Moo_NW wrote:How realistic is it to get a law firm job for the summer as a 1L? The orientation brochure mentions a bit under 20% of 1L's get private law jobs for their first summer. The two dominant ways to spend the summer are 'government' (whatever kinds of jobs those are) and 'academics' (the $5k credit/grant thing discussed above, I suppose?).
Would law firm jobs depend on grades/OCI or entirely on connections (i.e. do law firms even interview 1L's for summer internships)?
Most of the people I know with firm jobs got them through connections; unless you have something basically set up before you start, I would not count on getting a firm job 1L summer.
However, with government/PI/judicial externships, though, it's not like you're going to starve. You can either get a grant or loans, depending on which route you take. I could have worked a firm job that I had set up from my previous life but instead decided to do an unpaid government internship, take out loans, and get credits for it.