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OK so I had several interviews but nothing worked out for summer employment. Now I'm considering a credit bearing summer abroad at an English school. Is this a really bad idea? I would prefer to work but at this late date I'm running out of options. Any advice? I'm a 1L.

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Does RA really look better than study abroad? My feeling is nobody who could get a real job would do either. Considering how much more enjoyable a summer of study abroad would be than a summer of RA the difference would have to be significant.

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Most RA jobs at least pay something.

RA

Or split summer: unpaid internship and non-legal work

Is it a study abroad through your school? Then at least it has some legal bearing (e.g., Oxford Human Rights Program or something like that in Germany or Asia).

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You can frequently RA AND study abroad by getting a professor who will let you do remote work (like cite check or research).

the study abroad is through my school its studying comparative law with the UK for six credits. They've been doing it for 30 years or so. I realize that a job would be best but i'm having some issues making anything happen. It doesn't take place until July so i was thinking of doing RA until then but I don't know if its worth the time and money

LawIdiot86 wrote:You can frequently RA AND study abroad by getting a professor who will let you do remote work (like cite check or research).

This sounds like the pro move to me.

Isn't being a RA basically the same as getting paid to do schoolwork though? I sure wouldn't be psyched to hear that person's interview stories. Maybe if I was hiring a librarian.

RA'ing is not that bad. I know a bunch of people who RA'ed at UVA and got sweet big law gigs. A decent number of people on law review actually did it, so it's not like it's the realm of rejects or anything. That said, it's probably highly professor dependent. If you can get one that will give you interesting things to research and write about (and, even better, gives you meaningful feedback), you will have worthwhile stuff to talk about for interviews. I would certainly do it before I studied abroad. Studying abroad does not seem that dissimilar to taking classes (of which you have like 10 you can already talk about) mixed in with a little bit of travel and introduction to different cultures, while working for a professor can actually give you insight into the application of your legal education.

Study abroad courses seem like a scam to me.

seatown12 wrote:

LawIdiot86 wrote:You can frequently RA AND study abroad by getting a professor who will let you do remote work (like cite check or research).

This sounds like the pro move to me.

Isn't being a RA basically the same as getting paid to do schoolwork though? I sure wouldn't be psyched to hear that person's interview stories. Maybe if I was hiring a librarian.

Every job is boring if you characterize it that way. It isn't the job, it is how you make the job sound. Hell, if I wanted to lie through my teeth, I could probably make civpro sound exciting.

Try to find out if your study abroad program can offer an internship while you are there. Also, I know of a lot of people that went on study abroad and worked with a judge, firm, and non-profit when they got back, but their program ended in july giving them a lot of summer to work with. In regards to the "employers hate study abroad" thing, to refer to others again, each one that I know that did a study abroad their 1L year said it helped in their interviews and there was only one example where it was a slight negative.

Listen to Mr. lulz. If you wanted to study abroad, the time for that was in college. Now your focus should be on getting some time of legal employment, with an RA spot being the least-impressive-but-better-than-nothing alternative. If you want to take summer classes, do it at your school. Best bet, do summer classes at your school and an RA.