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I am a 1L at a T2, around top 1/3 of class.

I have narrowed my summer possibilities down to 2 offers:

1. With the state appellate district court in my hometown. It is not a very big city, but decent size (population in <500k). Not sure where I want to work after law school, so indifferent between moving back to hometown.

And

2. US Federal Bankruptcy Court - in a bigger city, which I have lived in and enjoyed. Still, not sure I want to live there when I graduate, but indifferent.

I can live at home with option 1, so it is free. Also, I can live with my old buddies with option 2, so almost free. Having some trouble deciding which will give me the better opportunities later down the road. With the fed judge there are only 2 interns, there are 6 with the appellate judge, so that may make a difference. If I want to work in hometown, would it be better to take job 1 or is the federal court the way to go. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Any opinions out there?

Anyone care to elaborate please... Have to make the decision in the next few days

I think most people are reading the word federal and making their decision based on that. Especially since we don't know which state you are talking about.

Do you think bankruptcy is possibly an area you will want to work in?

I'm not particularly sure I want to work bankruptcy, as I have no real experience in it.

This is all in the state of Ohio.

I guess it couldn't hurt for you to try out the Bankruptcy court. Bankruptcy is a good area of law to be familiar with.

Then again, you could save money by staying at home. Flip a coin.

The cost of living is a near wash, as I will be living with friends if I take the federal job.

One other thing, the state job has more interns, as in around 10 or so I think. And only 2 for federal job. I just want to make sure the federal job will still allow me to adequately network as well.

I would take the Appellate Court.

Well, look into what types of Bankruptcies the District in question performs - if it's mainly consumer cases, I'd stay away, for a variety of reasons. If it's restructurings, that might be something interesting to talk about.

Congrats on the offers. Honestly I am somewhat surprised that you got both these offers coming from a T2 school at top 1/3. I think either would be good 1L summer legal experience to put on the resume.

Do you know what type of law you want to practice at all? (litigation v. transactional, criminal v. civil, PI, etc.) Is there something about one of the positions that you are curious about exploring more than the other?

Since it looks like the money/cost of living issue is a wash, those are the questions you should be answering to help narrow your decision.

It's a 1L summer internship, and both options are good legal positions, so it doesn't really matter all that much which one you choose for future job prospects.