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I'm at a T20 with no grades in yet and was applying for judicial internships. I found a list of judges on a website that combined federal judges/ state judges/ county district judges. This is really embarrasing, but I applied to a couple of the wrong judges (only wanting to limit to federal judges) but applied to a couple of the lower county district judges. Two of them have called offering internships. One said that I should look into other opportunities and let him know, another judge called (county level) and left a voicemail offering a job. I know it's bad to turn down a judge, but I don't know what to do anymore. I am not even completely opposed to the idea of working for a local judge. It would let me live at home, save money, and I think get a lot of hands on experience. It would be in a criminal division and I'm interested in doing criminal work. However, I'm concerned about the prestige of it (not because I care, but for future employment prospects). My only thought would be to accept the job telling the Judge I want to split my summer, but I don't know if this is proper. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

First of all, which one called first? You need to turn down the second, as per etiquette (although it appears at least one of them is willing to be flexible with you.)

A classmate of mine split his 1L summer between a judge and government work so apparently it can be done. Ask OCS for advice if unsure on how to broach the issue.

As for the prestige factor, I wouldn't worry too much. Employers aren't likely to care what you did for your 1L summer, for as long as you perform some type of legal work.

dresden doll wrote:First of all, which one called first? You need to turn down the second, as per etiquette (although it appears at least one of them is willing to be flexible with you.)

A classmate of mine split his 1L summer between a judge and government work so apparently it can be done. Ask OCS for advice if unsure on how to broach the issue.

As for the prestige factor, I wouldn't worry too much. Employers aren't likely to care what you did for your 1L summer, for as long as you perform some type of legal work.

Flexible one called first, which is in my favor. So the right thing to do would be to call the second judge and say the first one offered a position already. This seems like a better situation.

Anonymous User wrote:

dresden doll wrote:First of all, which one called first? You need to turn down the second, as per etiquette (although it appears at least one of them is willing to be flexible with you.)

A classmate of mine split his 1L summer between a judge and government work so apparently it can be done. Ask OCS for advice if unsure on how to broach the issue.

As for the prestige factor, I wouldn't worry too much. Employers aren't likely to care what you did for your 1L summer, for as long as you perform some type of legal work.

Flexible one called first, which is in my favor. So the right thing to do would be to call the second judge and say the first one offered a position already. This seems like a better situation.

Right. Turn down the second judge. You'll be fulfilling the protocol by doing so.

Then speak to the second judge and see how flexible he's willing to be. If he continues to show flexibility, shoot for government work involving criminal prosecution. I think splitting between the two would be eminently doable.

Good luck!

Saving money 1L summer + doing work you're interested in = GREAT 1L summer.... Don't worry about "prestige", as long as you are doing quality legal work your 1L summer, you'll be fine for OCI. The key is just being able to talk coherently during interviews about what you did, not where you did it. That's why even an RA position doesn't hurt you for OCI if you're doing good research. Good luck!

Sup Kid wrote:Saving money 1L summer + doing work you're interested in = GREAT 1L summer.... Don't worry about "prestige", as long as you are doing quality legal work your 1L summer, you'll be fine for OCI. The key is just being able to talk coherently during interviews about what you did, not where you did it. That's why even an RA position doesn't hurt you for OCI if you're doing good research. Good luck!

You should take the best job you get (aka fed over state, biglaw/judicial internship over RA). But a state or county internship won't kill you if you, as sup said, do meaningful work (easily said, hard to predict). I'd turn down judge two, and pray to god you get a better offer elsewhere to split.

dresden doll wrote:As for the prestige factor, I wouldn't worry too much. Employers aren't likely to care what you did for your 1L summer, for as long as you perform some type of legal work.

THIS times about a thousand. So long as they recognize the general gist of what you did when they see it on your resume and you can speak competently about it in the interview, I suspect most could really give a rats ass as to what it is specifically. It is likely not going to be the same type of work as the kind they will pay you to do anyway.

You also want to work with someone who will give you good guidance and just be an overall pleasant person to work with. If you have a federal judge who is really difficult to work with or doesn't have much contact with you, then you may ultimately be better off with a local judge that would be a good reference in the future.

megaTTTron wrote:

Sup Kid wrote:Saving money 1L summer + doing work you're interested in = GREAT 1L summer.... Don't worry about "prestige", as long as you are doing quality legal work your 1L summer, you'll be fine for OCI. The key is just being able to talk coherently during interviews about what you did, not where you did it. That's why even an RA position doesn't hurt you for OCI if you're doing good research. Good luck!

