Legal Summer Analyst Position at an Investment Bank for 1L? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I have a connection that might be able to get me a spot at a bulge bracket investment bank in their legal department during my 1L summer. How does this compare to firm work or interning with a judge? I'm afraid that it's too finance-y and could give firms the wrong idea when it comes time for 2L summer recruiting

[Anonymous User]

I don't know if this is applicable across the board, but the 2Ls in my year who are doing well through OCI either: (1) externed for a judge, or (2) worked for the district attorney's office.

I think both are great experiences.

And as a former 1L SA, I personally did not feel mentally prepared for an SA with a large firm. It took a few weeks to get my feet under me. Not saying it's not doable, it perfectly is.

But a part of me does wish that I had actually worked for a judge/government work. You get a lot of great writing experience, and develop some valuable connections.

But remember, this is just one person's opinion.

[bk1]

(1) externed for a judge, or (2) worked for the district attorney's office.

These are some of the most common 1L summer jobs so it's unsurprising that people with them will do well because conversely there are tons of people with those jobs who are not doing well. I doubt any firm really cares all that much about those jobs.

@OP: If it's in the legal department, I don't think it'll help or hurt your firm search. You will likely have to be prepared for attorneys thinking you want to do transactional (I'm assuming the legal work for the bank would mostly be transactional), but if you don't all you have to do is give good reasons for why you would want to do litigation which isn't all that hard. Since you will likely get paid, I'd say it's a better bet than externing for a judge. Since it likely won't have the potential to lead to a full time offer, it's probably worse than working at a firm where you could potentially get a full time offer (or at least an offer to return for 2L summer). But if you're asking how it compares in the eyes of other firms come OCI, I doubt there is an appreciable difference between judge/firm/bank except that working for a bank (or doing transactional at a firm) would help you be able to more legitimately sell that you want to do corporate work (that is assuming you do want to do corporate work).

[Tiago Splitter]

If you want corporate you should definitely do it unless some other, better paying work comes along. If you want litigation and have a very corporate focused resume you might want to think about non-paying work that people typically do before gunning for litigation, but even then I'd probably still take the paying work.

[Anonymous User]

It actually doesn't matter very much what you did your 1L summer as long as you can talk interestedly/excitedly about it and it's law-related. Outside of something really outstanding like a 1L biglaw SA, it's not a huge factor.

I know people who had all sorts of 1L jobs who did fine at OCI, including jobs similar to the one you describe. It's simply not that big of a deal.

[KidStuddi]

Outside of something really outstanding like a 1L biglaw SA, it's not a huge factor.

Even 1L SAs don't "help." Firms aren't all that excited by the prospect of dealing with split summers and fighting with the SA's 1L firm. They will obviously still recruit 1L SAs, as you tend to need relatively impressive credentials to land the 1L job in the first place, but they're not coveted for their 1L SA "experience" or anything like that. And if you're no-offered, that 1L SA instantly becomes the worst part of every OCI interview and raises serious questions about your employability. You do 1L SAs for the money and a chance a permanent offer, not to set yourself up for 2L OCI.

[IAFG]

It actually doesn't matter very much what you did your 1L summer as long as you can talk interestedly/excitedly about it and it's law-related. Outside of something really outstanding like a 1L biglaw SA, it's not a huge factor.

I know people who had all sorts of 1L jobs who did fine at OCI, including jobs similar to the one you describe. It's simply not that big of a deal.

While true in general, I get the sense that in-house experience (even just one summer) puts people in a better place than their résumé would suggest otherwise.

[Anonymous User]

Outside of something really outstanding like a 1L biglaw SA, it's not a huge factor.

Even 1L SAs don't "help." Firms aren't all that excited by the prospect of dealing with split summers and fighting with the SA's 1L firm. They will obviously still recruit 1L SAs, as you tend to need relatively impressive credentials to land the 1L job in the first place, but they're not coveted for their 1L SA "experience" or anything like that. And if you're no-offered, that 1L SA instantly becomes the worst part of every OCI interview and raises serious questions about your employability. You do 1L SAs for the money and a chance a permanent offer, not to set yourself up for 2L OCI.

As a no-offered 1L SA, I am having a tough time getting 2L summer employment.

Also, from what I'm hearing from my classmates, and what I am seeing on this board, a 1L getting no-offered is not as uncommon as you may think.