1L Firm Job - Can I blow off journal? Forum

[Anonymous User]

1L at T30 with 12 week SA this summer. Can I blow off the journal competition? I have no desire to be on any of the secondary journals and odds are I will not make law review. Also, the time saved will allow me to work on my web business and make some $ to pay off student loans. Any thoughts appreciated.

[LawIdiot86]

1L at T30 with 12 week SA this summer. Can I blow off the journal competition? I have no desire to be on any of the secondary journals and odds are I will not make law review. Also, the time saved will allow me to work on my web business and make some $ to pay off student loans. Any thoughts appreciated.

No, you can't. If you want to change firms, they will count it against you, regardless of the 1L SA. Your 1L firm may count it against you. Just suck it up and do it.

[LOLyer]

The benefits far outweigh the burden of doing a 2 week competition.

[Cupidity]

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cupidity]

See post supra n. 3 ("NOOOOO. . .").

[Anonymous User]

Why? i have talked to other SA's who blew it off at their school with no repercussions. I have also been told by every 2L that secondary journals are worthless and the biggest mistake of their lives.

[Cupidity]

I don't know anyone at my T30 who got a Vault firm job without a journal. I know plenty of people in the top 10% who didn't do journals, who are now fucked or are working for PI or small-firms.

Do the fucking journal. And talk to smarter people at your school.

[LawIdiot86]

Why? i have talked to other SA's who blew it off at their school with no repercussions. I have also been told by every 2L that secondary journals are worthless and the biggest mistake of their lives.

I could try to convince you with stories from my T14 and the partners I've spoken with, but you've clearly made up mind and are just looking for this thread to reinforce your decision. Have fun when you get the partner of doom and can't trade out.

[Anonymous User]

I call bullshit on that. The kids I spoke to are the ones with the BigLaw jobs.

[bk1]

What happens if you don't get an offer to return from your 1L firm? What happens if you hate your 1L firm and want to switch?

It seems like an unnecessary risk to forego possible increases in your employability.

[LawIdiot86]

What happens if you don't get an offer to return from your 1L firm? What happens if you hate your 1L firm and want to switch?

It seems like an unnecessary risk to forego possible increases in your employability.

He's made up his mind. My story of my friend who was top 15% at my T14 and struck out at OCI, with one firm telling him it was specifically because their hiring committee required a check in the Journal box regardless of GPA and fit won't convince him that the couple extra bar nights aren't worth it. Nor will my story of my top third T14 friend who went 0/12 at OCI because he decided his 1L SA would compensate for his hatred of journals. Nor how I leveraged my below-median grades + secondary journal w/ publication into a series of internships that led to my V50 SA. His mind is made up.

[Anonymous User]

Yeah, do the journal competition. A shot at LR is worth it, and it seems like secondaries are given some weight at lower-ranked schools. Are there people who don't do journals and still get great jobs? Sure. I know at least one person at my school who is going to Wachtell and isn't doing a journal. But why take the risk when the energy you would have to expend (at least to do the competition) is pretty minimal.

[ExAnt3]

Is the journal competition required for the application for the secondary journals too? If the writing competition is just for LR I don't think it's necessary, but I think you're foolish to entirely forgo journal participation altogether. My secondary journal gives me little to no work. Find one like that. Don't be stupid.

[2LLLL]

1L at T30 with 12 week SA this summer. Can I blow off the journal competition? I have no desire to be on any of the secondary journals and odds are I will not make law review. Also, the time saved will allow me to work on my web business and make some $ to pay off student loans. Any thoughts appreciated.

A 1L SA isn't an auto-offer. You could underperform during the SA, or you could do just fine and not get offered because of economic considerations, or simply because the firm has a policy against bringing back 1L SAs (some firms do). You're just at a T30, and your grades aren't good enough to grade onto LR- you need everything you can get. Plus, you'd be basically ruling out clerking as well...

[Cupidity]

I call bullshit on that. The kids I spoke to are the ones with the BigLaw jobs.

What?! The kids on secondary journals with BigLaw jobs you are talking to are on secondary journals and have Biglaw jobs?! That doesn't at all support what we are saying?!?!?!?!

[Anonymous User]

#1 at a T30 here. I did not write for a journal and my OCI did not appear to be adversely affected. Callbacks at a dozen or so major firms including two v5's. Took a job at a v25. Applying for clerkships now, I am guessing lack of journal will be more prejudicial in this context.

[Anonymous User]

i don't buy all this journal mania.

at my t10 i know many very successful 2ls not doing journals. even v10 firms sas.

maybe it's different for schools outside the t14.

i've only seen journals help students who want to clerk or who wrote on to law review.

[Cupidity]

maybe it's different for schools outside the t14.

ttcr

[rad lulz]

.

[NinerFan]

I wouldn't blow it off. The cost/reward is a no-brainer, though, do it. At the T-30 level it's a bigger deal. If you were at a higher ranked school, it'd be different.

[Anonymous User]

T14. No Journal/WE/URM/whatever. Median. Offers (not V10s). Transactional-focused, though. I was never asked about journals in my ~10 callbacks.

Edit: saw you are at T30. Agree with f0bulous. At least try and see if you get Law review or a journal that publishes sparingly.

[TheFactor]

I might blow it off. But certainly not because I have a 1L SA.

[de5igual]

OP, if you look at the people who've advised you to blow it off, you'll notice that they either 1) go to a better school where journals matter much less or 2) are at the very top of the class—which you won't know ex ante.

As others have mentioned, outside the tip-top of the class at a T30, journal membership can be the deciding factor between offer/no-offer. Yes, you have a 1L summer gig, but if that doesn't pan out, do you really want to be in a position to put that theory to the test?

[SilverE2]

#1 at a T30 here. I did not write for a journal and my OCI did not appear to be adversely affected. Callbacks at a dozen or so major firms including two v5's. Took a job at a v25. Applying for clerkships now, I am guessing lack of journal will be more prejudicial in this context.

Yeah you're fucking #1 in your class.

[Doritos]

Just do it. Secondary journals are so little work.