3L job search. What are my options? Forum

(Study Tips, Dealing With Stress, Maintaining a Social Life, Financial Aid, Internships, Bar Exam, Careers in Law . . . )
Post Reply
bambi592

New
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jun 06, 2018 10:52 am

3L job search. What are my options?

Post by bambi592 » Fri Jun 08, 2018 3:19 pm

Alright people. Give it to me straight. How screwed am I? I'm a 3L at a lower ranked T-14. My 3.01 GPA sucks. What's unfortunate is that I don't consider myself an unintelligent or generally poor student. I like to describe my transcript as "colorful." Those B-'s that brought my GPA down are accompanied by B+'s and A-'s. But most employers don't care about that.

I suppose the GPA doesn't really matter at this point. I have an interest in IP in really any capacity at this point. In fact, I made my decision to go to law school and study IP during my junior year of college after reading about Marvel vs. The Estate of Jack Kirby (a major copyright/contractual dispute). Going into law school, I never had any ambitions to work at or make partner at a big law firm. My end goal was and still is to work in-house at a major media/comic book publishing company like Warner Brothers (DC) or Disney (Marvel). The problem as you all probably realized by now, is that the most common route to these competitive in-house positions is to work at a big law firm and then transition to in house. Unfortunately, I struck out at OCI last summer and I can't imagine 3L OCI being any better. I spent my 1L summer as an intern for a judge on a state superior court. Aaaaaaaaaand I ended up with another judicial internship this summer. It's with a senior federal judge. He recently stepped down from his position as the chief judge of the circuit. So I guess the position is relatively more prestigious than last year. However, I feel like judicial internships are for 1ls and this is going to look extremely redundant on my resume. The judge does forward all of his IP cases to me, so maybe I can spin that to my advantage. In any case, I know big law is pretty much out of the picture for me and this summer is not providing me with any corporate, transactional, or any experience that's otherwise valuable for someone that wants to work in-house.

I've tried really hard to make myself a more interesting applicant. I've taken just about every Ip course my school offers and I've done pretty well in them. I have a background as a jazz guitarist. This year, I co-founded a small business. I registered it as an LLC, drafted all of our legal documents such as employment contracts and non-compete agreements. I'm also an artist. I illustrated and co-authored our books/products and got our University to stock and sell the books. I'm currently in the process of registering our trademark and copyrights. While doing all of that, I served on the executive board of one of the most influential student organizations on campus and served as a member on a secondary journal. I've been trying to show that I'm personally interested and invested in the field of law that I want to practice.

Long story short, I have this really interesting and varied resume that's directly related to the field of law that I want to practice. I feel like If I could just get in front of more interviewers and talk about it, I'd be golden. However, I feel like my crappy GPA precludes me from even being considered for an interview. I guess this ended up being more of a rant than anything. Thoughts? Advice?

BasilHallward

Silver
Posts: 613
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2015 1:19 pm

Re: 3L job search. What are my options?

Post by BasilHallward » Fri Jun 08, 2018 11:30 pm

bambi592 wrote:Alright people. Give it to me straight. How screwed am I? I'm a 3L at a lower ranked T-14. My 3.01 GPA sucks. What's unfortunate is that I don't consider myself an unintelligent or generally poor student. I like to describe my transcript as "colorful." Those B-'s that brought my GPA down are accompanied by B+'s and A-'s. But most employers don't care about that.

I suppose the GPA doesn't really matter at this point. I have an interest in IP in really any capacity at this point. In fact, I made my decision to go to law school and study IP during my junior year of college after reading about Marvel vs. The Estate of Jack Kirby (a major copyright/contractual dispute). Going into law school, I never had any ambitions to work at or make partner at a big law firm. My end goal was and still is to work in-house at a major media/comic book publishing company like Warner Brothers (DC) or Disney (Marvel). The problem as you all probably realized by now, is that the most common route to these competitive in-house positions is to work at a big law firm and then transition to in house. Unfortunately, I struck out at OCI last summer and I can't imagine 3L OCI being any better. I spent my 1L summer as an intern for a judge on a state superior court. Aaaaaaaaaand I ended up with another judicial internship this summer. It's with a senior federal judge. He recently stepped down from his position as the chief judge of the circuit. So I guess the position is relatively more prestigious than last year. However, I feel like judicial internships are for 1ls and this is going to look extremely redundant on my resume. The judge does forward all of his IP cases to me, so maybe I can spin that to my advantage. In any case, I know big law is pretty much out of the picture for me and this summer is not providing me with any corporate, transactional, or any experience that's otherwise valuable for someone that wants to work in-house.

I've tried really hard to make myself a more interesting applicant. I've taken just about every Ip course my school offers and I've done pretty well in them. I have a background as a jazz guitarist. This year, I co-founded a small business. I registered it as an LLC, drafted all of our legal documents such as employment contracts and non-compete agreements. I'm also an artist. I illustrated and co-authored our books/products and got our University to stock and sell the books. I'm currently in the process of registering our trademark and copyrights. While doing all of that, I served on the executive board of one of the most influential student organizations on campus and served as a member on a secondary journal. I've been trying to show that I'm personally interested and invested in the field of law that I want to practice.

Long story short, I have this really interesting and varied resume that's directly related to the field of law that I want to practice. I feel like If I could just get in front of more interviewers and talk about it, I'd be golden. However, I feel like my crappy GPA precludes me from even being considered for an interview. I guess this ended up being more of a rant than anything. Thoughts? Advice?
It sounds like you know how to hustle. You're at a T14 and there will be opportunities over the year. Get close to your judge and you need to find a gig at small/mid-size shop starting next semester. Massmail like crazy

Npret

Gold
Posts: 1986
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:42 am

Re: 3L job search. What are my options?

Post by Npret » Fri Jun 08, 2018 11:51 pm

The copyright society has its annual meeting in Toronto in a few days. Maybe you can still hustle a student rate. You will meet people from all sorts of firms and media companies. If you can’t go, at least find out who in your area are members.
I would network as hard as possible with actual practicing copyright lawyers.
Also, I wouldn’t present yourself as a quirky candidate, I can’t tell if that is what you are doing.

https://www.csusa.org/general/custom.as ... ualMeeting

Post Reply

Return to “Forum for Law School Students”