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I have made the determination that I am not interested in 2L summer employment with my present firm. This has reduced my motivation at work to close to 0.

What are the benefits of pushing myself and doing a heck of a job here this summer? Do firm partners write recommendations to 2L employers? I am going in, clocking my billables, and looking forward to clock out time every single day at this point.

Any thoughts?

You still have a reputation to uphold. Say you slack this summer and leave the partners at your summer firm disgruntled with your work. When you go to OCI, and the hiring/interviewing partner knows someone at your 1L summer firm and sees it on your resume... you're going to be screwed. Don't set yourself up for failure by burning bridges now. Do a good job and move on.

One of the first years at this place indicated that a fairly common question asked of him at interviews after his SA gig was whether or not his SA firm extended him a full-time offer, and why he thought they did not extend him an offer. I don't know if you have a little more leeway with the economy in the crapper, but he did feel that he would have been able to land a job quicker if he could have said yes to the first question.

GeePee wrote:You still have a reputation to uphold.

/thread

Take pride in the work product you produce.

Character and Fitness will contact your firm, for sure. Keep that in mind.

Not to threadjack, but do firms typically hire 1L's with the expectation that they will come back the next summer and eventually become permanent associates?

edit: n/m

OG Loc wrote:Not to threadjack, but do firms typically hire 1L's with the expectation that they will come back the next summer and eventually become permanent associates?

Hope if not expectation.

thesealocust wrote:

Bert wrote:One of the first years at this place indicated that a fairly common question asked of him at interviews after his SA gig was whether or not his SA firm extended him a full-time offer, and why he thought they did not extend him an offer. I don't know if you have a little more leeway with the economy in the crapper, but he did feel that he would have been able to land a job quicker if he could have said yes to the first question.

After a 2L summer or a 1L summer? There's a huge difference.

Getting no-offered after 2L summer is awful. 1L summer positions are so rare that arrangements are much more varied, and I would imagine much less weight is put on the resulting offer / no offer / split summer / 'get back to us later' discussion.

I'll find out tomorrow.

OG Loc wrote:Not to threadjack, but do firms typically hire 1L's with the expectation that they will come back the next summer and eventually become permanent associates?

I would say "hope not expectation" is pretty much spot on. 1L SA firm gigs are rare, and many of the 1L SA gigs are given to people with ties to the firm (i.e. children of clients, relatives of friends of partners, paralegals who went to law school, etc.). All of the 1L SA's I know about fall into those categories. Since the firm spends tons of money on SAs it is best for the firm to bring back a SA that they have already hooked on the firm than it is to have to spend time and money trying to hook a different SA.

Bert wrote:I'll find out tomorrow.

He said he was not offered further employment after his 1L SA gig (which was in a very niche market and firm), and he had to find a different 2L SA gig. During his 2L SA gig, attorneys would randomly discuss his prior 1L SA gig and why he didn't go back. He was subsequently not offered further employment at his 2L SA gig, and his belief is that he was not offered full-time after his 2L SA because of his 1L SA and the effects of not being asked back to that job.

I summered at a midlaw firm my 1L summer and knew almost from the get-go that I wanted to land somewhere else after graduation. Nonetheless, I treated the process as a learning experience, worked hard, and came out with an offer from the 1L firm. Good thing, too, since I was asked at 2L OCI several times about my work there, in a few cases re: whether I had an offer, and I had to mail my bar C&F form to the 1L firm. If I had blown off the 1L gig, I could potentially have screwed my chances at 2L OCI or later in professional life. As others have said, you've got a reputation to uphold--particularly if you want to work somehwere else in the same market.

tl;dr version: (wo)man up and work hard the rest of the summer.

Bert wrote:

Bert wrote:I'll find out tomorrow.

He said he was not offered further employment after his 1L SA gig (which was in a very niche market and firm), and he had to find a different 2L SA gig. During his 2L SA gig, attorneys would randomly discuss his prior 1L SA gig and why he didn't go back. He was subsequently not offered further employment at his 2L SA gig, and his belief is that he was not offered full-time after his 2L SA because of his 1L SA and the effects of not being asked back to that job.

Why would a firm pay him to be a 2L SA then no offer him because of something they knew prior to being hired? Sounds fishy to me, but I'm just a dumb 0L.

.

GeePee wrote:You still have a reputation to uphold. Say you slack this summer and leave the partners at your summer firm disgruntled with your work. When you go to OCI, and the hiring/interviewing partner knows someone at your 1L summer firm and sees it on your resume... you're going to be screwed. Don't set yourself up for failure by burning bridges now. Do a good job and move on.

This. Also don't talk to other summers about how much you dislike the firm your at.