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I'm a 1L at a T25 school. My grades from this semester were pretty strong (estimated top 15%) and I have a biochemistry background.

My expectations are--and were from the start--very, very low. I'll be satisfied if I can find a non-paying spot at a small firm that gives me little or no meaningful responsibility or experience. If, however, I can land something better (in any way), how would I go about doing this? I'll obviously look over the stuff CSO sent me, but does anyone have any unique insights on this? I couldn't find a recent thread on 1L summers specifically, and the opportunities do seem a little more plentiful this year than in previous years... not that I'm making too much of that.

Ultimate career interests:
I'd like to do Biglaw IP if I can get it, but super-low debt load (<$20K at graduation) means I could do PI/public defender-type work if that didn't work out (and I'd be totally down for that line of work).

Geographic ties:
I have strong ties to a mid-sized crappy middle-American city, and would be fine practicing there or anywhere else in America. Also, my law school totally dominates the South Bend/Ft. Wayne Indiana market.

Tyia

flcath wrote:I'm a 1L at a T25 school. My grades from this semester were pretty strong (estimated top 15%) and I have a biochemistry background.

My expectations are--and were from the start--very, very low. I'll be satisfied if I can find a non-paying spot at a small firm that gives me little or no meaningful responsibility or experience. If, however, I can land something better (in any way), how would I go about doing this? I'll obviously look over the stuff CSO sent me, but does anyone have any unique insights on this? I couldn't find a recent thread on 1L summers specifically, and the opportunities do seem a little more plentiful this year than in previous years... not that I'm making too much of that.

Ultimate career interests:
I'd like to do Biglaw IP if I can get it, but super-low debt load (<$20K at graduation) means I could do PI/public defender-type work if that didn't work out (and I'd be totally down for that line of work).

Geographic ties:
I have strong ties to a mid-sized crappy middle-American city, and would be fine practicing there or anywhere else in America. Also, my law school totally dominates the South Bend/Ft. Wayne Indiana market.

Tyia

I wonder what LS OP attends? I mean, there are 25 law schools in the T-25 so OPs anonymity should be pretty safe. Still, there may be away to crack this code. Hmmmm, the mystery haunts me still.

Veyron wrote:

flcath wrote:I'm a 1L at a T25 school. My grades from this semester were pretty strong (estimated top 15%) and I have a biochemistry background.

My expectations are--and were from the start--very, very low. I'll be satisfied if I can find a non-paying spot at a small firm that gives me little or no meaningful responsibility or experience. If, however, I can land something better (in any way), how would I go about doing this? I'll obviously look over the stuff CSO sent me, but does anyone have any unique insights on this? I couldn't find a recent thread on 1L summers specifically, and the opportunities do seem a little more plentiful this year than in previous years... not that I'm making too much of that.

Ultimate career interests:
I'd like to do Biglaw IP if I can get it, but super-low debt load (<$20K at graduation) means I could do PI/public defender-type work if that didn't work out (and I'd be totally down for that line of work).

Geographic ties:
I have strong ties to a mid-sized crappy middle-American city, and would be fine practicing there or anywhere else in America. Also, my law school totally dominates the South Bend/Ft. Wayne Indiana market.

Tyia

I wonder what LS OP attends? I mean, there are 25 law schools in the T-25 so OPs anonymity should be pretty safe. Still, there may be away to crack this code. Hmmmm, the mystery haunts me still.

It was an homage to (a) posters who give a T-range, then completely out their school with other info, and (b) the fact that we, at my unnamed T21, have no home market with which to network.

flcath wrote:

Veyron wrote:

flcath wrote:I'm a 1L at a T25 school. My grades from this semester were pretty strong (estimated top 15%) and I have a biochemistry background.

My expectations are--and were from the start--very, very low. I'll be satisfied if I can find a non-paying spot at a small firm that gives me little or no meaningful responsibility or experience. If, however, I can land something better (in any way), how would I go about doing this? I'll obviously look over the stuff CSO sent me, but does anyone have any unique insights on this? I couldn't find a recent thread on 1L summers specifically, and the opportunities do seem a little more plentiful this year than in previous years... not that I'm making too much of that.

Ultimate career interests:
I'd like to do Biglaw IP if I can get it, but super-low debt load (<$20K at graduation) means I could do PI/public defender-type work if that didn't work out (and I'd be totally down for that line of work).

Geographic ties:
I have strong ties to a mid-sized crappy middle-American city, and would be fine practicing there or anywhere else in America. Also, my law school totally dominates the South Bend/Ft. Wayne Indiana market.

Tyia

I wonder what LS OP attends? I mean, there are 25 law schools in the T-25 so OPs anonymity should be pretty safe. Still, there may be away to crack this code. Hmmmm, the mystery haunts me still.

