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I am a 2L at a T50 school in the state where I am from and would like to practice (think flyover state). I am interested in prosecution, and just finished up an internship at the US Attorney's office (I was a law clerk with the in-house counsel of a corporation last summer). My goal is to work in one of two more rural counties where I am from. It would be an ideal job to get into the DA's office in one of those counties. I won't have much (if any) debt, so money is not really an issue. However, I am confused at what would be best next summer. I have been offered an unpaid internship at both county DA's offices in my target areas, but I am concerned I am painting myself too much into a corner by over-committing my resume to prosecution - these rural counties rarely have openings and obviously they are competitive even when there are openings. I can likely get a law clerk position at a small law firm near my law school (in another part of the state). These clerkships usually don't end up receiving job offers but they pay well enough that I could probably graduate without debt (without it I'm looking at ~10k debt).

Basically my question is if a clerkship at a 5-10 Lawyer Law Firm (general law firm, doing criminal, family law, estate planning etc.) would be a better bet just to keep my resume broad (and not scare off law firms) than to take an unpaid internship at my target office where the odds of an opening in the next year or two are probably not great. I am concerned about the market and want to make sure I get a job as a lawyer even if not as a prosecutor.

If there's not a good chance of getting a job at the DA's office after school, I would say play it safe and take a firm job. Also, would you have the opportunity to intern at the DA's office where you go to law school? If that's an option, you could get DA experience during school and firm experience during the summer.

My USAO externship opened a lot of doors for me. So it's hard for me to say you shouldn't do the externship at the prosecutor's office. But not all externships are created equally. You could get there and do a bunch of menial shit for olds that will forget you as soon as you leave. Plus, it sounds like these offices probably wouldn't be looking to hire you right out of school, if ever. So I'd probably go to the firm, make some money, and hope for the best.

Mr. Archer wrote:If there's not a good chance of getting a job at the DA's office after school, I would say play it safe and take a firm job. Also, would you have the opportunity to intern at the DA's office where you go to law school? If that's an option, you could get DA experience during school and firm experience during the summer.

I probably could do some internship during 3L in a criminal law clinic. That's a good thought. The only down side is that I would lose the opportunity to network and work in my target market.

Anonymous User wrote:My USAO externship opened a lot of doors for me. So it's hard for me to say you shouldn't do the externship at the prosecutor's office. But not all externships are created equally. You could get there and do a bunch of menial shit for olds that will forget you as soon as you leave. Plus, it sounds like these offices probably wouldn't be looking to hire you right out of school, if ever. So I'd probably go to the firm, make some money, and hope for the best.

My USAO experience was not negative, but not positive either. So I was a bit more suspicious when they offered me positions at those counties. But they did assure me justice court 3L practice rule work. I know their intern last summer took some misdemeanor to a bench trial. They told me they could work out something like that as well, so that was promising. But yeah, still a toss up.

True, you would be giving up a little by not going back to your target market. But, it could be worth it if the DA's offices you mentioned don't have opportunities in the near future. You could always network through the local bar's crim section while working at a firm. I don't think you'd be going wrong with either job, so it's kind of a judgment call.