So I'm a part-timer at a school in a large legal market. I have a full-time job, which makes it extremely difficult time to get internships/SA/other such experience in the field I want to go into. No one wants to be there from 6-10 working with me, and no one wants me to only come in once a week (all understandable). If I could, I'd use my work experience as a way to get me in doors; problem is, my job has nothing to do with what I want to do post law school. I am also unfortunately not in a position to quit my job.
Have any other part-timers also had this problem? How do you convince people in your 4P year to hire you when you can't find many places that can give you internship work that can be scheduled around your job (outside of the obvious combo of good school/grades/etc.)? How do part-timers get SAs/clerkships/etc.? If you didn't do one, what did you do to overcome the disadvantage of not being able to get much tangible experience? Do you just kind of say "I think my work gave me these skills, even if not for your field specifically" and hope for the best?
Part-Timer Dilemma Forum
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TLSModBot
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Re: Part-Timer Dilemma
Former PT student here. I left my job to do an SA. You don't get Biglaw without going through OCI and doing an SA (it's technically possible but really fucking rare). And there are no schools with part-time programs that are highly ranked enough that you can reliably use your degree and/or their also networks to guarantee something.
Perhaps this is too late for you, OP, but for future PT students: either prepare for the traditional experience of OCI/SA or just rule out Biglaw (unless you have some mad connections at a firm you want)
Perhaps this is too late for you, OP, but for future PT students: either prepare for the traditional experience of OCI/SA or just rule out Biglaw (unless you have some mad connections at a firm you want)
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r6_philly
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Re: Part-Timer Dilemma
Small firm/solos would consider part-time internships, during the summer and school year. I have a part-time intern now and I am actually going to look for interns from Temple this fall. It may not necessarily lead to a position like a SA, but you can certainly get experience that way. Once a week definitely work for many places. Evenings are tougher as you can imagine, but there could be ways to structure it if you are doing research -- you can meet and be present for part of your internship and do research independently beyond that.
