How much does your 1L summer matter? Forum

mr.hands · Post by **mr.hands** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 4:59 pm

As long as it's legal work, how much does where you work matter? I've found a very small firm (~4-5 attorneys) in a secondary market that i'm almost certain I can get because of a couple connections. It's not a particularly prestigious firm but it's small and I could probably do a lot of different work. I'm positive that they wouldn't pay me, though

Will 2L employers care if I work here? Should I look for a more prestigious firm or try and land this one?

(I go to a T14 between 7-14, btw. Not sure that matters)

rad lulz · Post by **rad lulz** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:17 pm

For purposes of OCI, doesn't matter.

If they have you work and don't pay you, that could be illegal though.

dingbat · Post by **dingbat** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:21 pm

It's more the other way around. If you don't do jack shit during your summer, it matters. It signals that you're either lazy or unemployable.

20160810 · Post by **20160810** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:33 pm

dingbat wrote:It's more the other way around. If you don't do jack shit during your summer, it matters. It signals that you're either lazy or unemployable.

This is credited. Unless you pull some kind of amazing 1L SA, 1L summer will not make you, but it can break you. This is why I always recommend that people clerk for a small firm (FOR MONEY) or do research for a professor. All other things being equal, working for money is better than working for free. However, there is zero reason to spend the summer working for free at a 4-person boner law firm. As has been mentioned, I don't even know if that's legal for them to do.

mr.hands · Post by **mr.hands** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 5:55 pm

SBL wrote:
dingbat wrote:It's more the other way around. If you don't do jack shit during your summer, it matters. It signals that you're either lazy or unemployable.
This is credited. Unless you pull some kind of amazing 1L SA, 1L summer will not make you, but it can break you. This is why I always recommend that people clerk for a small firm (FOR MONEY) or do research for a professor. All other things being equal, working for money is better than working for free. However, there is zero reason to spend the summer working for free at a 4-person boner law firm. As has been mentioned, I don't even know if that's legal for them to do.

That's actually a good point. I've been applying to a lot of public interest jobs so i mistakenly assumed that firms dont have to pay summer associates.

I should probably rephrase. I guess they'd pay me minimum wage

thesealocust · Post by **thesealocust** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:11 pm

1L firm jobs are insanely elusive and rarely (strictly) meritocratic. But if you get one at a big firm, it'll pay market (~$3,300 / week)...

20160810 · Post by **20160810** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:22 pm

mr.hands wrote:
SBL wrote:
dingbat wrote:It's more the other way around. If you don't do jack shit during your summer, it matters. It signals that you're either lazy or unemployable.
This is credited. Unless you pull some kind of amazing 1L SA, 1L summer will not make you, but it can break you. This is why I always recommend that people clerk for a small firm (FOR MONEY) or do research for a professor. All other things being equal, working for money is better than working for free. However, there is zero reason to spend the summer working for free at a 4-person boner law firm. As has been mentioned, I don't even know if that's legal for them to do.
That's actually a good point. I've been applying to a lot of public interest jobs so i mistakenly assumed that firms dont have to pay summer associates.

I should probably rephrase. I guess they'd pay me minimum wage

I would do research for a prof instead if possible. My school paid us about $16 an hour for this.

Aqualibrium · Post by **Aqualibrium** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:35 pm

thesealocust wrote:1L firm jobs are insanely elusive and rarely (strictly) meritocratic. But if you get one at a big firm, it'll pay market (~$3,300 / week)...

And if you do happen to get one and get an offer to come back for the next summer, my experience is that it makes you stand out a bit during 2L OCI.

20160810 · Post by **20160810** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 7:12 pm

Aqualibrium wrote:
thesealocust wrote:1L firm jobs are insanely elusive and rarely (strictly) meritocratic. But if you get one at a big firm, it'll pay market (~$3,300 / week)...
And if you do happen to get one and get an offer to come back for the next summer, my experience is that it makes you stand out a bit during 2L OCI.

Also a lot of interviewers don't realize that 1L SAs aren't "offer track" positions. A friend of mine got a diversity biglaw 1L SA, didn't get an offer (this was the expectation though, so, no worries), but was asked at OCI left and right about whether he got an offer from his 1L firm and why he wasn't going to go back there.

Myself · Post by **Myself** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 7:22 pm

Hippononymous · Post by **Hippononymous** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 10:19 pm

All of the above is credited. One thing I would add, though, is that you're going to want to be able to describe what you did over the summer quickly and concisely in interviews. I worked at a school clinical program, but it was a joint clinical with med students and pharmacy students, so when I talked about it in interviews it just ended up sounding like I volunteered with cancer patients all summer.

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