Need Advice: Concurrent 1L Summer Positions? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I have to make a decision by early next week:

So I interviewed with a clinic at my school for 1L summer work/study, basically 40 hours/week. I didn't think they wanted me since I didn't hear back from them well past the deadline they told me. In the meantime, I accepted a volunteer research clerk position at a local legal clinic which is supposed to be maxed at 20 hours per week. So my plan was to take the 20 hours and also take a class over the summer.

The clinic gave me an offer today.

Logic dictates that I shouldn't pull out of the volunteer position for obvious professional reasons + someone recommended me for it and that I should also accept the work study and scrap taking the course? I think I am overthinking it, but I don't know if there will be any kind of long term benefit of having both jobs since apparently all you need is "something legal" and for the amount of additional time/work, it might not be worth it in terms of OCI next semester? Maybe just take the part time volunteer + class?

One thing I would like to note as well is that both of these positions lean more toward litigation so would doing both over the summer hurt 2l OCI if I'm looking for transactional work? The class I planned on taking was transactional so I thought it would be good to discuss in a potential interview so my resume doesn't just scream litigation.

Thanks so much for your help!!

[misterjames]

What does the class entail? Is it more like a practical skills class or is it just a regular class? If it's the latter, I say take both positions part time if you can.

I worked two positions my 1L summer, but they were vastly different organizations that demanded very different things from me. In terms of hours, I did one Monday-Wednesday and the other Thursday/Friday and I felt it was manageable. Most of my interviews asked about each of them and seemed interested in the fact that they were different, so it gave me a lot to talk about.

You could get away with just the one position and no one would question it, but it couldn't hurt to have more experience and a broader network.

[CanadianWolf]

Won't the hours overlap ? Even if they won't, it will be difficult to hold down two jobs & a class at the same time.

[Anonymous User]

Won't the hours overlap ? Even if they won't, it will be difficult to hold down two jobs & a class at the same time.

I don't think he's saying that he plans to do all 3 this summer; it sounds like he's talking about doing either the 20-hour job + the class or the 20-hour job + the 40-hour job or just the 40-hour job.

Personally, I would just take the clinic job and use my free time to relax, especially if you're worried that doing 2 litigation-related gigs would make your resume "scream" litigation as you apply for transactional positions come 2L OCI. Would you get any pay for the 20-hour job (funding through your school, etc.), or would it be completely unpaid?