Freaking Out Forum

[Attucks]

Thanks. The problem with this school is that they push these externships where it is a class and they charge you tuition. Internships are much harder to come by and the externship opportunities seem to gobble up most of the good internship jobs. I might ask the career office if the offices that didn't get bids for externships are still open to the idea of getting interns. Maybe I'll just get the scraps.

2L's at the top of the class, while they have an uphill battle, seem to do o.k. (I'm talking the top 5% and above) but 1L's are kind of SOL, regardless of grades. I just didn't want to pay for my summer job. It's bad enough not getting paid, but to have to pay? Srsly?

I think the consensus is that 1L hiring this year is looking pretty grim. Locking in an externship of some sort (unless you're extremely averse to criminal) through your school comes with some benefits (1) Ending the search to be able to put your mind at ease/stay focused so you can repeat 1st semester grades (2) Getting course credit so you might be able to come up a course or two ahead when you're thinking about taking the bar 3L second semester (3) Getting some quality experience at a place where you know they're understaffed and need bodies (I've heard judges widely vary as to the experience their interns receive).

Just some things to consider.

[edgarderby]

1Ls freaking out are giant douches. There are tons of 2Ls and 3Ls in the same position, with the difference that 1L SUMMER DOESN'T MATTER.

God damn.

[engineer]

1Ls freaking out are giant douches. There are tons of 2Ls and 3Ls in the same position, with the difference that 1L SUMMER DOESN'T MATTER.

God damn.

I'm a 1L who fervidly believes those sentiments... I'm not doing anything remotely related to law this summer, except maybe exploring one particular area extensively to facilitate selecting a research area if I decide to write a paper at some point. However, as my one friend (another 1L) so eloquently said, "if you want a job in law after you graduate, you need to do something during your 1L summer." Right.

[bluelilyleif]

I work for a judge, so I can tell you that I receive many calls from people looking for internships. The calls don't really bother me, I simply tell them what they need to hear--specifically at this time that the judge is not currently interested in engaging an intern for the summer...

I think a phone call is better than an email. It doesn't really bother me at all to answer those questions. Here, unless you call way early in the morning, you will never catch the judge answering the phone, so she isn't bothered by it at all.

I do get annoyed with people submitting their resumes WAY LATE for clerkship positions. These positions are filled by December, usually, and I am still receiving resumes now in February. Most of the resumes come in starting in August. This bothers me. Because I do send a response, the tardiness just creates extra work for me--of course I could just choose to ignore them, but I just don't feel that is polite.

[vanwinkle]

1Ls freaking out are giant douches. There are tons of 2Ls and 3Ls in the same position, with the difference that 1L SUMMER DOESN'T MATTER.

God damn.

This is fucking retarded. The fact that 2Ls and 3Ls are struggling doesn't mean we aren't. This is especially true since it DOES matter if 1Ls have at least some kind of legal work this summer and 2Ls are gobbling up all the opportunities. We haven't been disrespecting the struggles that 2Ls and 3Ls are experiencing, so don't be an asshole, asshole.

[AtticusFinch]

1Ls freaking out are giant douches. There are tons of 2Ls and 3Ls in the same position, with the difference that 1L SUMMER DOESN'T MATTER.

God damn.

This is fucking retarded. The fact that 2Ls and 3Ls are struggling doesn't mean we aren't. This is especially true since it DOES matter if 1Ls have at least some kind of legal work this summer and 2Ls are gobbling up all the opportunities. We haven't been disrespecting the struggles that 2Ls and 3Ls are experiencing, so don't be an asshole, asshole.

You always seem to know what to say

[edgarderby]

1Ls freaking out are giant douches. There are tons of 2Ls and 3Ls in the same position, with the difference that 1L SUMMER DOESN'T MATTER.

God damn.

This is fucking retarded. The fact that 2Ls and 3Ls are struggling doesn't mean we aren't. This is especially true since it DOES matter if 1Ls have at least some kind of legal work this summer and 2Ls are gobbling up all the opportunities. We haven't been disrespecting the struggles that 2Ls and 3Ls are experiencing, so don't be an asshole, asshole.

No, it doesn't. Keep telling yourself it matters and that you'll be fine with your sweet summer job; you won't. I know people who interned with COA judges...no jobs. A lot of my classmates went to London for the summer to take classes and drink Guinness. Some of them got big awesome firm jobs.

The difference?

GRADES.

Because that's all that matters. Firms use cut-offs. No one cares. You might get a better 1L summer job if you have good grades, and then get a good 2L job, but it's just that...it was the grades. No one cares.

[edgarderby]

1Ls freaking out are giant douches. There are tons of 2Ls and 3Ls in the same position, with the difference that 1L SUMMER DOESN'T MATTER.

God damn.

I'm a 1L who fervidly believes those sentiments... I'm not doing anything remotely related to law this summer, except maybe exploring one particular area extensively to facilitate selecting a research area if I decide to write a paper at some point. However, as my one friend (another 1L) so eloquently said, "if you want a job in law after you graduate, you need to do something during your 1L summer." Right.

