1L Summer Job Search C/O 2017 Forum

[Hopefully2012]

Potentially ignorant question:
Are circuit judicial internships a thing? Seems like they aren't advertised as much, so is it just kind of a mass mail to the Judge's JA or what?

Yes, internships with fed. circuit judges are fairly popular for 1Ls at my school. It's up to the judge's personal preference whether to take 1L interns; most circuit judges do. However, some have a policy against hiring interns as clerks later so do your research if you're considering clerking for judges you apply to 1L year.

[Baby_Got_Feuerbach]

Potentially ignorant question:
Are circuit judicial internships a thing? Seems like they aren't advertised as much, so is it just kind of a mass mail to the Judge's JA or what?

Yes, internships with fed. circuit judges are fairly popular for 1Ls at my school. It's up to the judge's personal preference whether to take 1L interns; most circuit judges do. However, some have a policy against hiring interns as clerks later so do your research if you're considering clerking for judges you apply to 1L year.

Where are people seeing any advertised openings for A3 judicial internships? My whole strategy is to mass mail. Is there a better approach?

[Hopefully2012]

Where are people seeing any advertised openings for A3 judicial internships? My whole strategy is to mass mail. Is there a better approach?

Mass mail is the best approach. Maybe customize the cover letter a bit for the more notorious judges (e.g., Rakoff, DC Circuit, Reinhardt, Kozinski, Katzmann, etc.---Posner/Easterbrook(I think)/SCOTUS doesn't take 1L clerks) Check with your career services office. Ours provided us with a list of previous 1L interns and their judges so we can reach out to people and have them connect us with clerks.

Edit: typo

[Baby_Got_Feuerbach]

Where are people seeing any advertised openings for A3 judicial internships? My whole strategy is to mass mail. Is there a better approach?

Mass mail is the best approach. Maybe customize the cover letter a bit for the more notorious judges (e.g., Jakoff, DC Circuit, Reinhardt, Kozinski, Katzmann, etc.---Posner/Easterbrook(I think)/SCOTUS doesn't take 1L clerks) Check with your career services office. Ours provided us with a list of previous 1L interns and their judges so we can reach out to people and have them connect us with clerks.

Just hoping to go the flyover District Court route. (Although I have a kind of weird connection with Easterbrook which made me consider sending his chambers a resume.) If I send out 20-ish letters, do you think it's fair to assume I'll get at least one bite? (t30 school, decent enough dood.)

[Hopefully2012]

Just hoping to go the flyover District Court route. (Although I have a kind of weird connection with Easterbrook which made me consider sending his chambers a resume.) If I send out 20-ish letters, do you think it's fair to assume I'll get at least one bite? (t30 school, decent enough dood.)

Looking back on it, I would have preferred to work in a district court. Trials are much more interesting. I'm not very "academic" so circuit level stuff went over my head a lot.

I believe in conventional wisdom that your 1L job doesn't really matter. You should be focusing on exams right now. But after your exams (or during study breaks if you're too tired of studying) you should be sending as many apps as you can until you get a job. Keep sending apps until you get a job is, I think, the best approach for legal hiring ITE.

Edit: So I don't think setting a target of 20-ish letters will necessarily do the trick. I think I got my job offer in Jan. during my 1L year from the first batch of (~10) letters I sent out, but I definitely sent out many many more batches throughout winter break.

[Baby_Got_Feuerbach]

Just hoping to go the flyover District Court route. (Although I have a kind of weird connection with Easterbrook which made me consider sending his chambers a resume.) If I send out 20-ish letters, do you think it's fair to assume I'll get at least one bite? (t30 school, decent enough dood.)

Looking back on it, I would have preferred to work in a district court. Trials are much more interesting. I'm not very "academic" so circuit level stuff went over my head a lot.

I believe in conventional wisdom that your 1L job doesn't really matter. You should be focusing on exams right now. But after your exams (or during study breaks if you're too tired of studying) you should be sending as many apps as you can until you get a job. Keep sending apps until you get a job is, I think, the best approach for legal hiring ITE.

Edit: So I don't think setting a target of 20-ish letters will necessarily do the trick. I think I got my job offer in Jan. during my 1L year from the first batch of (~10) letters I sent out, but I definitely sent out many many more batches throughout winter break.

Good info.

