugging away at other opportunities...

[Eco]

Compared to the opportunity that is offered by interning for a judge, I think its a worthwhile expenditure of time and money.

Ahhh 1Ls. I remember when I was a hopeful 1L too. It's not worth the money at all. Working for a judge makes no difference. All the firms will care about are your grades, and after that, as long as you have some legal work done over the summer (i.e. writing sample plus stuff to talk about) you're good to go.

[headandshoulderos]

Compared to the opportunity that is offered by interning for a judge, I think its a worthwhile expenditure of time and money.

Ahhh 1Ls. I remember when I was a hopeful 1L too. It's not worth the money at all. Working for a judge makes no difference. All the firms will care about are your grades, and after that, as long as you have some legal work done over the summer (i.e. writing sample plus stuff to talk about) you're good to go.

haha ha ha ha. all my friends who were judicial interns were pissed about being poor. nobody thought it was worth it. you don't even see the judge in many cases, just interact with their clerks.

i worked at a small firm that paid a lot less than biglaw but still a great salary and got great practical writing samples and had a good time. those types of firms are often willing to bring on 1L clerks. since they can bill you out, they'll make a profit. they don't hire on 12/1. just do finals bros.

[69Coronet]

Well, I suppose I will classify myself as a hopeful 1L then...

I also have some emails ready to send to firms, but the reality is that next to no one gets a 1L SA position, so I don't know if there's a point in sending them out.
We'll see.

There's a contingent of people on here who loved their 1L judicial internships, there's a contingent of people who hated them, and there's a contingent of people who will disagree with anything anyone says no matter what it is, so you can't operate off of what the people on here are saying.

Thus far, I haven't found anything for 1L firm summer work, so I'll toss my hat into the judicial internship ring.
Maybe I'll hate it, but I'll never know if I don't give it a shot.
At the very least, it'll look halfway decent on my resume in the future.

[headandshoulderos]

Well, I suppose I will classify myself as a hopeful 1L then...

I also have some emails ready to send to firms, but the reality is that next to no one gets a 1L SA position, so I don't know if there's a point in sending them out.
We'll see.

There's a contingent of people on here who loved their 1L judicial internships, there's a contingent of people who hated them, and there's a contingent of people who will disagree with anything anyone says no matter what it is, so you can't operate off of what the people on here are saying.

Thus far, I haven't found anything for 1L firm summer work, so I'll toss my hat into the judicial internship ring.
Maybe I'll hate it, but I'll never know if I don't give it a shot.
At the very least, it'll look halfway decent on my resume in the future.

I disagree.

[69Coronet]

Thanks for that, brah.

[ilovesf]

Turns out I will have some apps ready for 12/1 - about 6. I will take them directly to the ca CoA myself

[kaiser]

Well, I suppose I will classify myself as a hopeful 1L then...

I also have some emails ready to send to firms, but the reality is that next to no one gets a 1L SA position, so I don't know if there's a point in sending them out.
We'll see.

There's a contingent of people on here who loved their 1L judicial internships, there's a contingent of people who hated them, and there's a contingent of people who will disagree with anything anyone says no matter what it is, so you can't operate off of what the people on here are saying.

Thus far, I haven't found anything for 1L firm summer work, so I'll toss my hat into the judicial internship ring.
Maybe I'll hate it, but I'll never know if I don't give it a shot.
At the very least, it'll look halfway decent on my resume in the future.

I disagree.

You disagree with what? A number of big firms were impressed with federal judicial internships, particularly CoA ones, but its all about how you spin your experience. If you have a great judge and great stories from the summer, it will serve you very well come interview time.

[BEAST_mode]

Fuck it, I'm snail mailing judicial apps tomorrow. Dating 12/1. At this point, I don't even care about gunning. I just want to be able to spend my entire winter break watching season 4 of breaking bad, playing MW3 for ~12 hours a day, and being a complete waste of life.

[Apple Tree]

For those of you doing snail mail, are you actually handwriting the signature in all the cover letters?