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...how screwed am I?

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Actually I have no idea lol, I'm still in UG. Funny pic though. It seems early still, but what do I know?

I haven't either, but will before school starts. I figure that Biglaw isn't hiring 1Ls, Judge hiring is practically over, so the only thing left is small-medium firms and volunteering at organizations. Small-medium firms don't need such advance notice and this is probably a good time to hit them (after the holidays when they can think about summer, etc.) and organizations will take volunteers whenever (assuming it isn't a really competitive spot).

Depends. What are your plans?

There aren't any 1L biglaw, so you're way behind in the wishful thinking category. You missed some really competitive gov't and public intrest jobs (e.g. FDIC, US Att'y for SDNY, ACLU of NY and DC), and some others have January deadlines, so get on it that's your interest. If it's judicial internships, you're behind--maybe fatally. If you're looking for lower-profile PI work, local DA or public defenders, etc., you are fine--lots of places don't hire until March.

I think you're far from screwed at this point, although at least some firm hiring will already be done by the time grades come out. I've only applied to firms so far. I figure the other stuff can wait til after break. But my region is not nearly as competitive for stuff (paid and unpaid) as NYC, DC, etc.

I hear most hiring gets done in January. Yeah the Judge hiring sucks though.

For our school:

Biglaw is hiring 1Ls, you need to have applied by now.
Judges have not hired anyone yet; they're starting in February.
Public OCI interest deadline is mid-January.
Then the small stuff hires in March.

I hear that it's really horrid out there.

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Biglaw.... Bigmac... same difference.

Snooker wrote:For our school:

Biglaw is hiring 1Ls, you need to have applied by now.
Judges have not hired anyone yet; they're starting in February.
Public OCI interest deadline is mid-January.
Then the small stuff hires in March.

I hear that it's really horrid out there.

To add to your list:
In-house corporate legal. Some hire 1L's. The few that I've looked at require grades, so I'm guessing they don't hire any 1L's until at least Feb. But maybe they interview or do some other sorting before grades too.

vanwinkle wrote:...how screwed am I?

you're totally fucked if you wanted a biglaw firm job

other than that, you should still be alright (although I know LOTS of people who have already applied for judicial jobs)

emoticons777 wrote:I haven't either, but will before school starts. I figure that Biglaw isn't hiring 1Ls, Judge hiring is practically over, so the only thing left is small-medium firms and volunteering at organizations. Small-medium firms don't need such advance notice and this is probably a good time to hit them (after the holidays when they can think about summer, etc.) and organizations will take volunteers whenever (assuming it isn't a really competitive spot).

Judge hiring over? We were told by career services that a lot of judges don't do their hiring until spring.

And who are these small-medium firms hiring 1Ls that you speak of?

A lot of federal judges (district and appellate) in New York are interviewing right now. Two offices I'm interviewing with told me they wanted to get me in before mid-january, I assume because that's when they'll be deciding.

I've also heard of people getting judicial internship offers already on-the-spot in the interview.

Obviously this may vary by judge and location, but a not-insignificant number of federal judges are either done or wrapping up soon.

Most of the firms I looked at don't even accept applications until after grades come back.

conn09 wrote:Most of the firms I looked at don't even accept applications until after grades come back.

Well you must not be looking at NALP firms.

conn09 wrote:Most of the firms I looked at don't even accept applications until after grades come back.

Are you sure? Several firms I applied to said that my application would not be considered complete without grades and therefore wouldn't be reviewed until then, but they still accepted & filed my resume & cover letter. There might be no practical benefit to submitting the resume earlier, but I figured I'd at least get my name out there.

JSUVA2012 wrote:

emoticons777 wrote:I haven't either, but will before school starts. I figure that Biglaw isn't hiring 1Ls, Judge hiring is practically over, so the only thing left is small-medium firms and volunteering at organizations. Small-medium firms don't need such advance notice and this is probably a good time to hit them (after the holidays when they can think about summer, etc.) and organizations will take volunteers whenever (assuming it isn't a really competitive spot).

Judge hiring over? We were told by career services that a lot of judges don't do their hiring until spring.

And who are these small-medium firms hiring 1Ls that you speak of?

Small firms, even very small ones with <10 people, will often hire 1 or 2 local law student "clerks," often to work year-round (part-time during school obviously), not just during summer. I dunno if that's the kind of thing emoticons was referring to.

