1L Judicial Internship Question Forum

[polinerdemory]

I have two judicial internship interviews this week. I was wondering if one judge offers me a position on the spot (not to be presumptuous), is it extremely rude to ask for a few days to think about it? I'm waiting to see how my USAO interview went, and I may like one judge more than the other after the two interviews. Thanks for your help.

[gdane]

My Professors, my schools career office, and all of tls have told me the same thing,; if a judge offers you a position, do not turn it down or try and negotiate any terms. You the it.

Good luck

[polinerdemory]

I guess what's awkward is I have another judicial interview the next day. I guess if I happen to accept the first one, I instantly call and cancel my interview for the next day.

[Detrox]

For what it's worth, I do not believe most 1L judicial internship offers are of the intense pressure cooker type scenario. Unlike post-grad clerkships where the stories of exploding offers and the like are common, I don't believe this is nearly as likely for judicial internships.

Disclaimer: I did not actually get offered a judicial internship, but I interviewed for a few for 1L summer. Judicial internships for which I interviewed did not make decisions (allegedly) until over a week after my interview with the respective clerks.

[Richie Tenenbaum]

My Professors, my schools career office, and all of tls have told me the same thing,; if a judge offers you a position, do not turn it down or try and negotiate any terms. You the it.

Good luck

This rule is less strict for judicial internships. I don't think it would be poor form to ask the judge if you could wait until after youve done your next interview to make a decision. Person at our CSO admitted as much when I asked. Though some judges might be more intense than others about their judicial internship program.

[Guchster]

My Professors, my schools career office, and all of tls have told me the same thing,; if a judge offers you a position, do not turn it down or try and negotiate any terms. You the it.

Good luck

This rule is less strict for judicial internships. I don't think it would be poor form to ask the judge if you could wait until after youve done your next interview to make a decision. Person at our CSO admitted as much when I asked. Though some judges might be more intense than others about their judicial internship program.

Yeah I agree. Internships are less hardcore than real clerkships. But if the judge is super srs bsnaz about their program then an exploding offer might be very offensive to him/her.

Personally, I would take it on a case-by-case basis, and if the judge seemed neutral about it, I'd probs ask for some time to think about,

All in all, I wouldn't worry about it. I don't think this issue comes up so much for internships cuz exploding offers seem much rarer than real clerkship offers. Judges understand its just an internship and in the long run aren't extremely important.

[traydeuce]

I turned a flyover coa clerkship down, sky hasn't fallen on me yet.

[polinerdemory]

Well, I ended up only interviewing with the first judge because I took the internship. I'll never know what I'm missing, but I'm very excited nonetheless.

[Judge Philip Banks]

Well, I ended up only interviewing with the first judge because I took the internship. I'll never know what I'm missing, but I'm very excited nonetheless.

Congrats! As long as you are excited, you have a good shot at having a good experience this summer.

[jd-mba]

Well, I ended up only interviewing with the first judge because I took the internship. I'll never know what I'm missing, but I'm very excited nonetheless.

did you get an on-the-spot offer? i'm not sure what the statistics are, but at least for me, i got an offer after right after the interview with the judge. i don't think it's as uncommon as everyone says, but who knows. i happened to schedule my first choice ahead of all the other interviews so i accepted it on the spot, but they did give me time to think it over if i wanted to... didn't have to haha. good luck and congrats!

[Anonymous User]

If you click with the first judge during the interview, take the job if he/she offers it. A really good 1L judicial internship will give you some really substantive experience but this all depends on the judge. If they only peek their head into the interview, maybe they won't be as invested. If he/she sits down with you for a while and seems like a cool person, then they might invest in you and give you a great experience.

[ilovesf]

Well, I ended up only interviewing with the first judge because I took the internship. I'll never know what I'm missing, but I'm very excited nonetheless.

did you get an on-the-spot offer? i'm not sure what the statistics are, but at least for me, i got an offer after right after the interview with the judge. i don't think it's as uncommon as everyone says, but who knows. i happened to schedule my first choice ahead of all the other interviews so i accepted it on the spot, but they did give me time to think it over if i wanted to... didn't have to haha. good luck and congrats!

