school or legal work Forum

[dlbrodsky]

I am at the end of my gap year between college and law school. I have been accepted to top 30 schools. I spent part of the past year volunteering and working with a staffing agency who placed me at some of the top law firms in DC, but only for short periods of time. In February after I had been accepted to school the staffing agency placed me at a top 30 law firm worldwide. About 2 months after that the firm offered me a full time paralegal / legal assistant position, asking me to postpone law school for one year. If I choose not to take the job I would continue working there through August.
What are the benefits of taking the position other than money? How will it help me land 1L and 2L summer positions? Feel free to offer you opinion on what is the better option and why.
Thank You

[Thane Messinger]

I am at the end of my gap year between college and law school. I have been accepted to top 30 schools. I spent part of the past year volunteering and working with a staffing agency who placed me at some of the top law firms in DC, but only for short periods of time. In February after I had been accepted to school the staffing agency placed me at a top 30 law firm worldwide. About 2 months after that the firm offered me a full time paralegal / legal assistant position, asking me to postpone law school for one year. If I choose not to take the job I would continue working there through August.
What are the benefits of taking the position other than money? How will it help me land 1L and 2L summer positions? Feel free to offer you opinion on what is the better option and why.
Thank You

Congratulations. You're asking exactly the right questions, and you're well placed to do well out of law school, regardless of the factors that determine most graduates' futures.

There is, not surprisingly, no simple answer. Perhaps it would be helpful to state that, yes, having worked in a firm--especially a national one--will have many benefits besides money. This isn't just in the summer and part-time opportunities, but also in the personal contacts and in the mindset of the law, of understanding how lawyers go about thinking.

If you ask your gut, what would that answer be?

Thane.

Thane Messinger
Author of:
Law School: Getting In, Getting Good, Getting the Gold
The Young Lawyer's Jungle Book: A Survival Guide

[Thane Messinger]

I am at the end of my gap year between college and law school. I have been accepted to top 30 schools. I spent part of the past year volunteering and working with a staffing agency who placed me at some of the top law firms in DC, but only for short periods of time. In February after I had been accepted to school the staffing agency placed me at a top 30 law firm worldwide. About 2 months after that the firm offered me a full time paralegal / legal assistant position, asking me to postpone law school for one year. If I choose not to take the job I would continue working there through August.
What are the benefits of taking the position other than money? How will it help me land 1L and 2L summer positions? Feel free to offer you opinion on what is the better option and why.
Thank You

One additional point, for all who are headed to law school in the fall: now is valuable time. Be very, very wary of accepting advice that says, essentially, "Relax, don't worry, you'll learn everything you need to know once you start." Bad advice. Bad, bad advice.

Read Planet Law School and, if I might be so bold, my own book GGG (Law School, Getting In, Getting Good, Getting the Gold). Both will give you the tools to do well.

Everyone assumes they'll ace the first year. Only one out of ten actually does. Either book will show you why. If you'd like to confirm the above with a radical book, try Slacker's Guide to Law School. In its own way it proves the point that following what everyone else does is a recipe for misery.

I hope this helps,

Thane.

Thane Messinger
Author of:
Law School: Getting In, Getting Good, Getting the Gold
The Young Lawyer's Jungle Book: A Survival Guide

[D. H2Oman]

Hey Thane, come to BP and write us some poetry. TYIA.

[Thane Messinger]

Anyone up for legal haiku?

Hey Thane, come to BP and write us some poetry. TYIA.

[T14_Scholly]

If it was just any firm, I would say don't do it, but since it's a top 30 law firm worldwide, it's worth it.

[holydonkey]

Anyone up for legal haiku?

Thane Messinger
Author of:
Law School: Getting In, Getting Good, Getting the Gold
The Young Lawyer's Jungle Book: A Survival Guide

Hey Thane, come to BP and write us some poetry. TYIA.

ftfy