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Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 12:39 pm
by groundkontrol
Current law students, how much does law-related employment during 0L summer matter? I can travel. I can work retail. I can do a paid RA job at my school. I can get a government unpaid internship. What would you recommend? Did 0L summer ever come up in a biglaw interview? Won’t it look weird if I have a gap in my resume from traveling or being an RA? Thanks.

Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 12:41 pm
by 270910
I had an interview with an attorney designed to be a stress-test, a non-stop barrage of the kind of questions any one of which might be a 'worst case scenario' in a real interview.

One of the questions was about the gap on my resume between college and law school.

As soon as I pointed out the gap was between law school and college he moved on and mentioned afterward that it was no big deal.

The time you have between the moment you get accepted to law school and the moment to start is your time. Any efforts you put in to bolster your career prospects will yield vanishing returns.

To go a beach. Drink. If you get comfortable enough, you can try drinking while on the beach.

You'll thank me later.

Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 1:02 pm
by TTT-LS
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Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 1:12 pm
by Non-Lawyer Lawyer
Buddy, I won't lie to you, the quality of female talent in law school is pitiful. "Law Goggles" aside, attractive girls in law school are few and far between. Not only that, but law school does tend to suck the life out of you, and the quality of people you meet in law school in general sucks.

Take the paid RA job. Take full advantage of the college lifestyle one last summer; I'm talking about a three month Bacchanalia. Hang out with friends, sleep in until noon, go to the beach, get some sun, do some enjoyable reading, party, buy beer for underage (21 yrs...) girls, sleep with said underage girls, etc. etc. etc.

Enjoy.

Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 1:19 pm
by conn09
0L summer doesn't mean much at all.
From my experience if provided a marginal boost for getting a job during 1L summer. I came straight from undergrad and my summer job at a law firm came up during the interview process. So its a marginal boost at best, if you have no real work experience aside from stuff like retail.

Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 6:51 pm
by groundkontrol
Thanks everyone for the response!
I ask pretty much because I no previous legitimate work experience. During college I worked at a summer camp frosh and sophomore year. Junior year I did an internship with a State senator. Senior year I studied for LSATs. So no prior work experience really. Is landing a 1L summer job primarily about 1L grades?

Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 9:08 pm
by conn09
groundkontrol wrote:Thanks everyone for the response!
I ask pretty much because I no previous legitimate work experience. During college I worked at a summer camp frosh and sophomore year. Junior year I did an internship with a State senator. Senior year I studied for LSATs. So no prior work experience really. Is landing a 1L summer job primarily about 1L grades?
Honestly its a lot about luck. It's a crapshoot for everyone regardless of your grades or school. I'm an AA Male from Harvard. Out of close to 100 resumes sent out, I got 3 interviews and 2 offers. Of the 100, 12 went to my home market which I have significant ties to. A lot of it also has to do with the economy, but as far as from what I've observed you're basically playing roulette during the 1L job search.

Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:08 pm
by 270910
conn09 wrote:You're basically playing roulette during the 1L job search.

Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:23 pm
by wiseowl
relax during 0L summer. you're going to hit a wall of fatigue right around exam time in the fall if you don't (take it from me).

Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 11:20 pm
by toaster2
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Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 10:20 am
by insidethetwenty
Image

Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 12:46 pm
by underdawg
i did nothing during that summer between college and law school. one interviewer brought it up. i said my family wanted me to hang out with them, what with me going to law school and all. he was like, ok.

Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 12:51 pm
by acdisagod
Non-Lawyer Lawyer wrote:Buddy, I won't lie to you, the quality of female talent in law school is pitiful. "Law Goggles" aside, attractive girls in law school are few and far between. Not only that, but law school does tend to suck the life out of you, and the quality of people you meet in law school in general sucks.

Take the paid RA job. Take full advantage of the college lifestyle one last summer; I'm talking about a three month Bacchanalia. Hang out with friends, sleep in until noon, go to the beach, get some sun, do some enjoyable reading, party, buy beer for underage (21 yrs...) girls, sleep with said underage girls, etc. etc. etc.

Enjoy.
ITT female TLS members decide they have had enough with the male TLS members.

Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 12:52 pm
by acdisagod
insidethetwenty wrote:Image
TITCR, now if only I can break 100 this summer :oops:

Everytime I finally get somewhat decent at golf, school starts, winter hits and I go from shooting 103 to shooting 113.

Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 12:54 pm
by underdawg
acdisagod wrote:
Non-Lawyer Lawyer wrote:Buddy, I won't lie to you, the quality of female talent in law school is pitiful. "Law Goggles" aside, attractive girls in law school are few and far between. Not only that, but law school does tend to suck the life out of you, and the quality of people you meet in law school in general sucks.

Take the paid RA job. Take full advantage of the college lifestyle one last summer; I'm talking about a three month Bacchanalia. Hang out with friends, sleep in until noon, go to the beach, get some sun, do some enjoyable reading, party, buy beer for underage (21 yrs...) girls, sleep with said underage girls, etc. etc. etc.

Enjoy.
ITT female TLS members decide they have had enough with the male TLS members.
i dunno about your school, but both the dudes and the chicks at my school are constantly complaining about how unattractive the opposite sex is at said school. it's pretty amusing. also, small sample size, but the gay guys seem to think the dudes are allllright.

Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 1:22 pm
by Posner
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Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 1:36 pm
by legalease9
If possible you want to go to law school completely de-stressed and happy. As others have said, once law school starts all free time is time that reflects poorly on your resume/GPA. So party it up! 8)

Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 1:37 pm
by legalease9
Posner wrote:Travel. It's something you can put in the additional information section of your resume. Depending on the person reviewing resumes/interviewing, traveling can be a bonus. At the very least, it'll be something interesting to talk about during the interview. Take advantage of the time. Once you start law school there is a good chance you will not have a large chunk of time to travel until you retire.
This as well.

Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 1:45 pm
by dsegura
party.

Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 9:36 pm
by presh
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Re: Current Law Students: 0L Summer? Does it matter?

Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 10:22 pm
by Son of Cicero
It hasn't come up again since, but I had one 9th Circuit judge ask me questions about why I didn't do anything productive during 0L summer. I recount the experience here: http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... &#p1313281