1L Summer employment hypo Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hey TLS!

I have a hypo. A law student in a T25 school in the top 1/3 wants to do soft IP litigation in a city she has no connections to other than the law school she is attending. She has an opportunity to either work for the USAO in that city for her 1L summer, or do an externship with a Federal appellate judge in a completely different circuit in a completely different city (think East Coast vs. Midwest).

What would be the more prudent course of action?

[RaceJudicata]

Really a strange way to ask this question, but anyway...

I'd do USAO in the city of law school/target market. That way you can establish more "ties" and can show employers that you want to be in the market.

That said, both are solid 1L summer gigs.

[foregetaboutdre]

Both solid gigs. You have a 0% chance of doing anything IP related (just about) at USAO and very well may be doing a lot of work on felon in possession of a handgun/criminal stuff at USAO.

COA may give you a VERY SMALL chance at doing an IP-related case. I actually got to work on one while I interned with a US district court judge (that was procedurally all over the place).

[MurdockLLP]

At my school, we are absolutely forbidden from turning down an offer from a judge, including for intern/externships.

Barring this, I think working at USAO would be more beneficial for you, as an individual, because it will let you see if you actually like litigation. It wasn't until i worked at the USAO that I realized I could never do Big Law Litigation because I hated sitting and doing legal research all day.

I also think too many 1Ls work for judges and it makes OCI conversation that much more redundant for the interviewer.

[foregetaboutdre]

At my school, we are absolutely forbidden from turning down an offer from a judge, including for intern/externships.

Barring this, I think working at USAO would be more beneficial for you, as an individual, because it will let you see if you actually like litigation. It wasn't until i worked at the USAO that I realized I could never do Big Law Litigation because I hated sitting and doing legal research all day.

I also think too many 1Ls work for judges and it makes OCI conversation that much more redundant for the interviewer.

Not at COA, but my US district court internship all we basically did was legal research/memos all day with the occasional break of watching a trial or some other proceeding.

A lot can be learned about how litigation works by watching a district court trial.

COA is different though. Not many people going into app litigation.