What Can I Expect During an In-House Internship? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hello! I recently accepted an offer to work a legal internship with a transportation company (think Delta, Amtrak, Carnival, etc.). I am very excited about this and I want to do a good job, but I have no idea what to expect and that's causing some concern that I am not prepared for the job duties. They didn't really go over the job duties during the interview or in any email follow ups, other than to say that I would be doing some contract review.

I just finished my 2L year at a top 30 school and I am ... not a great student. I have a 2.66 GPA (without the most recent semester's grades, if that matters). I also got a C+ in contracts, so I'm not sure how well-equipped I am to do any contract review. My grades are mostly due to the fact that I suddenly became deaf during 1L (sudden sensorineural hearing loss) and was dealing with all of that for most of the year without telling anyone. I fortunately recovered my hearing but I was left with a bad GPA and a pretty shaky understanding of the law. I've also only ever worked government internships with state legislators, members of Congress, etc., so I don't have much of an understanding of what traditional legal work looks like.

What can I expect from an internship like this? And how can I best prepare for it? I still have all of my 1L casebooks and E+E's if that helps? Thank you in advance!

[shock259]

It's extremely unlikely that you can do any prep for this internship that would be helpful. Also, your grades are mostly irrelevant to your success here. There is almost nothing substantive that you learned (or should have learned) in contracts that will be applicable to your internship.

I don't know anything about those organizations, but I am assuming they will treat you like you know nothing. Which is perfect because you won't really know anything relevant to what they do.

Focus on the soft skills. Be friendly and responsive. Keep the deadlines you set at all costs. Ask questions when appropriate. Don't write typo-ridden emails. If you do the basic things well, you'll very likely succeed.

[albanach]

It's extremely unlikely that you can do any prep for this internship that would be helpful. Also, your grades are mostly irrelevant to your success here. There is almost nothing substantive that you learned (or should have learned) in contracts that will be applicable to your internship.

I don't know anything about those organizations, but I am assuming they will treat you like you know nothing. Which is perfect because you won't really know anything relevant to what they do.

Focus on the soft skills. Be friendly and responsive. Keep the deadlines you set at all costs. Ask questions when appropriate. Don't write typo-ridden emails. If you do the basic things well, you'll very likely succeed.

All the above is accurate. I'm in-house in a different sector. Most our interns have some interest in what we do, but we don't expect them to bring experience.

If it's anything like us, your work will mostly be research/writing memos. If they're split into practice groups, try to make sure you get a taste of areas that interest you. Unless they direct you otherwise, don't be afraid to ask attorneys if they have any projects for you.

I'm assuming the employer doesn't hire new graduates, which means this isn't about securing future employment (if I'm wrong about that, keep doing the above, but try to make sure you work for everyone you can - never pass up any opportunity). In which case you should focus on meaningful contract and delivering high-quality work. If it's a big corporation, they likely have lots of contacts at outside law firms. A recommendation from the deputy general counsel could open doors that your grades would otherwise mean are closed to you.

That doesn't mean only try to work for the senior attorneys - work for anyone that has anything substantive to work on, and turn it around as quickly as you can while maintaining quality. Read and reread everything before you send it.

[Guchster]

Hello! I recently accepted an offer to work a legal internship with a transportation company (think Delta, Amtrak, Carnival, etc.). I am very excited about this and I want to do a good job, but I have no idea what to expect and that's causing some concern that I am not prepared for the job duties. They didn't really go over the job duties during the interview or in any email follow ups, other than to say that I would be doing some contract review.

I just finished my 2L year at a top 30 school and I am ... not a great student. I have a 2.66 GPA (without the most recent semester's grades, if that matters). I also got a C+ in contracts, so I'm not sure how well-equipped I am to do any contract review. My grades are mostly due to the fact that I suddenly became deaf during 1L (sudden sensorineural hearing loss) and was dealing with all of that for most of the year without telling anyone. I fortunately recovered my hearing but I was left with a bad GPA and a pretty shaky understanding of the law. I've also only ever worked government internships with state legislators, members of Congress, etc., so I don't have much of an understanding of what traditional legal work looks like.

What can I expect from an internship like this? And how can I best prepare for it? I still have all of my 1L casebooks and E+E's if that helps? Thank you in advance!

You don't have to do any substantive legal prep for the job, and case/school materials will be largely useless. You probably don't have to do any prep at all. Any law you'll need, they'll tell you where to find or ask you to research. When interns/SA's/summer clerks start in transactional practice, we really don't expect them to know anything. Attention to detail, and a positive, enthusiastic attitude go a long way. Don't stress about it--it's supposed to be a fun learning experience for all sides.

For prep: I would research the company so you get a better sense of what you're diving into and are able to converse about it intelligently. It can be overwhelming the first week, but if you've done some light background research (i.e., news stories, press releases by the company and affiliates, deal memos/highlights, etc.), you'll get a better sense of what's going on. If it's a public company, skimming its past few 10-Ks will be very helpful to get a sense of how things operate and where they're headed.

[JHP]

Your question seems geared towards "what can I do to be substantively prepared to know the law?" Everyone above has answered that for you--you don't need to know much of anything.

As for what else you can expect, you should also be prepared for the program to be rather unstructured. Unless the company has historically had a robust legal intern program, you may need to expect somewhat banal or administrative tasks, periods where no one has an assignment for you, and you may generally feel like a fly on the wall rather than a cog in the machine. In-house departments generally lack the resources (human capital, fiscal resources, or time dedication) to build and maintain a summer program like that of a law firm. Depending on the size of the program, maybe you'll have a welcome luncheon, maybe not. If you find that there aren't planned events for interns (like meet-and-greets), you should try to schedule networking lunches/coffee meetings with people in the legal department to just chat, get to know them, get to know how they got to where they are, what work they do, etc. This may also help if, in the situation of an unstructured program, you find yourself without any assignments--you could pop your head into someone's office and ask if they have any projects you could help with.

This is going to be a great way to make the absolute best of your summer in a way that not only helps you learn, but get some substantive and hopefully interesting assignments on your resume. As you've recognized, your GPA is very low, and presuming you'll need to do 3L recruiting, you'll be fighting an uphill battle with getting your GPA past the recruiter firewall. At least having great talking points and a great pitch for insights and exposure you've gained over your summer may help mitigate some of that.