The Official 1L Summer Employment Thread - 2012 Edition Forum

[orderofthings]

So I applied to a lot of firms and judges in my home market December 1st, and haven't heard from a lot of them still. Any opinions of when and how I should contact them to get an update? Thanks.

Did you get good grades? If so, I would ask them if they would like an unofficial transcript.

Yeah I did. I guess that's a good way to phrase an inquiry, I just don't want to come across as self-entitled I suppose.

[Lasers]

I sent out 16 original applications and got 0, yes 0, invites. I have a strong PI background so I don't know what happened.

Over winter break I was offered an internship with a Public Defender's Office in NY. I'll take that and stop wasting precious time on trying to find a federal position here. Rochester, NY is quite nice in the summer.

(I'm still hoping a federal judicial externship will fall from the sky.)

stupid PI orgs. I guess all the pi interviews went to Berkeley students. Congrats on your PD gig though, that should be really interesting! By when do you have to give an answer?

It's an open offer. I worked for the office during college and worked directly for the 2nd assistant public defender (#3 in the chain of command at a PD's office.) During and after the internship we really hit it off and she's become an excellent mentor (law school LoR, Job Reference, care packages during finals, etc...).

The best part about the internship is knowing the quality of the people I'm working with and knowing they will give me every possible opportunity to learn how to practice law. The cases are all interesting violent felonies. I can't say the same thing would happen with a random internship in San Francisco.

The offer should be open until summer internships start. If something does turn up I won't offend anyone by rescinding my acceptance (well, hopefully not.)


P.S. BERKELEY!!!

at least you have a fall back option.

still, i'm surprised how hard it was to get an interview at pi/ps day. that irritates me.

[ilovesf]

at least you have a fall back option.

still, i'm surprised how hard it was to get an interview at pi/ps day. that irritates me.

Yeah.. I will never underestimate pi competition ever, ever again.

[queenlizzie13]

at least you have a fall back option.

still, i'm surprised how hard it was to get an interview at pi/ps day. that irritates me.

Yeah.. I will never underestimate pi competition ever, ever again.

It was very competitive at my school too. A lot of people I know either got 0 or 1 interviews from it only. I got none and applied to 13 places. However, it no longer matters, luckily as I have a job. But still, I was a bit disappointed.

[target]

Anyone who had an interview with a judge mind share their experience of the interview? What are the typical questions? And what did you do to calm self (if you were nervous)?

I will have an interview with a DC judge soon, and am freaking nervous.

[queenlizzie13]

Anyone who had an interview with a judge mind share their experience of the interview? What are the typical questions? And what did you do to calm self (if you were nervous)?

I will have an interview with a DC judge soon, and am freaking nervous.

The two interviews I had were completely different so I'll share. My one with a federal court judge - he mostly talked about himself, actually. I asked him a question and he talked about his experiences and then he just asked a couple softball questions.

On the second one, it was very relaxed as well, but he did surprise me on a couple of questions (like asking about my thesis). He pretty much asked just about everything on my resume.

Don't be nervous - the interviews are very low key, at least in my experience, but I would know the judge's background and your resume and you should be fine. Also I think I got asked why law school on both and why the school I chose in particular. So make sure you have an answer to that and then just be yourself and I think you will be fine

Good luck!! Hope this helps.

[Flips88]

Anyone who had an interview with a judge mind share their experience of the interview? What are the typical questions? And what did you do to calm self (if you were nervous)?

I will have an interview with a DC judge soon, and am freaking nervous.

Why are you interested in a judicial externship?
What was your favorite class of last semester?
What are you interested in for your career after law school?
What are you involved in at school?

I wasn't really nervous talking to the clerks, but was kinda nervous talking to the judge.

[adonai]

Anyone who had an interview with a judge mind share their experience of the interview? What are the typical questions? And what did you do to calm self (if you were nervous)?

I will have an interview with a DC judge soon, and am freaking nervous.

Why our chambers why this judge
Favorite class and why
Hardships faced in previous employment and how you handled it
How do you work in a team
How do you work without supervision
Favorite supreme court justice and why
Tons of questions nitpicking my resume
Do you have any questions for me (asked about type of work, duties, judge, etc.)
etc.

