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Do recruiting managers for big law firms care about what you do? Such as whether you worked for the DA's office or externed with a judge. Or do they not care at all. I am having trouble deciding whether to extern for a state judge or work for the DA's office.

I wouldn't say it matters very much which one of these you do. Assuming neither involve pay, working for the judge might be slightly better for a number of reasons. First, at the DA, you'll just be a rising 2L, so you won't be able to do any student practicing in court, and instead likely just researching and writing memos or briefs. I think if you're going to do primarily research and writing, hell do it for a judge. Second, depending on the judge, some employers note that those positions aren't the easiest to get (although they're not terribly difficult), so it looks goo in that respect. And third, if you're externing and only work limited hours, you can take another summer class and get ahead on credits so you can lighten the 2L/3L year courseloads, which is valuable if you're going to do LR/MC or work part time later in law school.

Think of 1L jobs summer along a giant bell curve. The only ones that will raise eyebrows are going to be in the last ~5% on either side (either doing something incredible, or doing something terrible/non-legal). Anything else in between is fine. Just get something in that giant middle section and stop worrying about it.

thegrayman wrote:Think of 1L jobs summer along a giant bell curve. The only ones that will raise eyebrows are going to be in the last ~5% on either side (either doing something incredible, or doing something terrible/non-legal). Anything else in between is fine. Just get something in that giant middle section and stop worrying about it.

Having spoken to several hiring partners, I can second this. You need to be able to talk a bit about what you did over summer, but it won't make any difference. On the other hand, not having anything makes you automatically suspicious

As one partner put it "every student we interview did a clerkship, I don't know what that entails, but they've all got it"

OP here, decided to take the state judge instead. Hopefully it is prestigious!!! lol

Anonymous User wrote:OP here, decided to take the state judge instead. Hopefully it is prestigious!!! lol

it's not prestigious...at all.