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Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 4:49 pm
by Anonymous User
2L, have an SA with a top lit firm in a non-NYC major market that historically offers everyone. Have Coif grades at a T10 currently, but not on law review. Basically no extracurriculars at all beside a secondary journal. My question is, litigation career wise, do I need to get some extracurriculars on my resume? Like e-board of my secondary journal or some bs like that. I don't want to clerk right away, but am not ruling out doing it at some point in the future.
Re: Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 4:53 pm
by BruceWayne
I've been told that judges care about journal positions.
Re: Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 4:54 pm
by ymmv
BruceWayne wrote:I've been told that judges care about journal positions.
Fuck 'em, no job is worth a second year of journal.
Re: Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 5:03 pm
by MarkfromWI
ymmv wrote:BruceWayne wrote:I've been told that judges care about journal positions.
Fuck 'em, no job is worth a second year of journal.
Agreed. If the resume you have (or will have, with the work experience a few years from now) doesn't make you competitive simply because you don't have an e-board position, there's something wrong with the judge, not your resume.
Re: Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 5:04 pm
by ymmv
MarkfromWI wrote:ymmv wrote:BruceWayne wrote:I've been told that judges care about journal positions.
Fuck 'em, no job is worth a second year of journal.
Agreed. If the resume you have (or will have, with the work experience a few years from now) doesn't make you competitive simply because you don't have an e-board position, there's something wrong with the judge, not your resume.
Now being on the other side of OCI I wish I had just had the balls not to bother with journal in the first place. It's gotta be the dumbest burning hoop of any you're "forced" to jump through in law school.
Re: Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 8:58 pm
by Anonymous User
OP here, so is the general consensus that everything besides grades is solely to get the first job?
Re: Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:03 pm
by mvp99
the only reason I'm on a journal is because a bunch of managing editors appear out of nowhere and post TLS around May telling everyone to apply or die
Re: Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:06 pm
by Desert Fox
Build your resume for the real world not some striver lawschool bullshit. That means don't do journal board. Do externships and clinics.
Re: Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:30 pm
by hiima3L
Desert Fox wrote:Build your resume for the real world not some striver lawschool bullshit. That means don't do journal board. Do externships and clinics.
This.
I would intern with a judge if you're doing litigation, preferably in a jurisdiction where you'll be practicing (or fed court). I learned more during my internships than in the entirety of law school and it was immensely rewarding and beneficial. I got two solid recs from judges, and those have been very helpful in ways I did not expect.
Re: Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:45 pm
by Anonymous User
hiima3L wrote:Desert Fox wrote:Build your resume for the real world not some striver lawschool bullshit. That means don't do journal board. Do externships and clinics.
This.
I would intern with a judge if you're doing litigation, preferably in a jurisdiction where you'll be practicing (or fed court). I learned more during my internships than in the entirety of law school and it was immensely rewarding and beneficial. I got two solid recs from judges, and those have been very helpful in ways I did not expect.
OP. Intern for a judge 3L year? Do judges take interns during the school year? Part-time?
Re: Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:50 pm
by Anonymous User
ymmv wrote:MarkfromWI wrote:ymmv wrote:BruceWayne wrote:I've been told that judges care about journal positions.
Fuck 'em, no job is worth a second year of journal.
Agreed. If the resume you have (or will have, with the work experience a few years from now) doesn't make you competitive simply because you don't have an e-board position, there's something wrong with the judge, not your resume.
Now being on the other side of OCI I wish I had just had the balls not to bother with journal in the first place. It's gotta be the dumbest burning hoop of any you're "forced" to jump through in law school.
Did this. Said I would only take journal if it was law review. Didn't get it. So happy. Got multiple big law offers. Can't complain.
Re: Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 11:43 pm
by A. Nony Mouse
Anonymous User wrote:OP. Intern for a judge 3L year? Do judges take interns during the school year? Part-time?
Absolutely yes. (Not every judge in the country, but some judges just don't take interns at all. Generally, plenty will do this, and the competition is less during the school year.)
Re: Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 11:49 pm
by fats provolone
fats provolone wrote:leave no box unchecked
Re: Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 11:52 am
by Anonymous User
Not OP, but similar question. I want to do transactional work. Zero desire to clerk. BigLaw SA in DC and scored an e-board position on LR next year (one with the least amount of time commitment). Also have fairly significant W/E prior to law school. So, I don't exactly need to pad my resume.
However, I want to 3LOL and make $$ at the same time. Considering looking for paid internships during the school year just so I can get out of the law school building and feel like a normal adult. Is this a terrible idea? What else do folks do with their free time if they're only taking 12 credit hours? Does it look weird to take on another internship after SA?
Re: Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 1:35 pm
by Desert Fox
Why would you go to dc for transactional work.
Re: Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 1:42 pm
by FSK
Currently choosing between continuing to clerk for my firm in my desired area of law, getting paid, or running for e-board of my journal. Whats TCR guys?!
Re: Continue to "build your resume" if have BigLaw + top grades?
Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 1:57 pm
by Anonymous User
Desert Fox wrote:Why would you go to dc for transactional work.
I live here and yes, it does exist just not on the scale of NY. Would it make you feel better if I had said "non-lit" work?