Weighing Options Forum

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ageofsuf

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Weighing Options

Post by ageofsuf » Mon Mar 18, 2019 11:33 am

Hi everyone,

I am a 2L at a T100 school, bottom 50%. Through my 1L judicial internship, I was able to work for credit at a PD office during both 2L semesters. The PD's office also offered me a summer internship, which I took. Additionally, I was able to get a post-graduate clerkship through a family connection. In essence, the PD internship and the clerkship are tied because the people involved all know each other.

This is the problem. I have very little interest in criminal law and litigation in general. I thought going into my 2L year that I would relish the external and internal aspects of learning litigation, and put it at the forefront of my career goals. Now, 2 months from my summer internship, I am not excited to work in criminal law. I am more interested in the world of government/legislative policy or what the ABA calls "legislative lawyering." I'm not against being a lawyer (although I'm not really interested in law/don't like law school), so a realistic option would be using my JD to get further into government/policy work. If I could go back, I wouldn't have pursued a JD. I probably would have gone for an MPP/MPA.

There are still summer opportunities working in an area I am interested in; land use/zoning law/government regulations for a redevelopment agency. I was thinking of applying and if accepted, possibly splitting the summer between two internships. The reason I'm afraid of giving up the PD is because I don't want it to jeopardize my post-grad clerkship, which has been formally offered by the judge and accepted by me.

Does anyone have advice in dealing my issue? Should I go the "safe" route and continue with criminal law or should I take the risk and begin to gear my career goals based on my interests (albeit without any job guarantee).

I appreciate any feedback.

QContinuum

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Re: Weighing Options

Post by QContinuum » Mon Mar 18, 2019 11:53 am

IMO, it doesn't hurt to at least apply to the redevelopment agency. You don't even know if you'll get an offer. If you do, then IMO it doesn't hurt to at least "sound out" the PD's office about the possibility of splitting. You wouldn't even be splitting with a for-profit company, but with another government agency, so they'd have to be seriously perverse if they were to blow up to the point of trying to sabotage your clerkship for merely asking. If you ask and they say "No, absolutely not!," then maybe reconsider at that point. But it shouldn't hurt to at least ask.

Depending on how long the typical PD summer internship lasts, and how long the redevelopment agency internship lasts, you might even be able to "add weeks" to your PD internship either at the beginning of summer and/or in August. If internship length is a concern for the PD folks, and you're willing to sacrifice some vacation time, you could potentially arrange things so that you end up working the same (or nearly the same) number of weeks for them as you would have done normally even without splitting.

FND

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Re: Weighing Options

Post by FND » Mon Mar 25, 2019 2:16 pm

you're bottom 50% at a top 100 law school?

Beggars can't be choosers. Better one in the hand than two in the bush. Do what you can to open other options, but don't do anything to risk the prospects you have already. If you don't believe me, go read a few pages of the Veil of Tears

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