What is a better 1L summer gig? Forum

[kwais]

It looks like I may end up choosing between whatever public interest job I'm able to snag through the fairs at my school or through mass mailing OR a really fun sounding business internship in Asia that pays well and has a relatively high degree of responsibility. The downside of option two is that it will probably involve minimal legal training.

So, is it ok to take a summer job where you may write no memos, do no lexis digging and get no motion practice? Or will this be frowned upon at OCI?

[NYC Law]

As interesting as the second option sounds, I think it will be generally frowned upon if you aren't getting actual legal experience. The time for all the interesting internships was undergrad.

But see what you can get and how long you can push acceptance time frame for the Asia offer. If nothing else comes up may as well.

[kwais]

As interesting as the second option sounds, I think it will be generally frowned upon if you aren't getting actual legal experience. The time for all the interesting internships was undergrad.

But see what you can get and how long you can push acceptance time frame for the Asia offer. If nothing else comes up may as well.

Thanks. That's what I figured. I might see if they'll let me do a split so that I can get a little lawyering in as well.

[kwais]

bump for any other thoughts. Thanks

[Anonymous User]

I think the legal job purely because its in the legal field. That being said, if you don't want to do public interest after law school then try the Asia thing. You don't want to do too much in building your resume the wrong way (i.e. public interest if you want corporate work, etc.).

As far as the motion practice you can expect as a 1L...it's pretty hit or miss depending on the firm or agency. I worked at a firm my 2L and wrote maybe 3 motions...other than that I was researching my ass off all summer and writing memos. While obviously better to get the memo writing experience than no legal experience, I don't think it's something that can't be overcome with good writing samples, etc. during OCI. No legal work experience during your 1L summer can be overcome during 2L OCI. I had none and know others that didn't either. We all got jobs...

[itbdvorm]

It looks like I may end up choosing between whatever public interest job I'm able to snag through the fairs at my school or through mass mailing OR a really fun sounding business internship in Asia that pays well and has a relatively high degree of responsibility. The downside of option two is that it will probably involve minimal legal training.

So, is it ok to take a summer job where you may write no memos, do no lexis digging and get no motion practice? Or will this be frowned upon at OCI?

do you want to work in corporate or in asia? really, anything other than (a) definitely litigation or (b) definitely public interest, i'd say go option 2. who cares, really, about the "legal training" in the summer. practical business experience will be valued.

signed, an actual attorney

[kwais]

thank you everyone. lots to think about. interested to see what CSO says when I get back to school

[blsingindisguise]

Business gig unless you really want to do lit and/or public interest. No one actually gets significant "legal training" in a summer internship to the point that it matters to employers - it's more about showing interest, and if you're interested in any kind of corporate/business-related law you can clearly explain how the internship relates.

[Anonymous User]

If you're interviewing with me (and I do interview), I'm assuming that 100% of everything you have to say about your job in Asia is total bullshit. If you try to highlight it in any way in your application packet, you would hurt your chances of getting an interview in the first place.

If you've worked some unpaid legal internship, it shows that you're at least playing the game, and maybe you learned some tidbit of useful information (I know that nobody gets that much out of their summer jobs, but maybe they at least beat into you how to properly use em-dashes or something). If you flee the country for some non-law job on the other side of the globe, it combines the worst elements of taking a non-law job here and doing study abroad: you're clearly too inept to talk your way into any sort of crummy unpaid legal job just like every other poor bastard I'm interviewing today, so you decided to take a trip to Asia and fuck off for a couple of months. Not what I'm looking for.

[Grizz]

If you're interviewing with me (and I do interview), I'm assuming that 100% of everything you have to say about your job in Asia is total bullshit. If you try to highlight it in any way in your application packet, you would hurt your chances of getting an interview in the first place.

If you've worked some unpaid legal internship, it shows that you're at least playing the game, and maybe you learned some tidbit of useful information (I know that nobody gets that much out of their summer jobs, but maybe they at least beat into you how to properly use em-dashes or something). If you flee the country for some non-law job on the other side of the globe, it combines the worst elements of taking a non-law job here and doing study abroad: you're clearly too inept to talk your way into any sort of crummy unpaid legal job just like every other poor bastard I'm interviewing today, so you decided to take a trip to Asia and fuck off for a couple of months. Not what I'm looking for.

Funny and credited.

[Guchster]

thank you everyone. lots to think about. interested to see what CSO says when I get back to school

update us what OCS says. i'm curious to see what they say.

