"International" Law Internship - thoughts? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I know that international law isn't really a thing, and I'm not planning on pursuing it.

But I have twist to the question: I'm lined up to do a 1L summer internship with one of these: judge/gov't agency/prosecutor in Europe this summer. (I've been advised that confidentiality is highly necessary in this post, so I'm not taking any chances. That's why I'm anon and being vague in the job title/expectations/location) I figured the placement would be a good chance to get legal experience and to experience living abroad for a bit.

Now, I get the sense that common wisdom suggests not to work abroad. Am I screwed, or will I be able to leverage the experience I'll get into "American" terms for work here. FWIW, my grades put my in the top quarter at a mid-T1, and I'm (currently) interested in transactional work (with an end goal of in-house work) or prosecution.

[Anonymous User]

I know that international law isn't really a thing, and I'm not planning on pursuing it.

But I have twist to the question: I'm lined up to do a 1L summer internship with one of these: judge/gov't agency/prosecutor in Europe this summer. (I've been advised that confidentiality is highly necessary in this post, so I'm not taking any chances. That's why I'm anon and being vague in the job title/expectations/location) I figured the placement would be a good chance to get legal experience and to experience living abroad for a bit.

Now, I get the sense that common wisdom suggests not to work abroad. Am I screwed, or will I be able to leverage the experience I'll get into "American" terms for work here. FWIW, my grades put my in the top quarter at a mid-T1, and I'm (currently) interested in transactional work (with an end goal of in-house work) or prosecution.

OP here: One little bump, just for fun. Then I'll quit.

[rad lulz]

.

[LawIdiot86]

You're semi-screwed because with your grades and school, you probably could have gotten a federal district or state appellate judge (or AUSA/PD), but instead went international. While you can explain domestic litigation translating to transactional as "there aren't any 1L transactional summer programs and I wanted to learn what happens when a transaction goes bad," now you also have to explain "I really want transactional, I'm not looking to leverage this into an overseas gig/love slacking off while via travel." It's legal, so it's not too bizarre and I do realize you actually want transactional, but it's just one more red flag and, from your description, you are probably right on the margin of people who make biglaw at your school. Maybe toss in an absentee RA spot with a prof who specializes in some kind of domestic law (ideally transactional), so you can beef up that part at OCI.

[Anonymous User]

You're semi-screwed because with your grades and school, you probably could have gotten a federal district or state appellate judge (or AUSA/PD), but instead went international. While you can explain domestic litigation translating to transactional as "there aren't any 1L transactional summer programs and I wanted to learn what happens when a transaction goes bad," now you also have to explain "I really want transactional, I'm not looking to leverage this into an overseas gig/love slacking off while via travel." It's legal, so it's not too bizarre and I do realize you actually want transactional, but it's just one more red flag and, from your description, you are probably right on the margin of people who make biglaw at your school. Maybe toss in an absentee RA spot with a prof who specializes in some kind of domestic law (ideally transactional), so you can beef up that part at OCI.

OP here: thanks for the feedback. I'll keep this in mind and look for ways to beef up my resume and show that I'm actually dedicated to a career here. (I am.) As I understand it from my summer supervisor, I'll be getting pretty good experience on legal research and writing and maybe even in other aspects of trial. Although the laws are different, that experience will still hopefully be helpful. I hope they're right ...

[LawIdiot86]

You're semi-screwed because with your grades and school, you probably could have gotten a federal district or state appellate judge (or AUSA/PD), but instead went international. While you can explain domestic litigation translating to transactional as "there aren't any 1L transactional summer programs and I wanted to learn what happens when a transaction goes bad," now you also have to explain "I really want transactional, I'm not looking to leverage this into an overseas gig/love slacking off while via travel." It's legal, so it's not too bizarre and I do realize you actually want transactional, but it's just one more red flag and, from your description, you are probably right on the margin of people who make biglaw at your school. Maybe toss in an absentee RA spot with a prof who specializes in some kind of domestic law (ideally transactional), so you can beef up that part at OCI.

OP here: thanks for the feedback. I'll keep this in mind and look for ways to beef up my resume and show that I'm actually dedicated to a career here. (I am.) As I understand it from my summer supervisor, I'll be getting pretty good experience on legal research and writing and maybe even in other aspects of trial. Although the laws are different, that experience will still hopefully be helpful. I hope they're right ...

I can't speak from experience, but in your actual OCI interviews, I would try to stress how similar the legal research and writing were in your international experience were and how many US-related matters you ended up working on, even though it was abroad. Having an American-centric view going into OCI for domestic transactional seems like a good idea.

[Anonymous User]

You're semi-screwed because with your grades and school, you probably could have gotten a federal district or state appellate judge (or AUSA/PD), but instead went international. While you can explain domestic litigation translating to transactional as "there aren't any 1L transactional summer programs and I wanted to learn what happens when a transaction goes bad," now you also have to explain "I really want transactional, I'm not looking to leverage this into an overseas gig/love slacking off while via travel." It's legal, so it's not too bizarre and I do realize you actually want transactional, but it's just one more red flag and, from your description, you are probably right on the margin of people who make biglaw at your school. Maybe toss in an absentee RA spot with a prof who specializes in some kind of domestic law (ideally transactional), so you can beef up that part at OCI.

OP here: thanks for the feedback. I'll keep this in mind and look for ways to beef up my resume and show that I'm actually dedicated to a career here. (I am.) As I understand it from my summer supervisor, I'll be getting pretty good experience on legal research and writing and maybe even in other aspects of trial. Although the laws are different, that experience will still hopefully be helpful. I hope they're right ...

I can't speak from experience, but in your actual OCI interviews, I would try to stress how similar the legal research and writing were in your international experience were and how many US-related matters you ended up working on, even though it was abroad. Having an American-centric view going into OCI for domestic transactional seems like a good idea.

I somewhat disagree with what has been said and the common belief that you shouldn't work abroad your 1L summer, but I agree that biglaw is going to be really tough. However, that's more of a function of you being top 25% at a mid-T1 than working abroad.

It is also true that it all comes down to how you spin it (as with most interview topics). I worked abroad for a small firm in China after my 1L year and it definitely didn't hurt me during OCI season when I was interviewing for transactional groups. If anything, it gave me and the interviewer something to talk about, because my background is otherwise pretty boring. What was key was that I tied it to American law (even though I was working abroad, American law mattered) and the challenges of working in a different country where I didn't speak the language. If you are going into transactional, working as an RA or for a state judge won't teach you much relevant law anyway and transactional people know that 1L opportunities for transactional work are extremely rare. Just make sure you can articulate good reasons for why you want to do that kind of work.

[worldtraveler]

What do you want to do, ultimately?

I also find it hard to give any advice when you really can't tell us anything about the job.