Looking for summer firm job, losing hope... Forum

[Lawdude500]

I posted last semester about my transfer woes (transferred into a t-13, two callbacks, neither worked out). I followed my rejections with a LOT of mass mailing, which also didn't turn into anything. I then decided to focus the end of fall on finals.

I ended up a bit below median. My career adviser said it means grades won't necessarily hurt me, but won't help me either. While I am definitely hoping to boost my GPA (currently taking some classes that historically grade well), but what do I do now? As if my last situation wasn't "desperate" enough, now my career adviser's promises of "oh don't even worry, you'll get a midlaw summer gig no problem" has turned into "don't eliminate government 2L summer options." It was a pretty damn dispiriting.

So now I'm wondering, what should I do now? I'll try and reach out to alumni/firms, but what is the best way to do that, and are there that many good firm positions still available? Are there certain government jobs that are known to be prestigious/good for setting up the 3L job search?

While I suppose I'm still happy I transferred, I feel like I've basically taken loss after loss all year. What is the best way forward from here? Thanks to any help/answers.

[CanadianWolf]

Any thoughts about your job situation if you remained at your prior law school with, presumably, a top 10% ranking ?

[sparkytrainer]

To be truthful, your shot at a biglaw summer job is 0%. But you could still pull a small law gig. Gotta hustle.

[Lawdude500]

Any thoughts about your job situation if you remained at your prior law school with, presumably, a top 10% ranking ?

Not sure what you're getting at, but yes I have. Almost certainly wouldn't have gotten biglaw, but maybe would've ended up with a mid size firm gig. The school had a pretty strong hold on its area, and the top 10-15% generally have good options. Plus I wouldn't have had any debt, so there's that. Granted I suppose that's always the gamble with transferring so I guess I was kind of aware of the risk going in.

To be truthful, your shot at a biglaw summer job is 0%. But you could still pull a small law gig. Gotta hustle.

I appreciate the effort to help, but not super helpful. First, I never mentioned biglaw in my post (beyond the initial OCI in August), so not sure why you did. But also, I kind of already know I have to hustle, but was just wondering if there is a specific direction I should be going in, or a strategy (i.e. directory, website, technique etc.) that would help find mid/small sized firms during 2L spring.

[midwestrocks]

Doesn't your your school have a symplicity type website that has job postings? If there are other law schools in your region, you can try to get reciprocity with their job websites as well (I assume your career services can help with that). If you have a practice area of interest, go to networking events in that field and try to meet attorneys. It's definitely not too late to get a paying small firm gig for the summer. I think I ended up getting a job at a smaller firm that paid pretty well in March or April of 2L year.

Any thoughts about your job situation if you remained at your prior law school with, presumably, a top 10% ranking ?

Not sure what you're getting at, but yes I have. Almost certainly wouldn't have gotten biglaw, but maybe would've ended up with a mid size firm gig. The school had a pretty strong hold on its area, and the top 10-15% generally have good options. Plus I wouldn't have had any debt, so there's that. Granted I suppose that's always the gamble with transferring so I guess I was kind of aware of the risk going in.

To be truthful, your shot at a biglaw summer job is 0%. But you could still pull a small law gig. Gotta hustle.

I appreciate the effort to help, but not super helpful. First, I never mentioned biglaw in my post (beyond the initial OCI in August), so not sure why you did. But also, I kind of already know I have to hustle, but was just wondering if there is a specific direction I should be going in, or a strategy (i.e. directory, website, technique etc.) that would help find mid/small sized firms during 2L spring.

[albanach]

I appreciate the effort to help, but not super helpful. First, I never mentioned biglaw in my post (beyond the initial OCI in August), so not sure why you did. But also, I kind of already know I have to hustle, but was just wondering if there is a specific direction I should be going in, or a strategy (i.e. directory, website, technique etc.) that would help find mid/small sized firms during 2L spring.

I think the advice you were getting is that you should maybe focus less on the paid summer and more on the job after 3L. That's the goal after all, though a paid summer is nice.

So work on maximizing your GPA to get yourself above median and take a summer gig that won't hurt your 3L job search. If you're at a T-13 and are above median, BigLaw (assuming that's what you'd want if it's available) could still be in reach.