Big Mistake to take PI Summer Internship? Forum

[slothfulivy]

Hi there,

I am a rising 2L. I'm on an internship at a NGO doing civil rights. I want to do IP/business law work after I graduate.

I took my current summer job because I used to thought the area of law for 1L summer does not matter, and the NGO that I worked looked good and have nice attorneys (they only focus on a narrow aspect of civil rights though).

However now that I realize I may have a hard time explaining to law firm employers why I do civil rights/public interests in the summer. I feel I made a mistake. Is there any way that I could make up for that?

(A little more of my background: I am a non-native speaker but I got good grades for my 1L. I have a science degree. Before J.D. I already have some working experiences in an immigration law firm)

Any tips/suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

[GreenEggs]

where do you go to law school

[slothfulivy]

where do you go to law school

A T30-T40 in California

[rpupkin]

I took my current summer job because I used to thought the area of law for 1L summer does not matter, and the NGO that I worked looked good and have nice attorneys (they only focus on a narrow aspect of civil rights though).

However now that I realize I may have a hard time explaining to law firm employers why I do civil rights/public interests in the summer. I feel I made a mistake. Is there any way that I could make up for that

You were right the first time: the area of law for 1L summer does not matter. I'm not sure why you think you made a mistake. I'd say the typical big-law 2L SA did something roughly similar to what you did for 1L summer.

[xjustyoursmile]

It's not a mistake and can even be a good thing for your career if you play your cards right. Make sure to intern places during your academic year, not just the summer, and aim for non profits focusing on IP or in-house internships including policy based ones. I interned at non-profits, big tech companies, took a nonprofit fellowship after law school, and am now starting at a big law firm in a couple of months. Nonprofit to big law is definitely possible, but you need to carve out the path there. One summer at a nonprofit isn't going to matter as long as you can explain your experience and what you learned from it during interviews. Stress that you went for the experience and not because you want to be a public interest lawyer and be able to show that by taking on corporate internships or IP based internships during your semesters.

PM me for more details if you'd like.