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Right now, my Spanish level is intermediate. I lived in South America for a little over a year, however, now that I've been stateside for awhile and not able to practice with many native speakers, my skills are rusty and I'm not able to advance much. I think to really get marketable Spanish skills, I need to study abroad again for a few months.

Would studying abroad during my 2L summer be a really bad idea since I'd ideally use that time to work for a place I'd like to eventually get hired into after graduation? I think, realistically, 2L summer is the only time I'll have between now and graduation to really polish these skills.

I should clarify that I'm not interested in firm work. Just gov't or PI.

Anonymous User wrote:Right now, my Spanish level is intermediate. I lived in South America for a little over a year, however, now that I've been stateside for awhile and not able to practice with many native speakers, my skills are rusty and I'm not able to advance much. I think to really get marketable Spanish skills, I need to study abroad again for a few months.

Would studying abroad during my 2L summer be a really bad idea since I'd ideally use that time to work for a place I'd like to eventually get hired into after graduation? I think, realistically, 2L summer is the only time I'll have between now and graduation to really polish these skills.

I should clarify that I'm not interested in firm work. Just gov't or PI.

usually you would do something pi or gvt related that summer, so ya, probably a bad idea.

Bad idea. Get a job at the place where you want to get hired. This is not really a close call. You won't be a competitive applicant without substantive 2L experience.

If you want to brush up on your Spanish, consider taking the trip after the Bar.

Anonymous User wrote:Right now, my Spanish level is intermediate. I lived in South America for a little over a year, however, now that I've been stateside for awhile and not able to practice with many native speakers, my skills are rusty and I'm not able to advance much. I think to really get marketable Spanish skills, I need to study abroad again for a few months.

Would studying abroad during my 2L summer be a really bad idea since I'd ideally use that time to work for a place I'd like to eventually get hired into after graduation? I think, realistically, 2L summer is the only time I'll have between now and graduation to really polish these skills.

I should clarify that I'm not interested in firm work. Just gov't or PI.

No, your 2L summer has to be work focused. Figure out another way to learn spanish.
You understand that govt and PI work can be very competitive, right? You need to be working and making connections as much as possible to help your job search.

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You could also study abroad in a Spanish-speaking country during a 2L or 3L semester - there can be disadvantages to this, but it's perhaps not as bad as during 2L summer.

Go over winter break.

Other option: Split summer (esp. if you get a 2L gig that wants 6-10 weeks) with a 4-6 week immersion program. Alternately, I second JML's suggestion of Bar Trip. You've got all of August, September, and October to wait for results.

Anonymous User wrote:Right now, my Spanish level is intermediate. I lived in South America for a little over a year, however, now that I've been stateside for awhile and not able to practice with many native speakers, my skills are rusty and I'm not able to advance much. I think to really get marketable Spanish skills, I need to study abroad again for a few months.

Would studying abroad during my 2L summer be a really bad idea since I'd ideally use that time to work for a place I'd like to eventually get hired into after graduation? I think, realistically, 2L summer is the only time I'll have between now and graduation to really polish these skills.

I should clarify that I'm not interested in firm work. Just gov't or PI.

For the most part, unless you're fluent, you won't be hired for your Spanish-speaking skills. Employers generally are wary of proficient (and worse) speakers because they may not have enough cross-cultural and cross-lingual skills to catch little nuances in communication. This ability is vital in a detail-oriented environment like legal practice.

So, you can either do things that help you get a job later, or you can do things you like because you like them. Unless you're absurdly wealthy and only give half a shit about your legal career, I think spending a law school summer effectively on vacation is a terrible idea.

I think you also need to double-check your perception of reality here. You could full well end up never being employed in the legal sector. I imagine you didn't go to law school to have that possibility materialize.