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I've been offered an ACLU internship position over the summer doing what looks to be some fairly substantial work. I will likely be exposed to a lot of law-related ideas, practices, and procedures. Ideally, this would be a great talking point during 1L and 2L interviews as well as something a little more impressive than my current run-of-the-mill job on my pre-law resume. However, I'm concerned that the perception (however distorted and misguided) of the ACLU as a liberal, tree-hugging organization may limit my job opportunities during 1L year and put off some firms if I choose to do OCI during 2L. Any thoughts?

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I really doubt that firms are going to hold work at the ACLU against you.

Anonymous User wrote:I've been offered an ACLU internship position over the summer doing what looks to be some fairly substantial work. I will likely be exposed to a lot of law-related ideas, practices, and procedures. Ideally, this would be a great talking point during 1L and 2L interviews as well as something a little more impressive than my current run-of-the-mill job on my pre-law resume. However, I'm concerned that the perception (however distorted and misguided) of the ACLU as a liberal, tree-hugging organization may limit my job opportunities during 1L year and put off some firms if I choose to do OCI during 2L. Any thoughts?

Really, guy?

But srsly, don't mistake nihilism for conservatism.

I interned at the ACLU after my 1L year. During OCI, I did find that a couple interviewers (typically from known conservative leaning law firms) seemed really put off by the fact that I had the ACLU on my resume. One person, in particular, gave me a really hard time about it. That said, most interviewers were very positive and, in some cases, very impressed with the credential. In the long run, I would say that it would help more than it would hurt... unless you want to clerk for Scalia or something.

Anonymous User wrote:I interned at the ACLU after my 1L year. During OCI, I did find that a couple interviewers (typically from known conservative leaning law firms) seemed really put off by the fact that I had the ACLU on my resume. One person, in particular, gave me a really hard time about it. That said, most interviewers were very positive and, in some cases, very impressed with the credential. In the long run, I would say that it would help more than it would hurt... unless you want to clerk for Scalia or something.

I think a basic rule of thumb is that if you like the work that the ACLU does then you will probably not be happy working somewhere that is hostile towards the ACLU.

FWIW, the ACLU in NYC shares a building with Sullivan & Cromwell.

vamedic03 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I interned at the ACLU after my 1L year. During OCI, I did find that a couple interviewers (typically from known conservative leaning law firms) seemed really put off by the fact that I had the ACLU on my resume. One person, in particular, gave me a really hard time about it. That said, most interviewers were very positive and, in some cases, very impressed with the credential. In the long run, I would say that it would help more than it would hurt... unless you want to clerk for Scalia or something.

I think a basic rule of thumb is that if you like the work that the ACLU does then you will probably not be happy working somewhere that is hostile towards the ACLU.

FWIW, the ACLU in NYC shares a building with Sullivan & Cromwell.

I agree. But, I interviewed in 2009, so I took every interview spot that I could get... in hopes of finding A job. That said, I did not expect my GDC interviewer to be quite as crazy conservative as he was.

Anonymous User wrote:

vamedic03 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I interned at the ACLU after my 1L year. During OCI, I did find that a couple interviewers (typically from known conservative leaning law firms) seemed really put off by the fact that I had the ACLU on my resume. One person, in particular, gave me a really hard time about it. That said, most interviewers were very positive and, in some cases, very impressed with the credential. In the long run, I would say that it would help more than it would hurt... unless you want to clerk for Scalia or something.

I think a basic rule of thumb is that if you like the work that the ACLU does then you will probably not be happy working somewhere that is hostile towards the ACLU.

FWIW, the ACLU in NYC shares a building with Sullivan & Cromwell.

I agree. But, I interviewed in 2009, so I took every interview spot that I could get... in hopes of finding A job. That said, I did not expect my GDC interviewer to be quite as crazy conservative as he was.

Though GDC, and especially GDC DC, is known to be quite conservative. If you were comfortable with the ACLU and liberal, then you probably wouldn't have been comfortable at GDC. If you lean liberal (and wanted to do appellate work), you'd probably be far happier at OMM DC or Jenner Block DC.

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vamedic03 wrote:
Though GDC, and especially GDC DC, is known to be quite conservative. If you were comfortable with the ACLU and liberal, then you probably wouldn't have been comfortable at GDC. If you lean liberal (and wanted to do appellate work), you'd probably be far happier at OMM DC or Jenner Block DC.

GDC-DC isn't as conservative as you may think. They are, in some senses, more libertarian. Ted Olson is based there, and just last week they had their 5th annual GLBT diversity dinner for GULC Outlaw. This year was about GDC's work on overturning Prop. 8 in California, and Ted Olson was the keynote speaker. So I don't think ACLU would necessarily hurt your chances at a lot of places.

Questions:

1) Would you really want to work in a firm whose interviewing and hiring partners judged you harshly for working at the ACLU?

2) Are you planning to actively shun 1L summer internships out of the same fear, even if they're the only respectable offers you can get?

Unless the answer to #1 and #2 is "yes", you should do this.

vamedic03 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

vamedic03 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I interned at the ACLU after my 1L year. During OCI, I did find that a couple interviewers (typically from known conservative leaning law firms) seemed really put off by the fact that I had the ACLU on my resume. One person, in particular, gave me a really hard time about it. That said, most interviewers were very positive and, in some cases, very impressed with the credential. In the long run, I would say that it would help more than it would hurt... unless you want to clerk for Scalia or something.

I think a basic rule of thumb is that if you like the work that the ACLU does then you will probably not be happy working somewhere that is hostile towards the ACLU.

FWIW, the ACLU in NYC shares a building with Sullivan & Cromwell.

I agree. But, I interviewed in 2009, so I took every interview spot that I could get... in hopes of finding A job. That said, I did not expect my GDC interviewer to be quite as crazy conservative as he was.

Though GDC, and especially GDC DC, is known to be quite conservative. If you were comfortable with the ACLU and liberal, then you probably wouldn't have been comfortable at GDC. If you lean liberal (and wanted to do appellate work), you'd probably be far happier at OMM DC or Jenner Block DC.

There is some chance that you will be MORE valuable to conservative firms with a liberal background--a sort of stealth ideological affirmative action. I worked for an ACLU affiliate my 1L summer and was a board member of a progressive organization going into OCI. My resume screamed liberal.

I had a fair amount of success in the DC market even without top 10% grades or LR, but what surprised me the most was how heavily I was recruited by GDC (emails from hotshot partners, cherrypicked young liberal associates at the callback lunch). All you have to do is prove you can get along with conservatives. My hypothesis: GDC wants smart people; a lot of smart law school students are liberal. In order to persuade smart liberals from future law school classes to interview with them, they need to have some token liberals on the payroll. You don't even have to be that smart. (J/k.)

I do think that having obviously liberal stuff on your resume is something of a liability during the clerkship search. But it's fine for OCI. Just own it, don't run away from it.