Pre-Law Federal Court Internship Forum

[hinton2014]

So I have the opportunity as a 0L to intern with my local area's division of the federal district court. Will this be an advantage or decent soft when applying for law school? I interned already at my local city prosecutors office, and now this opportunity is presenting itself. What do you guys think? Will it help in OCI's because I can talk about my experiences? Both were taken as classes for credit through my college, so they're helping me get requirements for graduation as well.

[cavalier1138]

Can't hurt, but it won't be an "advantage" in the sense of offsetting a low GPA or LSAT. Your first priority is to have strong numbers.

[hinton2014]

Can't hurt, but it won't be an "advantage" in the sense of offsetting a low GPA or LSAT. Your first priority is to have strong numbers.

Well, I take the LSAT in June, and have 3.85LSDAS GPA, 3.95 institution GPA. So I'm doing okay with the GPA, just need to pull the LSAT out.

[cavalier1138]

Can't hurt, but it won't be an "advantage" in the sense of offsetting a low GPA or LSAT. Your first priority is to have strong numbers.

Well, I take the LSAT in June, and have 3.85LSDAS GPA, 3.95 institution GPA. So I'm doing okay with the GPA, just need to pull the LSAT out.

Great. Then do well on the LSAT, and do the internship if you want to.

[mjb447]

Yeah, it might help signal your early interest in the law if that's ever in doubt and tell your story (e.g. why you want to go to law school, why you want to be a litigator, why you want to be associated with a particular kind of law or firm), as well as give you some great early exposure, but it's probably not going to give you much of an advantage in and of itself.

[hinton2014]

Yeah, it might help signal your early interest in the law if that's ever in doubt and tell your story (e.g. why you want to go to law school, why you want to be a litigator, why you want to be associated with a particular kind of law or firm), as well as give you some great early exposure, but it's probably not going to give you much of an advantage in and of itself.

True. I didn't know if it would help as a talking point during OCI's and then help me build. Plus, I would like to work in business law down the road so potentially labor and employment, or M&A, and the judge I would specifically be working for was a rather large business attorney in my state with being a partner at his previous firm. (Midwestern state), so not where I want to practice, but still may open doors.

[cavalier1138]

Ok, here's a rough illustration of what you're doing:

Cart----------------------------------------------------------------Horse

You're thinking about long-term benefits which probably won't affect you. They certainly won't affect you if you don't focus on getting a good LSAT score in order to position yourself for the kind of work you want to do. Stop thinking about all the doors that will hypothetically open for you 5 years from now, and focus on getting yourself into a good school. Only consider this internship in terms of whether you want to do it right now, not its perceived "talking point" quality.

[hinton2014]

Ok, here's a rough illustration of what you're doing:

Cart----------------------------------------------------------------Horse

You're thinking about long-term benefits which probably won't affect you. They certainly won't affect you if you don't focus on getting a good LSAT score in order to position yourself for the kind of work you want to do. Stop thinking about all the doors that will hypothetically open for you 5 years from now, and focus on getting yourself into a good school. Only consider this internship in terms of whether you want to do it right now, not its perceived "talking point" quality.

Very true, very true. Can't help it, get excited about LS and my future career, lol. You're right, take the internship with a caveat and keep focusing on my LSAT.