1L Summer Internship- USAO (West Coast) Forum

[guzmanlazarus]

I am at CCN interested in doing a 1L summer internship at the U.S. Attorney's Office. I am from the northeast, but I am tempted to go west for 1L summer. I would primarily do this to see what life is like in the prosecutorial world and in a West Coast city. I have a few questions:
1. What is the skinny on USAO internships? What kind of work will they have us do?
2. How hard would it be for me to get in at 1. ND Cal (SF/Oakland) 2. D. Oregon (Portland) 3. WD Washington (Seattle) 4. CD Cal (Los Angeles)?
3. Which of these four arrangements would be most highly recommended (a fusion of most interesting office/best place to live for 10 weeks)?

[EIWIsMyFetish]

do you have any substantive ties to the west coast?

if not, i would say its a less than stellar idea. the summer leading up to OCI is often underestimated as a networking tool, and you should be doing it in your home/primary market.

[AZ123]

do you have any substantive ties to the west coast?

if not, i would say its a less than stellar idea. the summer leading up to OCI is often underestimated as a networking tool, and you should be doing it in your home/primary market.

The summer before OCI is super important for networking, especially you have less-than-stellar grades. Big firms are giving out lots of offers before OCI, so being in the market you want to be in long-term can be really helpful and can help you snag a lot of pre-OCI cbs and offers. I spent my summer in my desired west coast market, and my time there was invaluable. I think it showed employers that I was committed to the market, and allowed me to get cbs with some firms that would have been out of my league at oci (it's a lot easier for them to just bring you in for an interview if you are in town, rather than them having to pay to fly you out.) I wouldn't recommend going somewhere for the summer just for a fun ten weeks, unless it is a place that you are seriously considering for long term employment.

[Anonymous User]

Did my 1L summer in NDCA. All/almost all of the interns either go to law school in the area or have strong ties. So in addition to what others have mentioned re: probably not a great idea, it's going to be hard to get without geographic ties to the specific district.

[Anonymous User]

Did my 1L summer in NDCA. All/almost all of the interns either go to law school in the area or have strong ties. So in addition to what others have mentioned re: probably not a great idea, it's going to be hard to get without geographic ties to the specific district.

Also did my 1L summer at NDCA - at least in SF that's not true. more than half of people were from east coast/t14 law schools (some with no ties at all to the bay)

[Anonymous User]

1L Summer Internships aren't particularly hard to get.

I go to a T14 on the East Coast and received several interview requests from the USAO in California. Just apply early near December 1st and you'll be fine.

[guzmanlazarus]

Did my 1L summer in NDCA. All/almost all of the interns either go to law school in the area or have strong ties. So in addition to what others have mentioned re: probably not a great idea, it's going to be hard to get without geographic ties to the specific district.

Also did my 1L summer at NDCA - at least in SF that's not true. more than half of people were from east coast/t14 law schools (some with no ties at all to the bay)

What is the major difference between the Oakland and the SF NDCA offices?

[FascinatedWanderer]

One is in Oakland and the other is in SF. I don't recall which one is where off the top of my head though.

[dabigchina]

Off the top of my head, I think Oakland has more organized crime stuff. San Jose has a lot of human trafficking.

[cron1834]

One is in Oakland and the other is in SF. I don't recall which one is where off the top of my head though.