1L Summer Judicial Internship in NYC - Too Late? Forum

[MA980]

Hi all,

I'm a 1L at C/N.

I haven't applied to any judicial internships yet, because I thought I would prefer to spend a summer at a firm or in-house at a corp, and career services kept stressing how "inappropriate" and "detrimental" it would be to turn down an offer from a judge.

However, having not secured anything yet, I realized this strategy is way too risky and that a judicial internship may be more substantive experience than a firm or in-house internship anyway. FYI - I'd be prepared to accept any offer I received on the spot.

I understand many judges have already hired their interns and/or don't hire any interns. However, I have read/heard anecdotes of people applying as late as March and receiving an offer (although, I think these were in secondary markets).

I'm from NYC and go to school there, so I have no plausible ties to any other markets and will be applying exclusively to positions in the NYC area. Anybody know if there's any positions still available, and if so, the best way to go about securing one?

At the moment, I have a list of contact info for 100+ federal/state judges in the NYC area. Should I snail mail to all of them, or would it be better to take the time and call each office individually to see if they are accepting applications, and if so ask how to apply/what materials to send? Would calling judicial chambers with such an inquiry be inappropriate? If I just blast out snail mail applications, what materials should I include? I have a cover letter, resume, writing sample, and partial transcript with my legal writing and 1 doctrinal class grade prepared and could mail them out tomorrow. Should I include all of these?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Emma.]

Hi all,

I'm a 1L at C/N.

I haven't applied to any judicial internships yet, because I thought I would prefer to spend a summer at a firm or in-house at a corp, and career services kept stressing how "inappropriate" and "detrimental" it would be to turn down an offer from a judge.

However, having not secured anything yet, I realized this strategy is way too risky and that a judicial internship may be more substantive experience than a firm or in-house internship anyway. FYI - I'd be prepared to accept any offer I received on the spot.

I understand many judges have already hired their interns and/or don't hire any interns. However, I have read/heard anecdotes of people applying as late as March and receiving an offer (although, I think these were in secondary markets).

I'm from NYC and go to school there, so I have no plausible ties to any other markets and will be applying exclusively to positions in the NYC area. Anybody know if there's any positions still available, and if so, the best way to go about securing one?

At the moment, I have a list of contact info for 100+ federal/state judges in the NYC area. Should I snail mail to all of them, or would it be better to take the time and call each office individually to see if they are accepting applications, and if so ask how to apply/what materials to send? Would calling judicial chambers with such an inquiry be inappropriate? If I just blast out snail mail applications, what materials should I include? I have a cover letter, resume, writing sample, and partial transcript with my legal writing and 1 doctrinal class grade prepared and could mail them out tomorrow. Should I include all of these?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Send the apps (with all the stuff you mentioned) asap. Many judges are likely waiting on hiring until they see some grades, but those are starting to come out. IMO (as a current clerk) it is less hassle to trash an app when you aren't hiring than it is to answer a bunch of questions over the phone.

[Anonymous User]

I was in the exact same boat as you. C/N student that had other things as a first choice. I waited until March I think to apply. I was looking at SDNY and edny as well as a couple secondary markets I had ties to. I called every judge in those districts chambers and asked If they were still hiring. Some were, and I sent along my apps. Had an interview in a couple days and was offered the job the same day. I'd suggest a similar plan to mine, since you can save on postage and maybe even email an app or two. Also, I'm going to be going corporate but still had an amazing experience that Id do again in a heartbeat. This was SDNY and last summer btw. I should mention that I had solid grades which probably helped. Good luck.

[Avian]

Unless you are ready to call 80 different offices tomorrow, I would just eat the $40 in postage and mass mail SDNY/EDNY. I did this about a week earlier than this time last year and got two interviews and one request for grades from judges who were still hiring. Don't forget about magistrates since you'll do basically the same type of work and it will dramatically increase your application pool.

[Anonymous User]

My chambers hasn't even started interviewing people for summer internships yet. I would call chambers and ask if the spots are filled and if not, the best way to send an app. My chambers accepts e-mailed apps.

[MA980]

Thanks for the advice everyone!