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After you already have an SA, if you don't want to clerk, is doing an in-semester externship worth it? I hear they are often more work than a class of equivalent units.

Anonymous User wrote:After you already have an SA, if you don't want to clerk, is doing an in-semester externship worth it? I hear they are often more work than a class of equivalent units.

I've actually heard the opposite in terms of workload. To each his own. I think with a SA in hand, the only reason I would do one is for the pass/fail aspect of them so as to not mess up the GPA.

Absolutely worth it in most cases. Yes, it will probably be more work that it's worth in credit hours. But, it will be the only time in all of your law schooling that anyone teaches you anything about how to be a lawyer. And, just as with anything else, you are going to need to do things a certain number of times before you are competent at them. Plus, more practice will always make you better. You're better off getting some of this learning curve out of the way before you start your real job, and externships can be a good way to do this.

Also a good networking opportunity.

erico wrote:Also a good networking opportunity.

Also true.

they can actually be fun and interesting, and when finals come you have 1 less final for the same number of total semester credits.

Renzo wrote: it will be the only time in all of your law schooling that anyone teaches you anything about how to be a lawyer.

Agreed - this is what your entire third year should be imo. My school has a dumb policy that caps the number of external credit hours you can have at a very low number (maybe this is standard, idk). Since I already maxed out I can't do another externship this spring (or at least have it count towards graduation). So instead of actually learning things and meeting people that will be useful to my career I get to sit in a boring class taught by a boring academic about the "doctrinal" areas of a subject that no one cares about/uses/are now mostly irrelevant (entirely irrelevant in my desired field).


/bitter rant.

pleasetryagain wrote:

Renzo wrote: it will be the only time in all of your law schooling that anyone teaches you anything about how to be a lawyer.

Agreed - this is what your entire third year should be imo. My school has a dumb policy that caps the number of external credit hours you can have at a very low number (maybe this is standard, idk). Since I already maxed out I can't do another externship this spring (or at least have it count towards graduation). So instead of actually learning things and meeting people that will be useful to my career I get to sit in a boring class taught by a boring academic about the "doctrinal" areas of a subject that no one cares about/uses/are now mostly irrelevant (entirely irrelevant in my desired field).


/bitter rant.

My law school does the same thing (maybe even the same school). My method has been to do internships without credit. Some agencies require you to earn credit, but many if not most are more than happy to have you work 8-16 hours a week without pay and without credit. My school will even count it towards pro bono credit even if you can't get academic credit.

It also depends on what you want to do. In EDNY and SDNY, if you want to come in as an AUSA from biglaw at a relatively junior level (3-4 years out of school) it's a virtual prerequisite that you have a demonstrated interest in prosecution. The way most people do this is through externships/internships.

OP here. I guess I'll try to do a couple. Thought some people would argue downsides, but I guess not .

Anonymous User wrote:OP here. I guess I'll try to do a couple. Thought some people would argue downsides, but I guess not .

"More work than normal classes" seems like a pretty big glaring downside to me. At my school it's an auto-A but if yours is just P/F I would skip it.

IAFG wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:OP here. I guess I'll try to do a couple. Thought some people would argue downsides, but I guess not .

"More work than normal classes" seems like a pretty big glaring downside to me. At my school it's an auto-A but if yours is just P/F I would skip it.

It is P/F. You're only required like 10-15 hours a week but most people say they end up doing 20-30 hours. I do like playing xbox360 but I don't want people at my firm to think I suck because all I did was take classes...

Anonymous User wrote:

IAFG wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:OP here. I guess I'll try to do a couple. Thought some people would argue downsides, but I guess not .

"More work than normal classes" seems like a pretty big glaring downside to me. At my school it's an auto-A but if yours is just P/F I would skip it.

It is P/F. You're only required like 10-15 hours a week but most people say they end up doing 20-30 hours. I do like playing xbox360 but I don't want people at my firm to think I suck because all I did was take classes...

I've done three internships so far in law school and never had one run over the stated hours commitment. I had a friend who did three at considerably more prestigious agencies and she was working many weekends/evenings. It really depends.

I've done 3 externships, the last of which was volunteer because I found the previous 2 so god damn useful. You will come to realize how absolutely useless your classes are once you do them. I couldn't recommend them more. I am admittedly biased, though, because I love that kind of work and ultimately would love to be a staff attorney.

Also, I got a LOR from one of my judges that my current employer said was the reason they hired me. Obviously not that important in your case, but a LOR from a judge is a very good thing to have, in my opinion.