I got an on the spot offer. I have heard other people that have as well. My best advice is now going to be to schedule your favorite judge first. I wish someone would have told me that.

[Anonymous User]

For what it's worth, I do not believe most 1L judicial internship offers are of the intense pressure cooker type scenario.

Interviewed with Fed. Dist. from 1:00pm-2:30pm; phone call offer at 4:00pm; needed to know my response by 6:00pm

Interview scheduled 2 days later with important COA Judge.

Career services says "yes or blackball."

Shit happens.

[Anonymous User]

"yes or blackball"???? LOL, come on.

They just don't want the school to look bad. The second you say no, the judge won't even remember who you are.

[Anonymous User]

"yes or blackball"???? LOL, come on.

They just don't want the school to look bad. The second you say no, the judge won't even remember who you are.

I actually know someone who was not allowed to participate in OCI because of a phone call from a COA Judge. He secured a paying firm job at a V100 1L 2 weeks after accepting COA. 1L SA did not lead to a 2L SA or offer. Working at a DA this summer.

I doubt this happens to more than a handful of students in the country a year, but seriously, if you are gambling $100k in debt, don't fuck around.

[Detrox]

"yes or blackball"???? LOL, come on.

They just don't want the school to look bad. The second you say no, the judge won't even remember who you are.

I actually know someone who was not allowed to participate in OCI because of a phone call from a COA Judge. He secured a paying firm job at a V100 1L 2 weeks after accepting COA. 1L SA did not lead to a 2L SA or offer. Working at a DA this summer.

I doubt this happens to more than a handful of students in the country a year, but seriously, if you are gambling $100k in debt, don't fuck around.

Pretty large difference between renegging on a previously given acceptance to work for the judge and turning down an offer that requires an on the spot answer.

[Judge Philip Banks]

"yes or blackball"???? LOL, come on.

They just don't want the school to look bad. The second you say no, the judge won't even remember who you are.

I actually know someone who was not allowed to participate in OCI because of a phone call from a COA Judge. He secured a paying firm job at a V100 1L 2 weeks after accepting COA. 1L SA did not lead to a 2L SA or offer. Working at a DA this summer.

I doubt this happens to more than a handful of students in the country a year, but seriously, if you are gambling $100k in debt, don't fuck around.

Pretty large difference between renegging on a previously given acceptance to work for the judge and turning down an offer that requires an on the spot answer.

It is pretty fucked to renege on an acceptance to work for a COA judge. But it is even more fucked that the COA judge would see to it that the student couldn't participate in OCI. That is seriously messing with someone's life/future...

[Cupidity]

In the COA Judge's defense, imagine the qualified students who the Judge didn't hire because the dude reneged, and what inferior jobs they might have taken in that two weeks? Imagine finding out you would have worked for a COA Judge a few days after telling a state trial Judge you'd be his intern?

[Richie Tenenbaum]

In the COA Judge's defense, imagine the qualified students who the Judge didn't hire because the dude reneged, and what inferior jobs they might have taken in that two weeks? Imagine finding out you would have worked for a COA Judge a few days after telling a state trial Judge you'd be his intern?

Not trying to defend someone reneging on a judge (even if it was just a internship), but your comparison to most likely burning someone's bridge to biglaw is that someone may have had to take a slightly less prestigious 1L summer job? Really?

That said, reneging on a judge sounds like an awfully stupid idea.

[justonemoregame]

Thread necro.

Couple questions -- how useful are CSOs w/r/t providing information about which judges hire 1L interns? Can you quickly compile a list from information they give you, or is there quite a bit of your own legwork involved? Do people just flood a particular state's court system via mail merge?

Also, I've noticed that certain state courts require interns to attend law school in their state. Is this common?