[071816]

Anyone who had an interview with a judge mind share their experience of the interview? What are the typical questions? And what did you do to calm self (if you were nervous)?

I will have an interview with a DC judge soon, and am freaking nervous.

The judge I interviewed with was the chillest guy ever. He hardly asked me any substantive questions. We just chatted about the legal profession, about my work experience, and his career.

His clerk was the one that actually asked me typical interview questions. She even flat out asked me "what are your grades?" and i had to list them off lol.

I would be prepared to answer: why an externship (maybe even why this judge)?, why law school?, anything about your resume, pretty much what everyone else said.

I feel like it varies a lot though depending on the chambers/particular judge.

[Anonymous User]

What if my grades aren't that impressive, and the judge/clerk/assistant asks? Any idea if this sinks your chances at landing an internship? Assume that I'm a middle of the road/decent interviewer, but not amazing.

Also, bring padfolio to interview I get. But do you walk around in a suit carrying a padfolio, or put the padfolio in a suitcase or other bag?

[071816]

What if my grades aren't that impressive, and the judge/clerk/assistant asks? Any idea if this sinks your chances at landing an internship? Assume that I'm a middle of the road/decent interviewer, but not amazing.

Also, bring padfolio to interview I get. But do you walk around in a suit carrying a padfolio, or put the padfolio in a suitcase or other bag?

No idea. I didn't even bring a a folder/padfolio. Pretty sure the clerk and judge are both gonna have your resume on hand anyway. It's not like you'll be interviewing with a large group. Definitely don't bring a suitcase to the interview lol

[Anonymous User]

Anyone who had an interview with a judge mind share their experience of the interview? What are the typical questions? And what did you do to calm self (if you were nervous)?

I will have an interview with a DC judge soon, and am freaking nervous.

Interviewed with a DC District Court Judge last week. Nothing like what I expected it to be. Talked only about undergrad and what I had done at a number of different internship. Not a single "why this judge/favorite class/favorite case." I'm sure this is the exception, but still be prepared to talk about pre-law school work/academics. Interview was very pleasant.

[target]

Thanks all for sharing. This is the my first and so far the only interview with judge, so I really want to do well. Now, I need to do some breathing exercise to calm the f*** down.

[ilovesf]

Anyone who had an interview with a judge mind share their experience of the interview? What are the typical questions? And what did you do to calm self (if you were nervous)?

I will have an interview with a DC judge soon, and am freaking nervous.

This is a combination of both the clerks and the judges questions (and there was some overlap, I interviewed with them separately)
why law school?
why a judicial externship?
what do you want to do in 5 years from now?
are you okay doing cases that are mostly about civil procedure?
things about my writing sample - nothing like an intense question, but general comments about it like how heavily it was edited, etc.
questions about every WE I mentioned on my resume
why did I live abroad?
why would I be a better extern than other candidates
how was I able to achieve good grades in LS
then a bunch of random personal questions about growing up in SF, my life, etc. and the general question "so tell me about yourself" which is surprisingly hard to answer. It was pretty laid back and easy going conversation, I was super nervous but I interviewed with the clerks before the judge so that helped me relax. Also about the comments above, I didn't bring a suitcase but I had a leather bag. Inside of it I had copies of everything, just in case. Both clerks and the judge had copies of my app though with marks on it so it wasn't needed.

[drmguy]

What kind of answer do you give for why this judge?

[Yobot]

What kind of answer do you give for why this judge?

if you can't answer this question on your own...

[drmguy]

What kind of answer do you give for why this judge?

if you can't answer this question on your own...

I personally could not see myself stooping to telling someone I knew nothing about that I chose them because of their opinion in X.

[bk1]

What kind of answer do you give for why this judge?

Look up something about them and make up some bullshit answer based on that.

[drmguy]

What kind of answer do you give for why this judge?

Look up something about them and make up some bullshit answer based on that.

So they don't care about blatant bullshit?

[Bildungsroman]

What kind of answer do you give for why this judge?

Look up something about them and make up some bullshit answer based on that.

So they don't care about blatant bullshit?

