Texas Bankruptcy District Court Interview Forum

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone in Texas ever done a summer internship with Judge Bohm in Houston? Good experience? Interview advice?

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone in Texas ever done a summer internship with Judge Bohm in Houston? Good experience? Interview advice?

Unrelated question, but when did you apply?

[LawIdiot86]

Has anyone in Texas ever done a summer internship with Judge Bohm in Houston? Good experience? Interview advice?

Have you looked at your school's hearsay book?

[ggocat]

I did not intern for him, but I know he hires dozens (literally dozens) of interns each summer. He seems like a cool guy and like he would be a good mentor, but I can't imagine how he has time to work with that many interns. They do quite a bit of courtroom observation, from what I remember.

I am surprised there is an interview. So long as you don't throw feces around, I imagine you get the internship.

[LawIdiot86]

I did not intern for him, but I know he hires dozens (literally dozens) of interns each summer. He seems like a cool guy and like he would be a good mentor, but I can't imagine how he has time to work with that many interns. They do quite a bit of courtroom observation, from what I remember.

I am surprised there is an interview. So long as you don't throw feces around, I imagine you get the internship.

If that is the case, I would recommend against it. My 1L judge hired 12 interns, all from T1/T14 law schools and we did very little substantive work because there were so many of us. The judge next door hired 20-30 from the local TTT and TTTT and they did nothing besides watch cases. Also, if you are looking to work in Texas, I would assume most local lawyers know of this and view an internship from this judge as being a lesser indicator of success then a judge who hires only 2-3 interns.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone in Texas ever done a summer internship with Judge Bohm in Houston? Good experience? Interview advice?

Unrelated question, but when did you apply?

OP here - Applied at the beginning of this week and heard back two days later.

[Anonymous User]

I did not intern for him, but I know he hires dozens (literally dozens) of interns each summer. He seems like a cool guy and like he would be a good mentor, but I can't imagine how he has time to work with that many interns. They do quite a bit of courtroom observation, from what I remember.

I am surprised there is an interview. So long as you don't throw feces around, I imagine you get the internship.

OP here again - I talked to one of his past interns and he said he did more substantive writing and researching than he did during his 2L summer associate term at a big law firm in Houston. He also said that Judge Bohm gets to know all of his interns really well and spends an unusual amount of time with them. And, if you google Judge Bohm with some of the bigger firms in Houston, you will find many associates with him listed under their experience -- the experience obviously was helpful for them.

[ggocat]

I did not intern for him, but I know he hires dozens (literally dozens) of interns each summer. He seems like a cool guy and like he would be a good mentor, but I can't imagine how he has time to work with that many interns. They do quite a bit of courtroom observation, from what I remember.

I am surprised there is an interview. So long as you don't throw feces around, I imagine you get the internship.

OP here again - I talked to one of his past interns and he said he did more substantive writing and researching than he did during his 2L summer associate term at a big law firm in Houston. He also said that Judge Bohm gets to know all of his interns really well and spends an unusual amount of time with them. And, if you google Judge Bohm with some of the bigger firms in Houston, you will find many associates with him listed under their experience -- the experience obviously was helpful for them.

That sounds like good news, especially the (1) writing and researching, and (2) spending time with interns. (Though I wouldn't necessarily draw the same conclusion you did about the experience being "helpful" due to number of former interns who ended up in biglaw.) I would have expected less researching and writing because I remember seeing his interns in court observing trials frequently.

And by the throwing-feces comment, I wasn't suggesting it's not a good opportunity or an honor to be an intern in his chambers. I've met the man, and like I said, he seems like a cool guy and a good mentor. But I do know several judges who do not interview interns (i.e., hire based on the resume/references alone), and if a judge takes dozens of interns, it probably means he/she hires any reasonably competitive applicant that does not completely blow the interview. That's how I operate. I hire interns, as well, but I only interview applicants who I would be happy to hire if they don't blow the interview. I just cannot imagine having more than 1 or 2 interns because it's a lot of work to oversee.

So if you got an interview with J. Bohm, I suspect the position is "yours to lose"; don't worry too much about it, accept the position, and enjoy the summer! I'm sure it will be enjoyable and rewarding, as most judicial internships are.