1L Summer Part time Forum

[Anonymous User]

How bad would a part time RA position for a clinical law professor look?

What about summer clinic instead of RA?

For biglaw.

[Anonymous User]

No one?

[bk1]

I don't know, but my bet is they won't be able to tell it's part time. It'll look the same on your resume whether FT or PT and it's not like they'll ask you whether you were FT or PT. But that's just my guess.

[Anonymous User]

I don't know, but my bet is they won't be able to tell it's part time. It'll look the same on your resume whether FT or PT and it's not like they'll ask you whether you were FT or PT. But that's just my guess.

Do 2L biglaw firms call up your references?

I wanted to use the professor I would RA under as a reference but what if they call him and he tells them it was part time...

And he's not a tenured faculty but an adjunct clinical faculty.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone?

[duckmoney]

I think general knowledge is that anything practical and legal is about as good as anything else. Doing a summer clinic would give you practical legal experience, so it would be just as good as any other type of legal work (Govt, PI, SA, Judge, etc.)

RAing is slightly less appealing because you don't actually get any legal experience. But you get to know a professor really well which is its own benefit. RAing is still way better than being unemployed or doing non-legal work.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone?

If they ask questions, your job could look pretty dicey (adjunct professor and part-time). If they don't ask questions, then no one will no the difference and there will be no effect. There might not even be any effect even if they do ask questions. However, my gut instinct is that if you are asking these questions and no one is really sure, then that is just the uncertainty you will have to go into OCI with concerning how prospective employers will view your 1L employment.

[Anonymous User]

How bad would a part time RA position for a clinical law professor look?

What about summer clinic instead of RA?

For biglaw.

I was an RA, have big law SA lined up. I worked what would be considered part-time, as did a lot of RAs I know. I doubt that there are a lot of RAs out there working 40 hour weeks.

I don't think RAing for a clinical prof would make much of a difference from a regular prof, though I have limited knowledge. I only know one person who did this and he has a big law SA.

Reference checking is pretty rare but depends on the firm and probably to some degree on the market. I only had 1 firm even request references and I don't know if they called them or not (NYC). Even if they did, I doubt the prof is going to emphasize the part-time part, or that the firm would even care if they did.

[dstr15]

How bad would a part time RA position for a clinical law professor look?

What about summer clinic instead of RA?

For biglaw.

I was an RA, have big law SA lined up. I worked what would be considered part-time, as did a lot of RAs I know. I doubt that there are a lot of RAs out there working 40 hour weeks.

I don't think RAing for a clinical prof would make much of a difference from a regular prof, though I have limited knowledge. I only know one person who did this and he has a big law SA.

Reference checking is pretty rare but depends on the firm and probably to some degree on the market. I only had 1 firm even request references and I don't know if they called them or not (NYC). Even if they did, I doubt the prof is going to emphasize the part-time part, or that the firm would even care if they did.

How did you like your position, and how did you describe what you did to interviewers (also do you remember what kind of questions they asked about it)?
Thank you.

[Anonymous User]

So if part time RA work, do most people do something else in addition to part time?

[Detrox]

So if part time RA work, do most people do something else in addition to part time?

Anecdotally: yes, as I and others I know who took part time RA positions all did this. If you are only working 20ish hours a week, you will probably want to take on something else, whether it be another RAship or a 40 hr/wk standard position if you can find one. Additionally you can talk to the professor and ask him for more work if he has it, but this will obviously depend on the prof.

[Anonymous User]

So if part time RA work, do most people do something else in addition to part time?

Anecdotally: yes, as I and others I know who took part time RA positions all did this. If you are only working 20ish hours a week, you will probably want to take on something else, whether it be another RAship or a 40 hr/wk standard position if you can find one. Additionally you can talk to the professor and ask him for more work if he has it, but this will obviously depend on the prof.

What did you do in addition to part time RA work?

[Detrox]

Another simultanious RA position.

[Anonymous User]

Another simultanious RA position.

Was that part time as well?

[Detrox]

Another simultanious RA position.

Was that part time as well?

Yes. Most professors I talked to who offered fulltime RA positions did so with the express intent that their RAs would not take on any additional work or RA positions.