What the fuck are you looking for people to tell you? If there's not already a reason for applying to that judge that you think is compelling and that you're comfortable telling him, just come up with some bullshit answer. The burden is on you to craft it into something that doesn't totally reek of bs, but if you don't already have an answer for "why this judge" then any answer you give is inherently going to be bullshit.

KISS

[Anonymous User]

Need some advice on how to handle this situation...will be interviewing for a couple of 1L firm jobs at the end of this week and next week.

Just received an offer from a USAO today that is open until February 15. Obviously I'd like to hold that open as long a possible to ssee where the firm jobs go. Two questions:

1. Better to respond to the offer today and explain that I'm interviewing with a couple of firms and thus probably won't be able to give them a decision until nearer the deadline or is it better to just not respond at all until closer to the deadline? I'm leaning towards the first but I'm not sure if that's some sort of affront to them at the USAO

2. When I interview for the firm job is there any way I can let them know that a decision would be really helpful before the 15th without being tacky?


Thanks guys

[target]

Need some advice on how to handle this situation...will be interviewing for a couple of 1L firm jobs at the end of this week and next week.

Just received an offer from a USAO today that is open until February 15. Obviously I'd like to hold that open as long a possible to ssee where the firm jobs go. Two questions:

1. Better to respond to the offer today and explain that I'm interviewing with a couple of firms and thus probably won't be able to give them a decision until nearer the deadline or is it better to just not respond at all until closer to the deadline? I'm leaning towards the first but I'm not sure if that's some sort of affront to them at the USAO

2. When I interview for the firm job is there any way I can let them know that a decision would be really helpful before the 15th without being tacky?


Thanks guys

If I were you, I would not respond to the USAO offer just yet and wait until the 15th to either accept or deny. You could bring this up during an interview by asking your interviewer what're the next steps in the process and that you are having an USAO offer so would appreciate if they could let you know by the 15th.

[Lwoods]

What kind of answer do you give for why this judge?

if you can't answer this question on your own...

I personally could not see myself stooping to telling someone I knew nothing about that I chose them because of their opinion in X.

You should probably know something about a person before interviewing with them.

Most judge bios I've seen online include their interests and background, so you can get an idea of some things you might have in common there.

That said, you probably won't be asked "why do you want to work for me?" but rather why you're interested in working for a judge (considering it's unpaid), and you can address your reasons for wanting that type of work. It'd probably be a good idea to have some reasons for wanting that particular court, too.

[drmguy]

What kind of answer do you give for why this judge?

if you can't answer this question on your own...

I personally could not see myself stooping to telling someone I knew nothing about that I chose them because of their opinion in X.

You should probably know something about a person before interviewing with them.

Most judge bios I've seen online include their interests and background, so you can get an idea of some things you might have in common there.

That said, you probably won't be asked "why do you want to work for me?" but rather why you're interested in working for a judge (considering it's unpaid), and you can address your reasons for wanting that type of work. It'd probably be a good idea to have some reasons for wanting that particular court, too.

This makes a heck of a lot more sense. I took it as why did you apply here as opposed to the judge down the hall. The reason it worried me is that I didn't go through the process of finding the judges I philosophically agree with to determine where to send apps.

[Anonymous User]

Need some advice on how to handle this situation...will be interviewing for a couple of 1L firm jobs at the end of this week and next week.

Just received an offer from a USAO today that is open until February 15. Obviously I'd like to hold that open as long a possible to ssee where the firm jobs go. Two questions:

1. Better to respond to the offer today and explain that I'm interviewing with a couple of firms and thus probably won't be able to give them a decision until nearer the deadline or is it better to just not respond at all until closer to the deadline? I'm leaning towards the first but I'm not sure if that's some sort of affront to them at the USAO

2. When I interview for the firm job is there any way I can let them know that a decision would be really helpful before the 15th without being tacky?


Thanks guys

If I were you, I would not respond to the USAO offer just yet and wait until the 15th to either accept or deny. You could bring this up during an interview by asking your interviewer what're the next steps in the process and that you are having an USAO offer so would appreciate if they could let you know by the 15th.

Interesting. So it isn't unusual to not respond at all for a couple of weeks?