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1L top 20%, clerkship or SA applications?
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:55 pm
by ntxatxhtx
I'm a 1L at a ~T50 school where the top of the class usually lands big law interviews at OCI. I'm not super into big law, but cast my line to a couple and didn't get invited. That's cool, really I just want to be paid and get some varied experience. Is it worth it to keep applying to firms or should I just try to land a judicial clerkship? To me a clerkship is kind of a safety net that counts as good experience for any type of law (and can also get class credit).
I'm in the top 20%, had three years of decent (non-legal) work experience after undergrad, and went to a good undergrad with an okay GPA.
Re: 1L top 20%, clerkship or SA applications?
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 9:14 pm
by QContinuum
I'd apply to clerkships. You can certainly keep applying to firms (you have nothing to lose), but I wouldn't count on getting a firm gig for 1L summer. Even T14 students routinely struggle to land 1L SAs. 1L SAs are generally reserved for URMs (note: firms have differing definitions of qualifying URMs for diversity SAs), folks with science backgrounds pursuing patent law, and folks with Texas ties looking to work in TX (Houston/Dallas).
Re: 1L top 20%, clerkship or SA applications?
Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 12:01 am
by floatie
1L SA is going to be tough no matter what your grades are - even the firms that have 100+ spots for 2Ls may only have 1-3 for 1Ls. What you do 1L summer doesn't really matter as long as you get something legal. People at my school (T25) did everything from in-house to judicial internships to working for Legal Aid, and they all got biglaw during OCI. You're not out of reach to get biglaw as a 2L, no matter what you do this summer. The only important thing would be to keep your grades up (and improve a bit, if you can).
Re: 1L top 20%, clerkship or SA applications?
Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:12 pm
by ntxatxhtx
floatie wrote:1L SA is going to be tough no matter what your grades are - even the firms that have 100+ spots for 2Ls may only have 1-3 for 1Ls. What you do 1L summer doesn't really matter as long as you get something legal. People at my school (T25) did everything from in-house to judicial internships to working for Legal Aid, and they all got biglaw during OCI. You're not out of reach to get biglaw as a 2L, no matter what you do this summer. The only important thing would be to keep your grades up (and improve a bit, if you can).
Thanks, that makes me feel a bit better. I'm hoping to inch up to top 15% by the end of this semester; it's not out of reach.