Help! Magistrate Judge vs. District Judge for 1L summer Forum

[Anonymous User]

I accepted an offer from a magistrate judge earlier. He told me he doesn't mind me splitting my summer with another judge. Then later I got another offer from a district judge in the same district. Is there a big difference between the experience in these two courts? Both judges seem to want to let interns have meaningful summer experience, but I wasn't sure if I would miss out on more interesting cases if I only work for the MJ. He told me that I will mostly be working on social security, mortgage, and maybe misdemeanor cases. If there isn't much difference, I'm probably just not going to go through the trouble of splitting the summer (plus I thought it might be a little awkward splitting the summer between two judges in the same building).

I'm also planning on doing some networking with the local firms in the summer as I plan to return there after graduation (no previous ties), is it possible that I would have more luck having a district judge internship on my resume? I know my questions might seem stupid but I really have no idea about how courts work so any suggestion is appreciated.

[Cupidity]

Assuming both give substantive work, a district judge has more interesting work. Splitting is probably a good idea, if only to broaden your network.

In terms of OCI, one over the other won't make a huge difference, either are sufficiently valuable that your grades will determine.

[Anonymous User]

Depends on the district and how they treat/use MJs. I worked for an MJ in a district where they are essentially treated equally and had a great experience - many interns with DJs in the same courthouse told me they wished they'd had my job.

If both judges are OK with it, why not split? I know my MJ would have been fine with it. The DJ might pose a problem, but it's worth asking.

[traehekat]

I interned for a federal magistrate judge my 1L summer and I worked on a lot of interesting stuff, absolutely loved the experience. I think I would have enjoyed it less had I split with another judge, or probably any other employer. It's just nice to have the time to build relationships and I think you might actually get more substantive cases to work on if the judge knows you are going to be there longer (I worked on one project - with 3 or 4 others sprinkled in - throughout almost the entire summer).