SEC 1L Summer Honors Forum

[underdawg]

How much does the gig pay? Duration of the program?

I will answer this question, but only if not asked anonymously.

you gotta love a man of principle--even completely arbitrary principle

[Danteshek]

You need top grades + relevant industry experience to have a fair shot. They receive over 100 applications for each 1L spot. They don't care what school you are attending. Only 2 applications out of ~50 were accepted from HLS. I worked with one of the H guys. He was on law review and had traded derivatives for Deutche Bank.

[skoobily doobily]

You need top grades + relevant industry experience to have a fair shot. They receive over 100 applications for each 1L spot. They don't care what school you are attending. Only 2 applications out of ~50 were accepted from HLS. I worked with one of the H guys. He was on law review and had traded derivatives for Deutche Bank.

Fuuuuuuuuuu . . . Did you work in the DC offices, i'm mainly looking into the Atlanta branch because that's ideally where I would like to spend my summer.

[Danteshek]

Yes DC. Branch offices do their own hiring. It is probably slightly less competitive.

[Anonymous User]

I interned at the SEC two summers ago. I spoke to a higher-up there who reviews the applications and he told that they *love* to see Harvard and Yale 1Ls...so it's just like anywhere else. Problem is that Harvard and Yale applicants prob turn down govt for firm gigs and so then they go down to the next higher ranked schools. If you don't go to a T14, then you will need relevant legal experience. If you don't have relevant legal experience, you will need some other interesting soft. There's definitely people who intern who don't have relevant legal exp. You do need top grades. Most of the branches receive tons of applications and they have fewer interns.

[skoobily doobily]

Can you pm me please?

[Anonymous User]

has anyone interning in the dc office received clearance or a start date yet?

[minnie7]

So. Why would someone work for the SEC instead of a law firm?

[Danteshek]

So. Why would someone work for the SEC instead of a law firm?

It makes almost no sense to work for the SEC as a law student, because 99.9 times out of 100, you will not have an opportunity to work there after law school.

Not that anyone would want to work there, especially out of law school

If you they actually knew what the work entails, you would probably get very depressed very quickly

Not to mention the decade plus it usually takes to have a shot at promotion to assistant director, and that is if you are lucky

SEC brass has approximately zero respect for people without real practice or industry experience.

[Anonymous User]

So. Why would someone work for the SEC instead of a law firm?

It makes almost no sense to work for the SEC as a law student, because 99.9 times out of 100, you will not have an opportunity to work there after law school.

Not that anyone would want to work there, especially out of law school

If you they actually knew what the work entails, you would probably get very depressed very quickly

Not to mention the decade plus it usually takes to have a shot at promotion to assistant director, and that is if you are lucky

SEC brass has approximately zero respect for people without real practice or industry experience.

I'm a rising 2L who just finished a summer internship in the Enforcement Division at the SEC in DC and I have to disagree with almost everything Danteshek just said. First, though, it is in fact highly unlikely that you will be able to work there straight out of law school, but the Commission is creating a new Honors Program for new graduates, so while it'll be insanely competitive, it's still possible.

As for the other claims, it's been a huge bump to my OCI experience with almost every employer asking about my time there and being impressed by the surprisingly substantive litigation-type experience it gave me. Having the SEC Summer Honors Program on your resume also seems to be much more unique and impressive to firms than just the ordinary 1L judicial internship, and I was able to make a lot of connections to firms through the SEC attorneys who mostly came from DC biglaw themselves, so it does make sense to work there as a law student, even if it likely won't lead directly to employment at the SEC. Obviously going unpaid for your 2L summer instead of having an SA would suck, but the SEC is still a great option for 1Ls and potentially 2Ls who need a good launching pad for networking.

As for the actual work, every attorney I worked for there this summer talked extensively about how they love their job. Yes, it's very difficult to rise in the ranks to be an assistant director, but that's not to say the staff attorneys and senior counsels are dissatisfied in any way. In fact, because the SEC is not on the GS pay scale, staff attorneys and senior counsels still get paid very well for government attorneys, with most, if not all, making well into 6 figures while still having government hours. While they still have to do some doc review themselves, it's because each staff attorney is in charge of running their own investigations, so the mundane tasks also come along with substantial responsibility and autonomy. The attorneys themselves are the ones that issue subpoenas, take testimony, etc., and everyone I talked to loves it there.

