RA and Judicial Intern during the fall ok? Forum

[MIA]

I am a 1L and for this upcoming summer I will be working for a law firm. For next fall (2L year) I will be a research assistant for one of my professors - this will require about 9 hours per week, I believe. However, I also want to do a federal (district court) judicial internship in the fall as well. I rather not wait until Spring to the the judicial internship.... Is this doable? and if it is, is it a good idea?

I thought that having two great LOR's by the end of this year will work wonders for my 2L summer next year. Thoughts?

Thanks!

[Captain Jack]

This seems like a solid plan, assuming that you can get enough hours of sleep, handle the entailed responsibilities AND still manage perform well academically. You are correct in saying, however, that letters of recommendations will help you in the long run in your search for employment. It's certainly doable and it would certainly pay off. You may have to skip Law Revue nights and going to the bar with classmates. But those are minor sacrifices, with all things considered. Just make sure you don't burn out!

Good luck!

[fortissimo]

Why do you need to do both? CRAZYYYYYYY

[LurkerNoMore]

I'm very confused. It might be lack of coffee.

You are talking about internships fall of 2L year so you can get LORs for you 2L summer job?

OCI hiring for your 2L summer will be done before you've really started work for either the judge or the professor. Are you just wanting to use them as a backup in case you have to do second or third wave hiring? (If you are not planning on a firm job, then the hiring cycle is later, so maybe this is what you mean.)

You should know that many judges are very protective of their internship programs -- they want to keep them non-competitive, so often they have a policy against serving as a reference or against writing LORs. Some also have policies against hiring interns as clerks. This varies widely by judge, but it is something to keep in mind.

Also, depending on the chambers you are in, you may never/rarely see your judge. Interns are sometimes not even working in the chambers of the judge, but rather work in the court's library and work on discrete research assignments given to them by the clerks. Again, this varies widely -- some judges treat their interns pretty much the same as the clerks and have lots of contact with them and give them substantive work. It's just something you should be aware of.

If you have any plans for law review or other ECs like moot court, then it sounds like you may find yourself entirely overcommitted. If you have plans for a clerkship, 2L grades still matter, so you may find yourself in a bad place if you have too much going on.

[imchuckbass58]

I think that this might be a little crazy. OCI and callbacks are supposed to be very time consuming. From what I've heard, first semester 2L year can be busier (though not necessarily more stressful/harder) than 1L year. Callbacks can take up basically all your time in September and early October, and even when they're over, you're left to catch up on all the work you didn't do while you were interviewing.

You know your limits/capabilities, but I personally would not try to do it.

[MIA]

I guess I have to save the Externship for the spring...

I was also considering just doing the RA gig on the summer along with my full-time firm job... but that's probably not such a good idea either eh?