It was an homage to (a) posters who give a T-range, then completely out their school with other info, and (b) the fact that we, at my unnamed T21, have no home market with which to network.

Isn't the Church supposed to be both UNIVERSAL and VICTORIOUS?

Veyron wrote:

flcath wrote:

Veyron wrote:

flcath wrote:I'm a 1L at a T25 school. My grades from this semester were pretty strong (estimated top 15%) and I have a biochemistry background.

My expectations are--and were from the start--very, very low. I'll be satisfied if I can find a non-paying spot at a small firm that gives me little or no meaningful responsibility or experience. If, however, I can land something better (in any way), how would I go about doing this? I'll obviously look over the stuff CSO sent me, but does anyone have any unique insights on this? I couldn't find a recent thread on 1L summers specifically, and the opportunities do seem a little more plentiful this year than in previous years... not that I'm making too much of that.

Ultimate career interests:
I'd like to do Biglaw IP if I can get it, but super-low debt load (<$20K at graduation) means I could do PI/public defender-type work if that didn't work out (and I'd be totally down for that line of work).

Geographic ties:
I have strong ties to a mid-sized crappy middle-American city, and would be fine practicing there or anywhere else in America. Also, my law school totally dominates the South Bend/Ft. Wayne Indiana market.

Tyia

I wonder what LS OP attends? I mean, there are 25 law schools in the T-25 so OPs anonymity should be pretty safe. Still, there may be away to crack this code. Hmmmm, the mystery haunts me still.

It was an homage to (a) posters who give a T-range, then completely out their school with other info, and (b) the fact that we, at my unnamed T21, have no home market with which to network.

Isn't the Church supposed to be both UNIVERSAL and VICTORIOUS?

We'll be the only lawyers in heaven, and thus have the market cornered. At least that's what CSO keeps telling us when we ask about jobs.

It's a bit late for applying, and it's really hard to get any bites with any creds from any school. Most people get something, but it isn't a buyer's market. If a job sounds cool, you would be advised to apply to it. Write letters to firms, PI groups, judges, and professors you have a particular interest in. Only don't apply to something if you wouldn't be happy there over the course of the summer.

Having top 15%ish grades from a top 25 school won't really blow open the doors for 1L summer positions. Decent grades help, but it's not nearly the 'meritocracy' that the 2L summer job hunt is.

Having gone through the process myself last year, the worst part was the fact that every position will work on a different time schedule. I got a great job offer in late December and a greater job offer in April, with total radio silence inbetween. There's no better strategy than applying broadly and preparing yourself in advance for the fact that you may need to choose the bird in hand when the time comes.

flcath wrote:

Veyron wrote:Isn't the Church supposed to be both UNIVERSAL and VICTORIOUS?

We'll be the only lawyers in heaven, and thus have the market cornered. At least that's what CSO keeps telling us when we ask about jobs.

Both of these made me lol hard. Well played.

Not sure what anonymoususer means by "its a little late." If (s)he means late for biglaw gigs, then yeah maybe a little late, but not really since most students are still waiting on grades. If they mean late for 1L summer jobs in general, this is absolutely, categorically false. I don't know one single person IRL (at my school or others) who is done applying for jobs at this point. Personally, I've applied to a few biglaw firms with 1L programs that I'm really interested in, but I am still in the process for applying to other jobs (and so are the vast majority of my classmates both here and at other T20 schools).

OP, I'd set up a meeting with your CSO to discuss how to go about applying. I think most of my 1L friends and I are all in the same boat... yeah it is easy to know where to look for biglaw and for the PD/USAO/DA jobs, but we are all a little clueless as to where to search for other types of jobs.

Anonymous User wrote:It's a bit late for applying, and it's really hard to get any bites with any creds from any school. Most people get something, but it isn't a buyer's market. If a job sounds cool, you would be advised to apply to it. Write letters to firms, PI groups, judges, and professors you have a particular interest in. Only don't apply to something if you wouldn't be happy there over the course of the summer.

Having top 15%ish grades from a top 25 school won't really blow open the doors for 1L summer positions. Decent grades help, but it's not nearly the 'meritocracy' that the 2L summer job hunt is.

Having gone through the process myself last year, the worst part was the fact that every position will work on a different time schedule. I got a great job offer in late December and a greater job offer in April, with total radio silence inbetween. There's no better strategy than applying broadly and preparing yourself in advance for the fact that you may need to choose the bird in hand when the time comes.