How much do judges care about receiving grades before interviewing? I imagine it's more important for COA or the more prestigious districts. I've heard differing stories.

[Hopefully2012]

Good info.

How much do judges care about receiving grades before interviewing? I imagine it's more important for COA or the more prestigious districts. I've heard differing stories.

I don't know of a single COA judge who doesn't ask for grades--through my experience interviewing 1L and surveying my friends who worked with COA judges. But that doesn't mean there aren't any. It's also a personal preference of the judge. Some people even put more weight on ACS/FedSoc membership than they do grades.

1L hiring is fairly random. I don't think it always correlates with how prestigious or competitive a job is. Some of my friends worked great in-house paid gigs and didn't need to show their grades. I didn't send my transcript until they asked. This should be true for everyone since you should be applying for these positions before your 1L grades are out.

[Avian]

Where are people seeing any advertised openings for A3 judicial internships? My whole strategy is to mass mail. Is there a better approach?

Mass mail is the best approach. Maybe customize the cover letter a bit for the more notorious judges (e.g., Jakoff, DC Circuit, Reinhardt, Kozinski, Katzmann, etc.---Posner/Easterbrook(I think)/SCOTUS doesn't take 1L clerks) Check with your career services office. Ours provided us with a list of previous 1L interns and their judges so we can reach out to people and have them connect us with clerks.

Just hoping to go the flyover District Court route. (Although I have a kind of weird connection with Easterbrook which made me consider sending his chambers a resume.) If I send out 20-ish letters, do you think it's fair to assume I'll get at least one bite? (t30 school, decent enough dood.)

You should be mass mailing every judge in any district that you are considering. You will probably not hear back from most of them, so you want to cast a wide net. If there are only 20 judges in the district that you are considering so be it, but if you could contemplate working in another district it would be worth mass mailing there as well.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Potentially ignorant question:
Are circuit judicial internships a thing? Seems like they aren't advertised as much, so is it just kind of a mass mail to the Judge's JA or what?

They are a thing. Often your CSO will have info on what the local COA judges look for in an application (or maybe the ones most popular with students at your school, whether local or no, depending on how national your school is). They're often not advertised as specific positions because it's not necessary - CSOs send students along.

And you're right, it's pretty much a mass mail to the chambers of judges you want to work for. If my understanding is still correct, paper is preferred to e-mail, and the standard app is cover letter, resume, and writing sample (and transcript if you apply after grades come back/for some judges - at my ordinary school, COA internships were grade-sensitive so transcript was required, but my impression is that if you're coming from someplace fancier that's not necessarily the case).

[Hopefully2012]

I agree with the above, except we were told that writing samples were not necessary at the mass mailing stage since to ups your postage costs a lot to include 8+ pages of stuff. (Judges who invited us to interview almost all asked for writing samples.)

[chuckbass]

Anyone have a good idea of how to find in-house jobs for the summer? I'm gonna focus on this over break, but I've searched around some F500 sites and am having trouble finding a mention of anything for 1Ls

And if you search NALP nothing comes up either.

[A. Nony Mouse]

I agree with the above, except we were told that writing samples were not necessary at the mass mailing stage since to ups your postage costs a lot to include 8+ pages of stuff. (Judges who invited us to interview almost all asked for writing samples.)

Yeah, that probably depends on the judge's expectations. But also, why on earth are you UPSing applications? If you must have some kind of tracking, just do USPS delivery confirmation. Priority mail is still cheaper than UPS.

[Hopefully2012]

Yes, sorry. Priority mail through USPS is perfectly fine.

(I had a group/corp. rate for shipping through ups and it was easier for me to have them print and get everything together.)

[KM2016]

Anyone have a good idea of how to find in-house jobs for the summer? I'm gonna focus on this over break, but I've searched around some F500 sites and am having trouble finding a mention of anything for 1Ls

And if you search NALP nothing comes up either.

I know it sounds stupid, but I had a great deal of success using generic job sites such as SimplyHired, Indeed, etc. Just use the filters to narrow to legal, internships, and your geographic area and apply like crazy. I had roughly 8-10 interviews through such websites and landed a cushy paid F100 in-house gig. I also know of several other people who had success this way.

[chuckbass]

Anyone have a good idea of how to find in-house jobs for the summer? I'm gonna focus on this over break, but I've searched around some F500 sites and am having trouble finding a mention of anything for 1Ls

And if you search NALP nothing comes up either.

