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This board's been really helpful for me in the past, both during the law school application process and with OCI advice. I need some advice, and thanks in advance.

I networked my way into a compliance internship at a major investment firm, for this coming fall of my 2L year. It would take up 16 hours per week. Is it worth it, in terms of time spent?

My considerations:

• I want to pursue a career in white collar crime/investigations. The long-term goal would be federal prosecution, but this might be a great way to see what some of these firms are doing on their own end. Does that benefit outweigh the time commitment?
• I signed up for four classes already for the fall, two BLL classes and two seminars. If I did this, I'd cancel one seminar.
• If I get the classes I want (I think I likely will), I have two empty days during the week. I'd use those for work, so the internship would fit cleanly into my schedule.
• My biggest concern: I want to at least try to clerk on the trial-level. I have high but not elite grades at a CCN school/LR. Is taking this on far too much of a time commitment, given that goal and LR obligations? Would the time be better spent building professor connections?

Thank you.

Do you already have a 2L summer position at a biglaw firm that does white collar?

ResIpsa21 wrote:Do you already have a 2L summer position at a biglaw firm that does white collar?

OP. I do have an offer at one NY firm doing top-level white collar work, and with any luck will have a couple more options after OCI.

1L summer job involves federal white collar prosecution.

Edit: I should add that I have no intention of ever doing in-house compliance work for a career. I hear it's a graveyard. The point of doing this would be to get some exposure via oversight of a range of the investment firm's activities, and see what the companies do on their end. Career-wise, I want to do this from the law firm side followed by the government side. Is there a chance this might ever conflict me out of anything too, if I were to somehow one day investigate this firm as a federal prosecutor?

Don't worry about conflicts at this point, but I would not suggest taking the compliance internship. If you've already secured a spot in a biglaw white collar practice, the internship won't do anything more for you. You will already get good experience at the firm that you can use to try to jump to USAO/DOJ. When the time comes for that jump, a federal clerkship will be infinitely more important for you than a 2L internship. If you think not working during the fall will help you get a better GPA and build a better resume for clerkships (e.g. by taking an extra clerkship-friendly course like fed courts), you should focus on your academics.

You should know, before you go down this path, that virtually every litigation/white collar associate at every major law firm wants to jump to government. USAO, DOJ, and SEC are ridiculously competitive and hiring is very idiosyncratic. Just make sure you have a backup plan that you can stomach before putting all of your eggs in that basket.