Tyty. Two questions (which will evince the full extent of my cluelessness about 1L summer spots... like I said, I've always had really, really low expectations):

(1) As far as 'trading up' goes, what's the etiquette on this? If a kind alumnus of my T21 offers me an unpaid summer spot filing papers and screwing with fax machines for his midlaw firm, but then I get a paying (or otherwise better) offer somewhere else, then what do I do? Should I basically stop applying to places once I find somewhere, or conditionally accept offers, or what? On one hand, these ppl are doing me a big favor; on the other, I highly doubt that the firm will be relying on my work product in any way or would feel screwed over by me pulling out.

(2) I was thinking of just mailing stuff out to alumni in my home city (alot of kids get their 1L "jobs" that way here) and explicitly saying that I'd work for free, with the hope that maybe that'd get me a few additional bites (i.e., very little incentive to turn down such a request). The downside, obvi, is that I lose what little chance I might have had to land paying work. Thoughts?

I would ask CSO these questions, but they have all resigned again. Also, TLS ppl are funnier.

bump for my edification

flcath wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:It's a bit late for applying, and it's really hard to get any bites with any creds from any school. Most people get something, but it isn't a buyer's market. If a job sounds cool, you would be advised to apply to it. Write letters to firms, PI groups, judges, and professors you have a particular interest in. Only don't apply to something if you wouldn't be happy there over the course of the summer.

Having top 15%ish grades from a top 25 school won't really blow open the doors for 1L summer positions. Decent grades help, but it's not nearly the 'meritocracy' that the 2L summer job hunt is.

Having gone through the process myself last year, the worst part was the fact that every position will work on a different time schedule. I got a great job offer in late December and a greater job offer in April, with total radio silence inbetween. There's no better strategy than applying broadly and preparing yourself in advance for the fact that you may need to choose the bird in hand when the time comes.

Tyty. Two questions (which will evince the full extent of my cluelessness about 1L summer spots... like I said, I've always had really, really low expectations):

(1) As far as 'trading up' goes, what's the etiquette on this? If a kind alumnus of my T21 offers me an unpaid summer spot filing papers and screwing with fax machines for his midlaw firm, but then I get a paying (or otherwise better) offer somewhere else, then what do I do? Should I basically stop applying to places once I find somewhere, or conditionally accept offers, or what? On one hand, these ppl are doing me a big favor; on the other, I highly doubt that the firm will be relying on my work product in any way or would feel screwed over by me pulling out.

(2) I was thinking of just mailing stuff out to alumni in my home city (alot of kids get their 1L "jobs" that way here) and explicitly saying that I'd work for free, with the hope that maybe that'd get me a few additional bites (i.e., very little incentive to turn down such a request). The downside, obvi, is that I lose what little chance I might have had to land paying work. Thoughts?

I would ask CSO these questions, but they have all resigned again. Also, TLS ppl are funnier.

NALP firms aren't permitted to let you work for free.

God I wish I had gotten on this earlier.

Veyron wrote:

flcath wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:It's a bit late for applying, and it's really hard to get any bites with any creds from any school. Most people get something, but it isn't a buyer's market. If a job sounds cool, you would be advised to apply to it. Write letters to firms, PI groups, judges, and professors you have a particular interest in. Only don't apply to something if you wouldn't be happy there over the course of the summer.

Having top 15%ish grades from a top 25 school won't really blow open the doors for 1L summer positions. Decent grades help, but it's not nearly the 'meritocracy' that the 2L summer job hunt is.

Having gone through the process myself last year, the worst part was the fact that every position will work on a different time schedule. I got a great job offer in late December and a greater job offer in April, with total radio silence inbetween. There's no better strategy than applying broadly and preparing yourself in advance for the fact that you may need to choose the bird in hand when the time comes.

Tyty. Two questions (which will evince the full extent of my cluelessness about 1L summer spots... like I said, I've always had really, really low expectations):

(1) As far as 'trading up' goes, what's the etiquette on this? If a kind alumnus of my T21 offers me an unpaid summer spot filing papers and screwing with fax machines for his midlaw firm, but then I get a paying (or otherwise better) offer somewhere else, then what do I do? Should I basically stop applying to places once I find somewhere, or conditionally accept offers, or what? On one hand, these ppl are doing me a big favor; on the other, I highly doubt that the firm will be relying on my work product in any way or would feel screwed over by me pulling out.

(2) I was thinking of just mailing stuff out to alumni in my home city (alot of kids get their 1L "jobs" that way here) and explicitly saying that I'd work for free, with the hope that maybe that'd get me a few additional bites (i.e., very little incentive to turn down such a request). The downside, obvi, is that I lose what little chance I might have had to land paying work. Thoughts?

I would ask CSO these questions, but they have all resigned again. Also, TLS ppl are funnier.

NALP firms aren't permitted to let you work for free.

Nor are any US employers, to the extent that you could be classified as an employee under FLSA:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/busin ... ern&st=cse