You should take the best job you get (aka fed over state, biglaw/judicial internship over RA). But a state or county internship won't kill you if you, as sup said, do meaningful work (easily said, hard to predict). I'd turn down judge two, and pray to god you get a better offer elsewhere to split.

This ranking of 1L summer jobs is really silly. Some of the people with the best SA's and best clerkships were RA's their 1L summer.

vamedic03 wrote:

megaTTTron wrote:

Sup Kid wrote:Saving money 1L summer + doing work you're interested in = GREAT 1L summer.... Don't worry about "prestige", as long as you are doing quality legal work your 1L summer, you'll be fine for OCI. The key is just being able to talk coherently during interviews about what you did, not where you did it. That's why even an RA position doesn't hurt you for OCI if you're doing good research. Good luck!

You should take the best job you get (aka fed over state, biglaw/judicial internship over RA). But a state or county internship won't kill you if you, as sup said, do meaningful work (easily said, hard to predict). I'd turn down judge two, and pray to god you get a better offer elsewhere to split.

This ranking of 1L summer jobs is really silly. Some of the people with the best SA's and best clerkships were RA's their 1L summer.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanecdotal.

megaTTTron wrote:

vamedic03 wrote:

megaTTTron wrote:

Sup Kid wrote:Saving money 1L summer + doing work you're interested in = GREAT 1L summer.... Don't worry about "prestige", as long as you are doing quality legal work your 1L summer, you'll be fine for OCI. The key is just being able to talk coherently during interviews about what you did, not where you did it. That's why even an RA position doesn't hurt you for OCI if you're doing good research. Good luck!

You should take the best job you get (aka fed over state, biglaw/judicial internship over RA). But a state or county internship won't kill you if you, as sup said, do meaningful work (easily said, hard to predict). I'd turn down judge two, and pray to god you get a better offer elsewhere to split.

This ranking of 1L summer jobs is really silly. Some of the people with the best SA's and best clerkships were RA's their 1L summer.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanecdotal.

No shit. So is your proposition.

Personally, I think the best 1L summer position is the one that gives you the most free time. It's your last summer to enjoy and all you need is some sort of legal experience to be able to talk intelligibly about.

If you were to nail 1L SA, it would undoubtedly prop up your resume. But that's neither likely nor expected, not even at HYS.

And, yes, my anecdotal experience also confirms that some of the best SA gigs went to people who worked for a professor over the summer. Turns out, many LR kids wound up as RAs (I'm guessing because they were too busy studying most of the time to do a great deal of job hunting. On a quarter system, even a break is a mere opportunity to outline in preparation for that two-quarter exam that will be coming your way soon enough).

You need to worry about grades, first and foremost. What you do in your 1L summer is unlikely to be a game-changer.

Anonymous User wrote:I'm at a T20 with no grades in yet and was applying for judicial internships. I found a list of judges on a website that combined federal judges/ state judges/ county district judges. This is really embarrasing, but I applied to a couple of the wrong judges (only wanting to limit to federal judges) but applied to a couple of the lower county district judges. Two of them have called offering internships. One said that I should look into other opportunities and let him know, another judge called (county level) and left a voicemail offering a job. I know it's bad to turn down a judge, but I don't know what to do anymore. I am not even completely opposed to the idea of working for a local judge. It would let me live at home, save money, and I think get a lot of hands on experience. It would be in a criminal division and I'm interested in doing criminal work. However, I'm concerned about the prestige of it (not because I care, but for future employment prospects). My only thought would be to accept the job telling the Judge I want to split my summer, but I don't know if this is proper. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

Dear Stupid,

NO ONE CARES WHAT YOU DO YOUR 1L SUMMER.

Sincerely,
Veyron

Thanks everyone for your replies and help. To throw a further monkey wrench at this situation ( a good one) I've gotten three grades back this weekend, all A's. This probably would enhance my chance at getting a "better" job, but the more I think about it the more I like the idea of working hands on with a local judge. I think I'm going to talk again with the first judge and try and split my summer and hopefully get some kind of government job.

Thanks again.