Here is a question some of you may know the answer to. How do you strike up a conversation with a federal judge? The reason I ask is because I know one personally, but haven't been in contact in about 10 years or so. It makes me feel awkward just thinking of sending him an email saying essentially, "Hi, remember me? Are you hiring for the summer?" As a result, I'm not sure exactly how to approach doing this. I know I should try to reestablish contact though, because it could get me something sweet to do over the summer. At worst, he may blow me off, and somewhere in the middle, he may refer me to someone he knows in the Oregon/Washington area or act as a mentor for the rest of my law school career.

macattaq wrote:Here is a question some of you may know the answer to. How do you strike up a conversation with a federal judge? The reason I ask is because I know one personally, but haven't been in contact in about 10 years or so. It makes me feel awkward just thinking of sending him an email saying essentially, "Hi, remember me? Are you hiring for the summer?" As a result, I'm not sure exactly how to approach doing this. I know I should try to reestablish contact though, because it could get me something sweet to do over the summer. At worst, he may blow me off, and somewhere in the middle, he may refer me to someone he knows in the Oregon/Washington area or act as a mentor for the rest of my law school career.

If you don't want to be direct, write him an email that tells a little bit about your past 10 years (like a short two sentence catchup), then a couple sentences about your during-LS/post-LS plans, then ask for his advice. If he wants to give you something more than advice (an interview, a contact), he'll have the opening to do so and you won't look especially pushy.

Edit: I mean advice on summer employment.

CE2JD wrote:

conn09 wrote:Most of the firms I looked at don't even accept applications until after grades come back.

Well you must not be looking at NALP firms.

The conversation I had with the recruiters from the NALP firms I talked to said not to send in anything until I had grades. They may take it, but won't bother making a decision on it until after grades come in. I don't see the need in stressing myself out when it probably makes no difference.

conn09 wrote:

CE2JD wrote:

conn09 wrote:Most of the firms I looked at don't even accept applications until after grades come back.

Well you must not be looking at NALP firms.

The conversation I had with the recruiters from the NALP firms I talked to said not to send in anything until I had grades. They may take it, but won't bother making a decision on it until after grades come in. I don't see the need in stressing myself out when it probably makes no difference.

I've already set up some interviews with firms that might make me an offer before grades come out.

It's not unheard of for offers to be given before seeing grades.

...

vamedic03 wrote:

Renzo wrote:Depends. What are your plans?

There aren't any 1L biglaw, so you're way behind in the wishful thinking category. You missed some really competitive gov't and public intrest jobs (e.g. FDIC, US Att'y for SDNY, ACLU of NY and DC), and some others have January deadlines, so get on it that's your interest. If it's judicial internships, you're behind--maybe fatally. If you're looking for lower-profile PI work, local DA or public defenders, etc., you are fine--lots of places don't hire until March.

This is kinda some bad info in regards to deadlines being over:

1) FDIC application period: January 1 - March 1 http://www.fdic.gov/about/legalinterns/index.html

2) USA SDNY application period: December 1 - Feb. 28 --LinkRemoved--

You're right about the SDNY--my bad--but the FDIC job was a NY regional office posting that has already closed. It was on PSLaw net, but isn't now.

Don't worry. I started applying to federal judicial externships yesterday and only sent them via email...got 2 interviews set up on the same day I sent out my applications, had my first interview today, and got the job at my first interview. I accepted the job immediately. Some federal judges are still hiring. I only sent out 10 applications total too btw.

Anonymous User wrote:Don't worry. I started applying to federal judicial externships yesterday and only sent them via email...got 2 interviews set up on the same day I sent out my applications, had my first interview today, and got the job at my first interview. I accepted the job immediately. Some federal judges are still hiring. I only sent out 10 applications total too btw.

School range? HYS?

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Don't worry. I started applying to federal judicial externships yesterday and only sent them via email...got 2 interviews set up on the same day I sent out my applications, had my first interview today, and got the job at my first interview. I accepted the job immediately. Some federal judges are still hiring. I only sent out 10 applications total too btw.

School range? HYS?

I call shenanigans. Calling it an 'externship', one day turn around / on the spot offer, emailed applications to judges, and 2 interviews in 24 hours? It isn't completely impossible, but this is definitely NOT how it usually works.