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I'm a 1L who mass mailed roughly 20-25 judges seeking summer employment for the summer of 2012. One of the judges I emailed was a Court of Appeals Judge, and that judge has seemingly offered me an internship, but not during the summer, rather, the judge has given me an option: to start in late November or early September. Considering these times have already passed, I am confused as to when the start date is, but that is not the real source of my question.

I am not at a T-14, but I have an interest in biglaw, if I can get the grades to land a biglaw job. Will a judicial internship during the academic year with a CoA judge be a worthwhile resume boost to help me land biglaw from a lower-ranked school?
I know the standard fare, that grades are the most important, and I am certainly working hard in that respect.
What I am curious about is if I end up interning with the judge during the school year, will it be worth the inevitable trade-off of time working v. time studying?
I have been treating law school as my career, going in to school at 8am and leaving at 5:30 or 6:00pm, and this has been working well for me in terms of my overall level of preparedness for exams. If I were to take such an internship, I am concerned that it would compromise this level of preparedness.

Thanks!

Anonymous User wrote:I'm a 1L who mass mailed roughly 20-25 judges seeking summer employment for the summer of 2012. One of the judges I emailed was a Court of Appeals Judge, and that judge has seemingly offered me an internship, but not during the summer, rather, the judge has given me an option: to start in late November or early September. Considering these times have already passed, I am confused as to when the start date is, but that is not the real source of my question.

But this is important to know. If it's fall of your 2L year, it won't have much effect on your chance at getting biglaw, because your grades for OCI will only be from 1L. To answer the rest of your question we need to know whether the internship is now or next year.

I am not at a T-14, but I have an interest in biglaw, if I can get the grades to land a biglaw job. Will a judicial internship during the academic year with a CoA judge be a worthwhile resume boost to help me land biglaw from a lower-ranked school?

No, not really. School and grades are really all that matter for getting your foot in the door of a biglaw interview. Maybe if you had something truly spectacular and unique--olympic gold medalist, white house staffer, etc.--you could overcome bad school or bad grades. COA internship is not that.

I know the standard fare, that grades are the most important, and I am certainly working hard in that respect.
What I am curious about is if I end up interning with the judge during the school year, will it be worth the inevitable trade-off of time working v. time studying?

Again, see above. If it's Fall of 2012, the grades that matter for OCI will already have happened, and there will be no trade-off with respect to OCI. This might help you with a clerkship IF the judge hires from your school and does not have a policy of not hiring former interns as clerks. Something to check on if you're interested in that possibility.

I interned for a couple of judges during LS and am clerking now, so would be happy to answer any specific questions you might have. But without the basic knowledge about this position it's hard to answer your questions.

(OP Replying)

Thanks for your reply.
After giving it some more thought and consideration, I am going to decline the offer.
All I have regarding the internship is the information I gave above, and I'm not ready to trade time studying and outlining for an internship unless its one with a biglaw firm that guarantees me employment when I'm done with law school.

Anonymous User wrote:(OP Replying)

Thanks for your reply.
After giving it some more thought and consideration, I am going to decline the offer.
All I have regarding the internship is the information I gave above, and I'm not ready to trade time studying and outlining for an internship unless its one with a biglaw firm that guarantees me employment when I'm done with law school.

If not for the resume, externships are good for practical experience and I'm pretty sure you get course credit for the externship, which means fewer courses you have to take that semester.

The internship will happen after you finish 2L OCI, so there's no conceivable way it has any bearing on anything, so you should regard it purely as a question of whether it's a worthwhile experience. That's a personal decision - you may have something else you feel would be more valuable, or you may just want more free time, but I will say that my COA internship was considerably more valuable than any class I've taken in law school in terms of giving you a chance to practice the skills you will actually need as a lawyer. I don't think it made a big deal for jobs, but it was one of the most worthwhile things I did in school.

Also, your school may give you credit for it.

I got pretty much the exact same e-mail from a CoA judge.. so if you happen to be talking about a judge on the first circuit then re-read the e-mail because it is full time.. if not.. ignore this and only do it if you can get school credit for it

Appreciate that tip, but I originally applied to this judge for a summer 2012 position, and was instead offered an internship during the school year.

Anonymous User wrote:Appreciate that tip, but I originally applied to this judge for a summer 2012 position, and was instead offered an internship during the school year.

I think GTLR realized that and I think he meant to imply that you should at least try and see if it is a possibility. You were picked for something, after all.

Ahh, fair enough.
I wasn't trying to be a jerk, just honest...
I already replied and said that I appreciated the offer, but I was interested in a position for the summer of 2012 only.

imchuckbass58 wrote:The internship will happen after you finish 2L OCI, so there's no conceivable way it has any bearing on anything, so you should regard it purely as a question of whether it's a worthwhile experience. That's a personal decision - you may have something else you feel would be more valuable, or you may just want more free time, but I will say that my COA internship was considerably more valuable than any class I've taken in law school in terms of giving you a chance to practice the skills you will actually need as a lawyer. I don't think it made a big deal for jobs, but it was one of the most worthwhile things I did in school.

Also, your school may give you credit for it.

This. If you have any interest in litigation, it's terrific experience in (a) writing, (b) research, (c) reading a record, (d) learning how to pick up legal issues you know nothing about on the fly, (e) getting some insight into how judges make decisions, and a whole lot else.