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I'm a 2L, and I recently accepted an offer for a summer associate position in the Chicago market (not BL). I'm excited for the experience but really think government work (federal, local, or state) would be a better fit for me in the long run. How difficult is it to find employment after graduation when your resume doesn't speak to experience with government work? I could always try for an externship during the school year. Any thoughts would be great!

Government experience will help you pitch yourself for jobs. I had government internships, and it helped me get a government job. Working at a firm will give you helpful legal experience, and legal experience is what employers want. This is especially true if it's experience relevant that office's work, obviously. You should definitely do an externship. It gives you the government resume' plus legal experience. If it's with a government office that hires after graduation, that's even better. I don't think it's a deal breaker not to have government experience, but, from my experience and what I've seen, government experience is important.

I've met people at both the local and federal level who went into government after years in private practice with no prior government experience. But since you have the foresight to know that gov't is where you want to end up, I would try to get some kind of internship while still in law school. First because it can help you get connections that will be useful when you eventually apply for a real gov't job. And second because it will allow you to back up your reasons for wanting gov't -- "when I was interning I saw X & Y and that's why I want to work in gov't for the rest of my career."

Mr. Archer wrote:Government experience will help you pitch yourself for jobs.

Thank you for your advice. Would you mind speaking more to your experience with your government job?

My recommendation would be for you to do a government externship during the semester. That way you'll be able to say you've tried both and government is what you want.