Yeah, do SOMETHING. As in, don't sit around and drink beer and do drugs. Volunteer for a few hours at the local public defender, or whatever public interest sounds good to you. Have a pulse, and you'll be fine.

Doing absolutely nothing, and not having an excuse shows that you realized you hate law 1L year. It has nothing to do with learning valuable skills or prestigiousness. Whoever you work for is going to have to re-teach you everything anyway, and they know this.

[AtticusFinch]

.

[T14_Scholly]

There may be law firms hiring janitors in your local market. You may overhear conversations among lawyers and gain knowledge that way.

[nealric]

--ImageRemoved--


You are freaking out.... MAN.


There is almost nothing you can do 1L summer that will affect 2L OCI much (other than work in biglaw where they expect you to come back 2L summer). It really doesn't matter that much.

[Blindmelon]

Agree with Edgarby with the caveat that 1L summer job means 0 if you want to work for a firm. Grades are king, even one of my professors told a classmate of mine to just take any job because no one cares.

.... if you want to do gov./PI work, then its not entirely true that 1L summer doesn't matter. Your grades matter of course, but if you want to work for the fed (other than the black hole that is the DOJ), work experience matters a lot. A lot a lot.

[A'nold]

--ImageRemoved--


You are freaking out.... MAN.


There is almost nothing you can do 1L summer that will affect 2L OCI much (other than work in biglaw where they expect you to come back 2L summer). It really doesn't matter that much.

LOL! You have NO idea how much my sister and I quote that line and other lines from that movie. I love how you actually did the pause......man.

[Lane Meyer]

1Ls freaking out are giant douches. There are tons of 2Ls and 3Ls in the same position, with the difference that 1L SUMMER DOESN'T MATTER.

God damn.

This is fucking retarded. The fact that 2Ls and 3Ls are struggling doesn't mean we aren't. This is especially true since it DOES matter if 1Ls have at least some kind of legal work this summer and 2Ls are gobbling up all the opportunities. We haven't been disrespecting the struggles that 2Ls and 3Ls are experiencing, so don't be an asshole, asshole.

No, it doesn't. Keep telling yourself it matters and that you'll be fine with your sweet summer job; you won't. I know people who interned with COA judges...no jobs. A lot of my classmates went to London for the summer to take classes and drink Guinness. Some of them got big awesome firm jobs.

The difference?

GRADES.

Because that's all that matters. Firms use cut-offs. No one cares. You might get a better 1L summer job if you have good grades, and then get a good 2L job, but it's just that...it was the grades. No one cares.

Of course grades matter, no one has said they don't. And your anecdotal data could be explained in any number of ways that wouldn't lead to the conclusion: "1L summer is meaningless"

Internships (even COA internships) can be gained through connections (no relation to 1L grades). But I'd wager that two people with nearly identical grades (2 people at 15%) would have a different OCI experiences if one had spent his summer with a COA judge and the other in London.

[vanwinkle]

1Ls freaking out are giant douches. There are tons of 2Ls and 3Ls in the same position, with the difference that 1L SUMMER DOESN'T MATTER.

God damn.

This is fucking retarded. The fact that 2Ls and 3Ls are struggling doesn't mean we aren't. This is especially true since it DOES matter if 1Ls have at least some kind of legal work this summer and 2Ls are gobbling up all the opportunities. We haven't been disrespecting the struggles that 2Ls and 3Ls are experiencing, so don't be an asshole, asshole.

No, it doesn't. Keep telling yourself it matters and that you'll be fine with your sweet summer job; you won't. I know people who interned with COA judges...no jobs. A lot of my classmates went to London for the summer to take classes and drink Guinness. Some of them got big awesome firm jobs.

The difference?

GRADES.

Because that's all that matters. Firms use cut-offs. No one cares. You might get a better 1L summer job if you have good grades, and then get a good 2L job, but it's just that...it was the grades. No one cares.

This is not true for everyone. I'm not interested in working for a law firm when I graduate at all. I want to do PI work, hopefully in criminal law, and that means showing an interest in criminal law during my summers. That's extremely hard when 2Ls are gobbling up all the internships they can find since they can't get paying work this summer, and this is going to affect me as a 2L because PI employers are going to look at what I did my 1L year to see how serious I am about doing PI work.

Next year it's going to be much harder to get a 2L internship with a place I really want to work because my resume isn't going to be nearly as good because I'm probably going to end up being a research assistant this summer. And that is going to affect what I get to do when I graduate, because it's going to interfere with my ability to use my 2L summer to network and make connections with any of the cities/employers I most want to work for. So, as a 1L, the jobhunt dilemma is directly impacting me.

If you want to keep going on making blanket statements that aren't as universally true as you believe, go ahead. I already know you're a douchebag, you're welcome to keep proving it as much as you want.