Why Danteshek feels the need to attack "SEC brass" I don't know, but it is mostly true that the SEC tends to take only attorneys with experience in private practice. A vast majority of the attorneys I worked with came from NY or DC biglaw with securities-related experience, but I will say that not all of them had securities-specific experience and some instead just stressed the applicable skills from other similar areas of practice. The reason the SEC mostly takes only experienced attorneys is not because of a lack of respect or whatever for those without industry experience, it's simply out of necessity since the Commission is often going up against large i-banks, mutual funds, and public corporations that have expert practitioners on their side, so the SEC needs attorneys who know what they're doing. Again, though, the SEC is bringing back its honors program from new law school graduates, but of course, that will remain a very small, extremely competitive number of slots.

Anyway, hope this helps.

[Danteshek]

I was in the 1L Honors program a few years ago. I, too, had rose tinted glasses.

But ENF is probably less boring than any other division, so your experience was probably better than mine.

[Anonymous User]

I know this is an old thread. I am just wondering what top grades means? Is top 20% good enough?

[Slytherpuff]

I know this is an old thread. I am just wondering what top grades means? Is top 20% good enough?

I have a friend who got SEC with top 30% last year, but she may not have been the norm. Good luck!

[Anonymous User]

So. Why would someone work for the SEC instead of a law firm?

It makes almost no sense to work for the SEC as a law student, because 99.9 times out of 100, you will not have an opportunity to work there after law school.

Not that anyone would want to work there, especially out of law school

If you they actually knew what the work entails, you would probably get very depressed very quickly

Not to mention the decade plus it usually takes to have a shot at promotion to assistant director, and that is if you are lucky

SEC brass has approximately zero respect for people without real practice or industry experience.

I'm a rising 2L who just finished a summer internship in the Enforcement Division at the SEC in DC and I have to disagree with almost everything Danteshek just said. First, though, it is in fact highly unlikely that you will be able to work there straight out of law school, but the Commission is creating a new Honors Program for new graduates, so while it'll be insanely competitive, it's still possible.

As for the other claims, it's been a huge bump to my OCI experience with almost every employer asking about my time there and being impressed by the surprisingly substantive litigation-type experience it gave me. Having the SEC Summer Honors Program on your resume also seems to be much more unique and impressive to firms than just the ordinary 1L judicial internship, and I was able to make a lot of connections to firms through the SEC attorneys who mostly came from DC biglaw themselves, so it does make sense to work there as a law student, even if it likely won't lead directly to employment at the SEC. Obviously going unpaid for your 2L summer instead of having an SA would suck, but the SEC is still a great option for 1Ls and potentially 2Ls who need a good launching pad for networking.

As for the actual work, every attorney I worked for there this summer talked extensively about how they love their job. Yes, it's very difficult to rise in the ranks to be an assistant director, but that's not to say the staff attorneys and senior counsels are dissatisfied in any way. In fact, because the SEC is not on the GS pay scale, staff attorneys and senior counsels still get paid very well for government attorneys, with most, if not all, making well into 6 figures while still having government hours. While they still have to do some doc review themselves, it's because each staff attorney is in charge of running their own investigations, so the mundane tasks also come along with substantial responsibility and autonomy. The attorneys themselves are the ones that issue subpoenas, take testimony, etc., and everyone I talked to loves it there.

Why Danteshek feels the need to attack "SEC brass" I don't know, but it is mostly true that the SEC tends to take only attorneys with experience in private practice. A vast majority of the attorneys I worked with came from NY or DC biglaw with securities-related experience, but I will say that not all of them had securities-specific experience and some instead just stressed the applicable skills from other similar areas of practice. The reason the SEC mostly takes only experienced attorneys is not because of a lack of respect or whatever for those without industry experience, it's simply out of necessity since the Commission is often going up against large i-banks, mutual funds, and public corporations that have expert practitioners on their side, so the SEC needs attorneys who know what they're doing. Again, though, the SEC is bringing back its honors program from new law school graduates, but of course, that will remain a very small, extremely competitive number of slots.

Anyway, hope this helps.

I joined the SEC as an attorney through the honors program, and this pretty much sums up my experience.