I personally think travelling to asia for a summer and monies is pretty bad ass, but I've never been to asia because i have no class or taste. more neurotic people (MY FAVORITES!) are going to tell you that this could make or break your chances during EIP--I think that's an exaggeration--and that the smart thing would be to take the shitty legal job to be treated shitty, write boring memos. and do crummy, worthless legal research that will be more or less on par with the shit that 99% of people who are interviewed by the above anon. poster (who brought the LOLZ along with generosity by granting his/her presence amongst us peons) did for the summer. then again, everyone tells us to do something legal this summer, if we can.

I doubt you couldn't catch up on what you missed in terms of substantive legal skills/writing within 2 weeks of 2L summer--and I think logical employers would recognize that and not hold it against you. I think this is actually the last time you could do some abroad stuff before big law eats us up. some are going to say it makes you look flaky, and puts you behind the rest of people who will be interviewed along with you. people at our ls are insanely boring and are all going to do the same thing this summer, and I actually think something like this would be convo fodder for EIP. I guess if you're afraid of losing even a few points from some employers during EIP, the legal thing is the right road.

Then again, I'm also insanely stupid, and I realize I did not contribute anything a salted snail couldn't offer.

[nymario]

thank you everyone. lots to think about. interested to see what CSO says when I get back to school

Yeah, do the opposite of whatever they say. It'll probably be the best for your career and worst for the school.

[Borhas]

drop out and do "business" in Asia?

[kwais]

If you're interviewing with me (and I do interview), I'm assuming that 100% of everything you have to say about your job in Asia is total bullshit. If you try to highlight it in any way in your application packet, you would hurt your chances of getting an interview in the first place.

If you've worked some unpaid legal internship, it shows that you're at least playing the game, and maybe you learned some tidbit of useful information (I know that nobody gets that much out of their summer jobs, but maybe they at least beat into you how to properly use em-dashes or something). If you flee the country for some non-law job on the other side of the globe, it combines the worst elements of taking a non-law job here and doing study abroad: you're clearly too inept to talk your way into any sort of crummy unpaid legal job just like every other poor bastard I'm interviewing today, so you decided to take a trip to Asia and fuck off for a couple of months. Not what I'm looking for.

this shit is over the top. It may not ultimately be the smart choice but you sound like a tool (and Grizz clearly loves tools)

[Grizz]

This isn't rocket science duder. Every 2L has said over and over again, for LOLCI it doesn't really matter what you do, as long as it's legal. So take the legal job.

[LawIdiot86]

Agree that you should take the legal job. I had a friend at a T14 who did a split summer with two law firms in the middle east and southeast asia as a 1L. OCI came around and he tried to sell his experience. Got almost no callbacks. It isn't a silver bullet and a non-profit here might at least give you time to network after hours with other lawyers in the city.

[itbdvorm]

Agree that you should take the legal job. I had a friend at a T14 who did a split summer with two law firms in the middle east and southeast asia as a 1L. OCI came around and he tried to sell his experience. Got almost no callbacks. It isn't a silver bullet and a non-profit here might at least give you time to network after hours with other lawyers in the city.

the advice in this thread is not good.

as a frequent OCI interviewer, I will tell you that a 1L summer job really isn't going to wow me much either way. if you're doing some ridiculous public interest job, if anything, it makes me think that you're just in it to save baby harp seals and don't really have much interest in doing bigfirm work long-term. if you're doing a business internship, at least you can talk to me about the company, what you did, etc.

of course, that being said, all that's really going to matter is your grades and how you come across. if you're a weenie with bad grades neither job will be good enough. if you're cool and have good grades, either job will be fine.

[Guchster]

Agree that you should take the legal job. I had a friend at a T14 who did a split summer with two law firms in the middle east and southeast asia as a 1L. OCI came around and he tried to sell his experience. Got almost no callbacks. It isn't a silver bullet and a non-profit here might at least give you time to network after hours with other lawyers in the city.

the advice in this thread is not good.

as a frequent OCI interviewer, I will tell you that a 1L summer job really isn't going to wow me much either way. if you're doing some ridiculous public interest job, if anything, it makes me think that you're just in it to save baby harp seals and don't really have much interest in doing bigfirm work long-term. if you're doing a business internship, at least you can talk to me about the company, what you did, etc.

of course, that being said, all that's really going to matter is your grades and how you come across. if you're a weenie with bad grades neither job will be good enough. if you're cool and have good grades, either job will be fine.

you necro'd this thread to say this?