I know it sounds stupid, but I had a great deal of success using generic job sites such as SimplyHired, Indeed, etc. Just use the filters to narrow to legal, internships, and your geographic area and apply like crazy. I had roughly 8-10 interviews through such websites and landed a cushy paid F100 in-house gig. I also know of several other people who had success this way.

Ok awesome, thanks!

[Baby_Got_Feuerbach]

My writing sample quotes (at great length) one of the judges whose chambers I'm applying to. Should I consider sending something else?

[Hopefully2012]

My writing sample quotes (at great length) one of the judges whose chambers I'm applying to. Should I consider sending something else?

I think most judges would love that. Obviously some may think you're pandering, but almost everyone will just think it's a funny coincidence or that you are genuinely interested in working with them if you used their quote in your writing sample.

[AdInfinitum]

When's everyone putting out the majority of their apps?

I might put out 3-4 of the fed gov ones I'm really interested in on the first but hold off on the others until after finals. Is this a bad idea?

[chuckbass]

When's everyone putting out the majority of their apps?

I might put out 3-4 of the fed gov ones I'm really interested in on the first but hold off on the others until after finals. Is this a bad idea?

I'm throwing out apps for 1L SA diversity programs on the 1st and then applying to jobs I can actually get after finals. But also I'm a fellow 1L, so I'm not qualified to say whether this is TCR or not.

[Anonymous User]

Potentially ignorant question:
Are circuit judicial internships a thing? Seems like they aren't advertised as much, so is it just kind of a mass mail to the Judge's JA or what?

They are a thing. Often your CSO will have info on what the local COA judges look for in an application (or maybe the ones most popular with students at your school, whether local or no, depending on how national your school is). They're often not advertised as specific positions because it's not necessary - CSOs send students along.

And you're right, it's pretty much a mass mail to the chambers of judges you want to work for. If my understanding is still correct, paper is preferred to e-mail, and the standard app is cover letter, resume, and writing sample (and transcript if you apply after grades come back/for some judges - at my ordinary school, COA internships were grade-sensitive so transcript was required, but my impression is that if you're coming from someplace fancier that's not necessarily the case).

I'd also add that many schools have a list of where they currently have alumni clerking (I know my school did/does). My Judge takes on interns only rarely, but I know I'm more likely to push for an intern if they're someone from my law school. So be sure you send apps to places your school has a clerk. It might also help you out if you call/email them, and just ask their general advice for applications.

[sesto elemento]

Dumb question but how should the body of the email look like? Is:

"Dear xyz,

My name is sesto elemento and im currently a 1L at xyz school of law. I am emailing you because I wish to apply to xyz position. I've attached my resume and CL for your consideration.


Sincerely,

Sesto elemento"


good enough?

[checkers]

Dumb question but how should the body of the email look like? Is:

"Dear xyz,

My name is sesto elemento and im currently a 1L at xyz school of law. I am emailing you because I wish to apply to xyz position. I've attached my resume and CL for your consideration.


Sincerely,

Sesto elemento"


good enough?

Dear Sesto,

Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, I do not have a great need for 1L associates, and your email has not enticed me enough to find a reason to hire one. Accordingly, I did not open your attachments or give you any consideration before I deleted your email.

Sincerely,
Busy Lawyer

[checkers]

Seriously though, a little "about me" or "why I want to work here" is good to catch the reader's attention. Otherwise you're just 1 out of 1000 who spam their inbox this time of year.

[chuckbass]

yea mine has a little added like I'm involved with xyz and was a finalist in this competition blah blah

and everything in DC I'm like IM A LOCAL PLZ HIRE ME

[BigZuck]

Anyone have a good idea of how to find in-house jobs for the summer? I'm gonna focus on this over break, but I've searched around some F500 sites and am having trouble finding a mention of anything for 1Ls

And if you search NALP nothing comes up either.

I know it sounds stupid, but I had a great deal of success using generic job sites such as SimplyHired, Indeed, etc. Just use the filters to narrow to legal, internships, and your geographic area and apply like crazy. I had roughly 8-10 interviews through such websites and landed a cushy paid F100 in-house gig. I also know of several other people who had success this way.

Ok awesome, thanks!

Might be a dumb, obvious answer but I would also check your school's symplicity