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Hello TLS,

I have an offer to work for a city politician during my 2L summer. It would be heavily policy based, which I would thoroughly enjoy, however, with no firm experience yet under my belt (working in-house 1L summer), I feel that I would be closing the door on working at a firm forever. In terms of income, not working at a firm would, over the next 30 years, definitely hurt my wallet. I am also not confident about how transferable anything I learn in the political public sector will be towards any other industry if I ever wanted to move on.

I am debating working for them and then during my 3L year working with a firm. Or maybe I can do part-time work with the politician and a firm.

Hoping to get some insight/advise. Will I never be an actual lawyer if I take this position? I have no other offers currently.

What are your stats (school/grades)?

City politician is kind of vague - is it the mayor or a councilman, or?

How big is the city?

What kind of in-house work did you do? How big was the business?

Working for a city politician is not going to help you with "practicing law," but it can also lead to some good connections. You may get to meet some politically connected local lawyers and get an offer from them, but obviously there is no guarantee. You also need to clarify the above because I know city councilmen in my mid-market and "policy-based" work means you will basically be their assistant. Cities aren't passing tons of legislation like other forms of gov't. It is much more petty and about management.

It is 2L summer so it is not going to foreclose practicing law (except probably BigLaw), but a firm is going to be an uphill battle. I've known people to do this and they are now in DC working as government aides, but that is kind of what they wanted to do.

T1, just above median

Councilmember

Top 10 population

Tech business known well in the industry, around 200 employees.

I am well aware of what this role will entail, knowing a few people who have come before me. Lots of policy brief writing and dealing with constituents.

I'm confused. Are you wondering if not doing a 2L BigLaw SA will mean BigLaw is closed to you? Or are you thinking that working for a politician during your 2L summer will mean the private sector in general is closed to you?

TheSpanishMain wrote:I'm confused. Are you wondering if not doing a 2L BigLaw SA will mean BigLaw is closed to you? Or are you thinking that working for a politician during your 2L summer will mean the private sector in general is closed to you?

The latter, that working for a politician 2L will close off the private sector. I have no shot at BigLaw.

If you really want this opportunity, what I would do is look for part-time jobs at a firm for the following year. That way, you'll have the firm experience too. But of course, this assumes you get that job.

I don't think it forecloses your ability to get a firm job in the future. You will just get a lot of questions during interviews about it and should know how to answer them.

If you have no other offers, I'm not sure what choice you have.

I don't think this will prevent you from working at a firm but you should keep looking for a job.