Which law firm should I choose for my 2L summer? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I wanted to do transactional corporate type of work but I got an offer from an IP law firm and accepted it. I am supposed to do licensing stuff (but not copyright). And then I got another offer from a pretty big law firm on a size wise (but not on a salary wise) as a "law clerk" - not a summer associate, since they do not have a summer associate program, and I will be working on the insurance/lit stuff.

I want to practice corporate law (PE, VC, M&A) and serve tech companies for a post-grad job and I have a bit of a tech background, but not degree. Which law firm should I choose for a 2L summer? Any thoughts?

[Anonymous User]

I wanted to do transactional corporate type of work but I got an offer from an IP law firm and accepted it. I am supposed to do licensing stuff (but not copyright). And then I got another offer from a pretty big law firm on a size wise (but not on a salary wise) as a "law clerk" - not a summer associate, since they do not have a summer associate program, and I will be working on the insurance/lit stuff.

I want to practice corporate law (PE, VC, M&A) and serve tech companies for a post-grad job and I have a bit of a tech background, but not degree. Which law firm should I choose for a 2L summer? Any thoughts?

First, whichever one will give you the highest likelihood of post graduation employment and then whichever one will give you a "summer associate" title. A true summer program gives you the best chance of finding something corporate related with another firm during 3L year because firms know the difference between summer associates and law clerks.

Side thought - not sure why you would take an insurance/lit position with a firm that doesn't have a summer program. Is there a chance at a full time offer and of moving into a practice area you like?

[stv]

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[oblig.lawl.ref]

I agree with the commenter. You don't want to have to say your were a, erm, "law clerk" not summer associate when interviewing for 3L positions. They're looking for summer associate titles, generally. It's just a matter of optics, not substance I think. The IP work will be more marketable to a startup focused practice. So I think the IP firm seems to be the clear winner in my view, with the caveat that you should also really think about which one is most likely to lead to a full time offer. I'd rather have a good chance at a full time offer in lit than a shot at corporate and I'm a corporate lawyer.

But also know that 2L summer is your best shot at full-time, post grad employment. Chances diminish after that. So don't put too many eggs in the 3L basket.

[Anonymous User]

Law clerk and summer associates are different. Summer associate is what it's known for, you're in the law firm's summer program and at the end they'll tell you whether you have an offer or not for post-grad as a junior associate. Law clerk doesn't have that implication at the end, you're just working as a temp basically. If a firm only advertises it as law clerk, I do not believe you should put it as a summer associate position because there is a difference between the two.

Like previous poster, I would go with the firm that has the summer associate position. If they're both law clerk position, go with the firm that is going to allow you to do transactional work if they give you an offer post-grad (so the firm that has a robust corporate practice and won't stick you in what you've done during the summer). I think it should be okay even if you do litigation during your 2L summer b/c some interviewers are able to say after their experience in litigation, they'd prefer to do corporate. Then during the summer, do 3L mass emailing to the firms you're interested in.

[L’Étranger]

Assuming you're not a troll, you need to have a conversation with someone in your career services office. There are a lot of basic things you seem to not be understanding.

[h2go]

1. I won't work for any of two firms even if I get a post grad job offer. There is a pretty good chance at a full time offer from both firms. I want to move to another state where my family lives but I failed to secure a summer job there. So, only question is which firm would be more helpful to get a job in the corporate law practice (VC, PE, M&A) for startups.

I hope that state is California because otherwise there is like 0% chance of finding a job doing corporate law for startups during 3L. If you want to do corporate law, you should take the IP licensing position. You can leverage it into a more general tech trans position (demand generally pretty good) at a larger firm and then switch over to general corporate work.