0L Summer Jobs? Forum

[march319]

I'm graduating this spring and starting law school in the fall. I highly doubt I can get a job at a law firm so where would be a good place to look? I don't want to travel so that's out of the question. What did most if you do your 0L summer before your first year of law school? Thanks.

[Ragged]

Not to hijack thread, is it absolutely imperative to work 0L summer? Is it gonna look bad if I chill at home with my family instead?

[superhands]

I smell a gunner

[savesthedayajb]

You need to relax and just have fun. If money is a necessity, just get an easy laid back job so you can enjoy life before law school. I'm an 0L too, but I'm sure many law school students would agree with this advice.

[jmaan]

0L here as well...
unless you already have something lined up through OCI it'll be very hard to find something worthwhile right now. So if u need cash just try to find something to do and if not just chill...

[D. H2Oman]

I just finished undergrad last week, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to quit my job soon and just do nothing for the next 8 months. I suggest you do the same.

[smiley]

i'll be behind the bar.

[ozarkhack]

I just applied to be a maintenance worker for the National Park Service. Grunt work. Heavy lifting. Manual, unskilled labor.

The shit of it? It pays more than the professional career I've had for nearly 7 years. I am seriously thinking about quitting my current job (a few months early!) and taking the NPS job, should one of the 15 open positions be extended to me.

[JazzOne]

I interned for a state judge the summer before 1L. A lot of people on TLS told me not to do that. I was supposed to just sit on my ass for a summer, but that's not my style. I feel like it helped a little bit. Most importantly, I learned about courtroom procedure. I pulled an A+ in civil procedure last semester. I also attended Law Preview, against the collective wisdom of TLS, and I am very happy about my first semester of law school, and with respect to grades, so far so good. If you don't need the money, consider taking on an internship to get up to speed with the lingo before law school. I found the internship to be fascinating, and I now have a nice resource to tap for a recommendation letter.

[underdawg]

not one OCI interviewer asked me why i didn't do anything my 0L summer. do whatever you want

[thesealocust]

not one OCI interviewer asked me why i didn't do anything my 0L summer. do whatever you want

Yeah. This is probably one time in your life you can be a beach bum and get away with the resume gap. If you WANT to do something quasi-legal, cool. But keep in mind two things:

1) Once you're accepted at law school but haven't started, there's basically nothing you can do that will be impressive on your resume. Obviously there will be exceptions, but if you can't leverage it for admissions and haven't taken any law school (and thus can't get substantive work) you're just not going to get a 'silver bullet' for your resume.

2) Law school - especially the first semester - is exhausting in a way I can't adequately describe in person much less online. You know your physiology better than anyone, but strongly consider taking the break and relaxing. Come mid-November you may well value a reserve of energy more than the line item on your resume.

[Alpine]

I interned for a state judge the summer before 1L. A lot of people on TLS told me not to do that. I was supposed to just sit on my ass for a summer, but that's not my style. I feel like it helped a little bit. Most importantly, I learned about courtroom procedure. I pulled an A+ in civil procedure last semester. I also attended Law Preview, against the collective wisdom of TLS, and I am very happy about my first semester of law school, and with respect to grades, so far so good. If you don't need the money, consider taking on an internship to get up to speed with the lingo before law school. I found the internship to be fascinating, and I now have a nice resource to tap for a recommendation letter.

This sounds like something that might be beneficial for my situation next summer. Sounds very interesting. How did you go about securing one of these internships?

[JazzOne]

I interned for a state judge the summer before 1L. A lot of people on TLS told me not to do that. I was supposed to just sit on my ass for a summer, but that's not my style. I feel like it helped a little bit. Most importantly, I learned about courtroom procedure. I pulled an A+ in civil procedure last semester. I also attended Law Preview, against the collective wisdom of TLS, and I am very happy about my first semester of law school, and with respect to grades, so far so good. If you don't need the money, consider taking on an internship to get up to speed with the lingo before law school. I found the internship to be fascinating, and I now have a nice resource to tap for a recommendation letter.

This sounds like something that might be beneficial for my situation next summer. Sounds very interesting. How did you go about securing one of these internships?

There is a judge in my hometown who went to high school with my mom. I emailed the judge and asked her if I could intern with her. She's a state district judge, and she was actually excited to have someone new in the court. It turned out that her son was one of my MCAT students. It's a small world. See if you have any connections with local judges, and go from there.

[Alpine]

Cool, thanks.

[jelizabeth88]

I just applied to be a maintenance worker for the National Park Service. Grunt work. Heavy lifting. Manual, unskilled labor.

The shit of it? It pays more than the professional career I've had for nearly 7 years. I am seriously thinking about quitting my current job (a few months early!) and taking the NPS job, should one of the 15 open positions be extended to me.

I just got done working for the NPS, I felt like it'd be a good idea to have a job where I don't have to sit around all day before becoming a full time note taker again. I would definitely do it.

[mollyml05]

I worked for the public defender's office in my hometown last summer (before 1L). I'm really glad I did because now I have some legal experience to put on my resume unlike a lot of my classmates. In interviews I can draw on my experiences. Also it'll probably help me a lot in crim next semester. I wasn't paid, but that was OK with me since no one else was willing to hire me. My options were work for free and put something of value on my resume, or do nothing and listen to my parents hound me for not working.

[Cupidity]

I'm making pizza for 8$ an hour, and spending it all on rent and alchohol.

[NClaw4]

I have been interning with a civil defense firm for close to a year so I am just going to continue doing that until I leave in August.

[CE2JD]

0L summer doesn't matter

at all

for anything