Advice for Bad first day? Forum

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Mon Jun 02, 2014 10:10 pm

I'm a rising 2L who just had his/her first day at my judicial externship. let's just say it was not good. I'm with other interns and pretty much we got a lecture about the first assignment we were each going to do (which wasn't too bad), when before I was about to start it I got a different one assigned to me with minimal guidance. Turns out I spent all day doing a task in an area of law that was really confusing and which didn't have an answer for the question i was assigned - the person who assigned it to me agreed at the end but I would've finished it earlier if I had known that. I talked to them halfway through the day and they made it seem like I was missing something so I was going crazy trying to find the answer. I spent literally all day on it while the other interns finished the assignment given plus some. I'm worried I look the absolute worst now, when I was on a completely different playing field.

Any idea how I can improve for tomorrow? I'm afraid I made a horrible first impression.

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Mon Jun 02, 2014 10:19 pm

Anonymous User wrote:I'm a rising 2L who just had his/her first day at my judicial externship. let's just say it was not good. I'm with other interns and pretty much we got a lecture about the first assignment we were each going to do (which wasn't too bad), when before I was about to start it I got a different one assigned to me with minimal guidance. Turns out I spent all day doing a task in an area of law that was really confusing and which didn't have an answer for the question i was assigned - the person who assigned it to me agreed at the end but I would've finished it earlier if I had known that. I talked to them halfway through the day and they made it seem like I was missing something so I was going crazy trying to find the answer. I spent literally all day on it while the other interns finished the assignment given plus some. I'm worried I look the absolute worst now, when I was on a completely different playing field.

Any idea how I can improve for tomorrow? I'm afraid I made a horrible first impression.

Shake it off and improve. Plus, it could be worse. Listen, and ask many more questions. Assignment managers usually have no problem with you asking many questions up front. And if you spend time and aren't getting anywhere, let them know that and ask if there's a different direction you should go in.

didn't mean to be anon. it's goldeneye.

thesealocust · Post by **thesealocust** » Mon Jun 02, 2014 11:22 pm

adonai · Post by **adonai** » Mon Jun 02, 2014 11:25 pm

If you're confused, you should really ask the clerks for help. You might think it makes you look weak, but it's a good quality to have. They expect you not to know everything, you're just a 1L. Their main purpose is to be a good teacher to you, so be a good learner and ask. A judicial externship (esp for 1L) is basically like an extended legal writing class. You're not going to do something revolutionary during your summer and impress someone like that, so stop being so hard on yourself. You're there to learn and not make the clerks' jobs harder, and you do that by asking and not botching anymore projects.

It's also not a race. Do the best job you can even if it takes you longer (but don't go past the deadline. If you do, ask for an extension and have a good reason for it). You might have been given an assignment that is more difficult than the others, or they might have just done a quick sloppy job thinking they're impressing people by moving cases along, which isn't their job.

Danger Zone · Post by **Danger Zone** » Mon Jun 02, 2014 11:33 pm

They expect you to not know wtf you're doing. Your one year of law school is not gonna make you some kind of legal guru. Often, these tasks are assigned even if the judge knows the answer because they want you to figure out how to get there.

NYSprague · Post by **NYSprague** » Mon Jun 02, 2014 11:56 pm

You can't know that nothing is out there on point unless you look exhaustively.

The person who assigned it to you might have misremembered something or just had an idea in the back of their head that there should be something.

It sounds like you did the right thing, if you check in and the person tells you to keep looking, you can't do more.

Don't worry. A good deal of legal research assigned by experienced, practicing lawyers turns out to be the proverbial wild goose chase.

But if you are lost, ask questions.

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Tue Jun 03, 2014 12:08 am

Original OP. I'm way too hard on myself. thanks all, I felt better after relaxing a bit and then of course reading this. A game tomorrow..

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