Is 1L summer employment that important? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am done with first year and was unable to find employment, mainly because no car and live in a place with limited opportunities for close by legal work. Also, the Career services was not much of a help. Sad thing is I have some of the highest grades in the 1L class. I spent most of my time studying instead of job searchingainly due to transportation issues, plus I plan on transferring to a city where I do not need a car, as I moved to my current location from downtown major west coast city. I am scared this will seriously effect me. I looked only for nonpaid positions as I knew I would not find paid employment. Am I doomed? Even with excellent grades?

[Anonymous User]

I am done with first year and was unable to find employment, mainly because no car and live in a place with limited opportunities for close by legal work. Also, the Career services was not much of a help. Sad thing is I have some of the highest grades in the 1L class. I spent most of my time studying instead of job searchingainly due to transportation issues, plus I plan on transferring to a city where I do not need a car, as I moved to my current location from downtown major west coast city. I am scared this will seriously effect me. I looked only for nonpaid positions as I knew I would not find paid employment. Am I doomed? Even with excellent grades?

This strikes me as a silly reason to limit your job search. Is public transportation out of the question?

Also, it seems the conventional wisdom is that you will be fine with anything legal for your 1L summer, but you really NEED to do something.

[de5igual]

were there no professors hiring 1Ls as research assistants?

[Anonymous User]

were there no professors hiring 1Ls as research assistants?

One that I knew of, but she knew I was transferring. Also I use public transport, however most of the posted jobs are across the border of the state and no public transit. Public transit here is not too good, as it took me an hour and a half each day to go one way to college. And I don't live that far away from campus.

[Anonymous User]

Also, I'm out of the US until early June, which was one reason career services did not seem too interested in assisting me. Will it be too late for anything? I have considered going to a major city where I might be transferring and try to volunteer there. But that might be in July.

[lovelaw27]

I am done with first year and was unable to find employment, mainly because no car and live in a place with limited opportunities for close by legal work. Also, the Career services was not much of a help. Sad thing is I have some of the highest grades in the 1L class. I spent most of my time studying instead of job searchingainly due to transportation issues, plus I plan on transferring to a city where I do not need a car, as I moved to my current location from downtown major west coast city. I am scared this will seriously effect me. I looked only for nonpaid positions as I knew I would not find paid employment. Am I doomed? Even with excellent grades?

Contact all of your professor's that you got good grades in their classes and ask if there is anything you can do anything for them at all. If you research even one issue for one of these Professors you can put research assistant on your resume.

[in my eyes]

Affect not effect.

Also. It will certainly affect 2L summer prospects and employment following law school. Do anything law related rather than nothing. Research for a professor if no other positions are available. Doing nothing is career suicide.

[LurkerNoMore]

The worst thing about your situation is the story behind it. Whatever you do, do not explain why you didn't have a 1L position to any potential employer in any way remotely similar to how you did here. It casts some serious doubt on your problem solving skills.

There was no reason your 1L job search should have been limited to places you could reach by public transit. You should have been hitting up every metropolitan area in the country. Not being able to balance studying and sending out resumes is also a really poor excuse and will make interviewers wonder how you will be able to multitask in your job. Assuming you could only get non-paid work was also a tactical error.

Try to get something for July. Try to get a less excuse laden story together. If your reason for going out of the country was legit (i.e. not a pleasure trip), you might be able to discuss that, but it will go over better if you find something to do for July (including helping a prof with a research task, or volunteering for your school's clinic, etc.).

Good luck. Don't dwell too much on the problem. Pick yourself up, learn from the mistakes and work on how you can really take control of your job search this summer. (Start researching employers now and reaching out to alumni of your current school and attorneys from your UG -- now.)

[Anonymous User]

Thank you, I will try those things. I go to a T4 now and was focusing on grades to transfer. Also, i knew I could not afford to move out of state this summer unless I got a paid position and everything I read says thats hard for even T1 students. I would have loved that though as I am sick of my current locale.

As for applying, simplicity is all the career services hinted at and there is maybe one or two local jobs there posted monthly. Should I just blindly send out resumes? My work experience is non existent. Anyway, I will do what I have to as this worries me and upsets me.

[Anonymous User]

Actually I lied. They did not even hint atsymplicity. I found that on my own. Hell, I don't even think they cared, it was like "look for ways to volunteer in x country" and "are you going to the auction tonight?" and "come again if volunteering doesnt work for you.". What a waste.

