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1L at MVP. Waiting to hear from a firm, but aside from that these are my two best options. Pros and Cons of each:

In-House Pros: paid, in an area of law that interests me greatly (not just transactional, lots of regulatory work and litigation), great company, secondary market that I happen to like

In-House Cons: Not in a market where I have significant ties, not many large firms in said market

Judicial Internship Pros: in a fairly large secondary market where I have significant ties, federal judge, takes a lot of interesting cases, well known in the community

Judicial Internship Cons: unpaid, not completely sure I want to end up in the market anyway, I might like the in-house position better

My only concern with the in-house position is that I would not be strengthening ties in the markets where I already possess them and that this could hinder me when it comes time to search for a 2L job. On the other hand, I really like the company and it is a fairly well-known one at that.

Thoughts?

Edit: I realize it doesn't matter what I do during my 1L summer. My main concern is with the issue of ties and not wanting to burn any bridges for the 2L job search.

im pretty sure its not appropriate to turn down an offer from a judge

WAT LEVEL OF FED? AND HOW MUCH PAY?

if CoA in 2/7/9/DC take the judge regardless of pay
if other CoA or fed dist, take judge if less than $25/hr
if magistrate or bankruptcy take the in-house

OP here. District Judge in a non-2/7/9/DC district. Pay is somewhere between 1k and 2k a week. It's a large company with a large in-house department.

Reliable sources say it is appropriate in certain situations. I was also given time to consider my options by the judge.

Anonymous User wrote:OP here. District Judge in a non-2/7/9/DC district. Pay is somewhere between 1k and 2k a week. It's a large company with a large in-house department.

Reliable sources say it is appropriate in certain situations. I was also given time to consider my options by the judge.

tough choice man. perhaps see if judge and company would let you split...my judge i interned for brought this idea up himself "hey son, if u get some large firm to pay you $1000/week, let me know and we can always split the summer" but i did not find a paid job so that was moot.

i dont think one or other will impact ur 2L employment significantly 1 way or another. i interned with a CoA judge 1L year not in DC and my 2L firm is in DC. so different market didnt seem to affect it.

u plan on clerking after law school? reason i ask is cause its honestly kinda cool to work inside of chambers, courtroom, etc - and this might be like ur only chance unless u plan on clerking....guess Q is if u think the experience is worth $1-2K/week.

Is the in-house regulatory work in a field that you could see yourself in down the road? If so, take the in-house job in a heartbeat.

I'm a 2L at MVP - I came into law school planning to focus on a particular regulated industry (i.e. health insurance, energy, telecomms, pharma, etc.) I then went in-house 1L in that industry, but in a location where I had no prior ties.

Aside from paying $, going in-house in a regulated field paid HUGE dividends at OCI. I was focusing mainly on DC firms with my regulatory practice, and being able to show that I had substantive industry knowledge and understood issues that their clients were facing let me significantly outpunch my unspectacular GPA. Having worked in a random summer location mattered a lot less than the relevance of the work I was doing there - which was largely focused on federal regulatory issues. No way you could get that kind of targeted experience working for a judge.

OTOH, if you have no particular interest in the industry you've got an in-house offer at, it could be more of a toss-up.