1L Summer Jobs - Prestige Ranking Forum

[General Tso]

This is silly. The correct ranking is:

1. Summer associate
2. Everything else that's law-related
3. Non-legal job/nothing

you make quality posts when not being a smart ass

[DeweyDell]

No firm I have ever heard of asks for letters of recommendation, and only a very few even ask for / look at a list of references. If you want to you can include either reference lists or letters of recommendations in cold resume drops, and that might help. But think about it for a second: If you get an offer (or are still in the running to get an offer) from your 1L firm, are you really going to want to saunter in to a partner's office and say "SO BUDDY, I'M APPLYING TO SOME OTHER BIG FIRMS, WANNA HELP ME OUT?" There's a tacit assumption that references are from those who know you well but are not in direct competition for you. It's possible you'll list a professor or non-legal employer as a reference, and those who have non-offering 1L positions (with judges, etc.) can likely list those people as references - but I can't conceive of a scenario where it would be wise to list a reference from a firm that might be giving you an offer. Talk about an awkward conversation.

Very few firms even call references, though, so it's kind of moot.

Re: #1 - I disagree with ggocat. Less than 20% of the firms I bid on for OCI required a writing sample. I'll bring one with to every interview just in case, but writing samples are after thoughts at most firms - at least as part of the on campus recruitment process. They might matter more for any mass mail (target or otherwise) job hunt.

Re: #2 - you always have the work you do in your 1L legal writing class to use as a writing sample. Getting a WS out of your summer job isn't a slam dunk - both based on the type of work you might be doing and on confidentiality matters. I know many judges who refuse to let any work done for them be used as a writing sample, which is a wise policy considering the sensitive nature of the work you can get even as a lowly 1L intern. The same often happens with firms. No matter what, be sure to ask.

Good point about the competitive recommendation. Initially I had thought about soliciting the rec for clerkships, which would be less threatening to the firm, so I hadn't considered it from that perspective.

Also, thanks for the warning about potential confidentiality conflicts. Would asking about using SA work as a writing sample bring up a similar tension to the competitive recommendation conflict? Would they giev you the benefit of the doubt that you wanted it for general purposes such as journal/clerkship applications, or just building a portfolio of one's work?

[Anonymous User]

Re: #1 - I disagree with ggocat. Less than 20% of the firms I bid on for OCI required a writing sample. I'll bring one with to every interview just in case, but writing samples are after thoughts at most firms - at least as part of the on campus recruitment process. They might matter more for any mass mail (target or otherwise) job hunt.

Nifty. I think I submitted one for most of my OCI bids. Maybe this depends on market.

I submitted a writing sample for about 10 firms out of 50 bids for OCI but a substantially higher percentage of firms wanted a writing sample at the interview

[270910]

Asking to use SA work for a writing sample is going to be a sensitive subject, but not nearly as sensitive as asking for a rec. They're not dumb, so they know if you have a 1L SA gig you'll be applying for clerkships, other firms jobs, clinics, etc. so it won't be quite as loaded. At the same time, confidentiality issues + the availability of 1L writing + the lack of importance of content of a writing sample beyond clean and solid makes me think it'd be easier to side step the issue of asking from a firm. But you have to follow your heart or w/e on that one.