[LurkerNoMore]

Thank you, I will try those things. I go to a T4 now and was focusing on grades to transfer. Also, i knew I could not afford to move out of state this summer unless I got a paid position and everything I read says thats hard for even T1 students. I would have loved that though as I am sick of my current locale.

As for applying, simplicity is all the career services hinted at and there is maybe one or two local jobs there posted monthly. Should I just blindly send out resumes? My work experience is non existent. Anyway, I will do what I have to as this worries me and upsets me.

Oh boy. Ok this is going to be harsh, but I mean it for your own good and not to just take you down a peg.

You need to educate yourself and educate yourself fast. Your posts make you sound very young and inexperienced, to the degree that I think that it will impair your interviewing ability.

"Hearing" that you wouldn't get paying job and thus not even trying was a terrible decision. You should have been hitting up every alum from your school (and UG) trying to set something up. If you couldn't manage it during the school year, winter break should have been dedicated to this.

Saying you couldn't afford to move out was also a cop out. Loans aren't fun, but you should have looked into getting summer funding (some schools even have grants). Getting a second job waiting tables or some other non-legal job should have been on the table as well.

Relying on your career services was a non-starter. You should have been out networking from the start. Your job is your responsibility. It isn't going to fall in your lap or be handed to you by your school, you have to go out and find it.

I say all of this because I still read excuses in your post. You need to get over that and really internalize the message that the reason you don't have a job right now is because you screwed up. Once you really get that point, you will see that you have a lot more control over this process than you have given yourself credit for.

Starting today:
Get on your school's alumni network and figure out who works somewhere that might take an intern this summer. Figure out who works somewhere you might want to work next summer. Contact each of these groups. Try to get some sort of legal work for the summer. Then try to set up informational interviews with the second group. Don't mention that you are going to be transferring. Find out what they did to get their jobs. Find out what steps they would recommend you take. See if you can get the name of anyone else they think you should talk to. You are going to get a lot of non-repsonse out of this process. Don't take it personally.

Do the same thing with your UG alumni network. Find the attorneys. Reach out to ones that might have information that is valuable to you. This group you can talk to about transferring. Start laying ground work for your 2L job search later this summer.

Contact professors at your school about RA positions. Contact your school's clinics about whether you can work for them over the summer. If you have a particular area of interest, contact professors at other schools that are in that field and see if they need RAs.

Figure out the markets you want to work in. Start a database/spreadsheet of every employer in that area. Start working on targeted cover letters. If you run across an alum from any of them, make note of it and make sure your cover letter mentions their name if they suggest you apply. If they don't make that overture, at least try to incorporate some information about the firm that you learned from your discussion into that letter.

Join the local bar association where you are at school and go to events. Talk with actual lawyers. Ask intelligent questions about their practice. Likewise, see if you can join the Inn of Court in your area.

Good luck!!!

[zanda]

Great grades and just NOW asking how important it is to get 1L summer employment? I hope this is a flame, because you sound woefully in over your head and there's a good chance you're already too screwed.

[Anonymous User]

Not a flame, but posting from bocas del toro and want to say more. Great advice so far. I did volunteer here and will be looking for legal work once i get back. Plus how did you all find jobs with just midterm grades?

[thesealocust]

Plus how did you all find jobs with just midterm grades?

Sent applications?

[Fark-o-vision]

Plus how did you all find jobs with just midterm grades?

Sent applications?

I can see the question. For a lot of us who haven't ever had a job, it seems a monstrous task to put a resume together. Not because the form is altogether difficult, but because we don't have anything to put on it.

[rocon7383]

Jobless top 1%?

...flame?

[sundance95]

Bocas del toro?

[Anonymous User]

Well, my grades fell to a dismal 20ish percent from near top of the class. It's not nearly what I hoped for, but it's ok. Right? It's ok isn't it? I mean, I'm not doomed am I?

As for the job search, I found an internship today for a couple of weeks. I also may have another one by the end of summer with a judge, if things work out. I volunteered in Costa Rica too. Is that good enough? I am trying to land up a summer internship for next year and might have a winter internship going on as well. Did I succeed?

[EliHBCU]

IF you can't get a job you should have taken classes to free up your schedule later on in your career for internships. You will be fine, but you can't wait until May-ish to figure out what you're doing for the summer. That's about 2-8 months to late (depending on what you're trying to do).