Top Law Schools

I'm a 1L and I've been offered a state AG's office position. I'm waiting on a few other federal internships, but I've got an acceptance deadline here.

Anyone ever work for a state AG? Is it worthwhile? Good or bad experience? Should I hold out for federal? I'm not quite set on what kind of law I want to practice, but I'm not sure that the 1L summer matters for that, as long as I get a legit legal job.

Will you be working in a specific department/office within your state AG? What federal positions are you waiting for?

They have yet to discuss section assignments. Other federal positions I'm waiting for are FTC, USAO, and NYC DA.

magicman554 wrote:They have yet to discuss section assignments. Other federal positions I'm waiting for are FTC, USAO, and NYC DA.

Yeah, you need to ask yourself what you want to do after law school because generally speaking FTC =/= AG, USAO, DA

How much WE do you have in crim law/legal enforcement? Is Biglaw a possibility for you? Have you tried contact those fed agencies to tell them that you have a pending offer and have to make a decision by a certain date?

This thread is relevant to my interests.

I worked in a state AG office during my 1L summer and found it to be a generally enjoyable experience. I got a good chance to spend time on some really in-depth research assignments (which led to a good writing sample for OCI), and was able to watch some really interesting hearings. Also, at least in my assignment, things didn't get that busy, so I had a lot of time towards the end of the internship to start preparing for OCI. I guess the downside of working in a state AG office, at least from my experience, is that things are kind of on a shoestring budget, and a lot of times you can be kind of an afterthought.

2LLLL wrote:I worked in a state AG office during my 1L summer and found it to be a generally enjoyable experience. I got a good chance to spend time on some really in-depth research assignments (which led to a good writing sample for OCI), and was able to watch some really interesting hearings. Also, at least in my assignment, things didn't get that busy, so I had a lot of time towards the end of the internship to start preparing for OCI. I guess the downside of working in a state AG office, at least from my experience, is that things are kind of on a shoestring budget, and a lot of times you can be kind of an afterthought.

How many other interns did your state AG take? Did you get to meet them? Do employers look favorably at it?

Also relevant to me. I'm interviewing this week for a Fellowship at a state AG office and am wondering how said Fellowship will help with Biglaw in the future.

Your mileage may very, but I know the folks who do a State AG gig their first year summer really enjoyed it. It's definitely a solid 1L summer job.

NYC DA is a federal position now, eh?

How many other interns did your state AG take? Did you get to meet them? Do employers look favorably at it?

The entire AG's office took well over 100 interns, probably about 30 of whom were 2Ls (from the c/o 2011). In my division I was the only intern, but I worked in a rather specialized division.

I did get to meet other interns, because there were events just about bi-weekly where speakers would come in for brown-bag lunches and the like. We also had "field trips" where we would go to various places and hear about the work that the AG's office does there.

Like most other 1L summer jobs, employers don't look unfavorably at it. How favorably they look depends on what you do over the summer. Did you get a good writing sample out of it? Can you talk about the job for 5 minutes in a screening interview and retain the interviewer's interest? If necessary, did you impress someone there enough that they will serve as a reference? For me, I managed to accomplish all of these things.

I took a State AG's 1L summer position because, much like OP, they had a pretty early deadline for acceptance. Ended up getting an acceptance from a federal district judge a few weeks later. That burned having to decline.

The AG office is okay. You get a glimpse at what a public office is all about. The quality, quantity, and "interesting" factor of your workload is highly dependent upon what attorney/section you're assigned to. I think I was on the higher end of things for all three of those factors, but I certainly wouldn't describe it as stellar. Or even great. Just, adequate. My experience was adequate. But it served its purpose: I had legal experience during my 1L summer. And I guess it also was an experience to let me know that I truly never want to work in the State's AG office.

I might have been in the same office as 2LLLL; or maybe our states are just similar. Over the course of the summer, there could have been around 80 or so summer interns. One of the highlights of the AG office is that you (or at least we were able to) go on "field trips" to places associated with the office like the forensic laboratory, or listened to different speakers re: what different parts of the office actually does. That is probably the highlight of my experience.


In short, AG Office for 1L summer is adequate. A legal job is better than no legal job -- and it never hurts to show that you don't absolutely abhor working for the public. Your actual enjoyment of the work environment and people will vary, but that will be the case regardless of what you are doing. Just lay the groundwork for getting a good writing sample and you should be set for 2L Fall OCI.


OP: talk to the AG contact and see if you can push back the deadline. Discuss with your CS to see if it's legit to contact the internships that you're waiting to hear back on, and let them know that you have a deadline impending. But in all instances, you want some legal job for 1L summer, and it doesn't matter what, so don't let a sure thing pass you by. A bird in the hand and all of that. I missed my opportunity with a federal district judge, but the AG internship didn't stop me from grabbing a Vault summer associate position and a clerkship.