Only working one split? Forum

[Anonymous User]

2L here with a firm job lined up for the second half of the summer, but nothing lined up for the first 4-5 weeks. Is this a big deal? I'm planning on just taking that time to relax and do some traveling, and the firm I'm going to only has a 6-week program and has near 100% offer rates so I'm not really worried about ending up jobless post grad. Mainly worried about if this is bad from an optics point. Can I stop worrying and just enjoy this break?

[Anonymous User]

If it's a true 100% offer-rate firm, I guess you have nothing to lose. If it were me, I'd still try to line up work for at least some of the first half if only to pad my resume, maybe intern for a judge to see if I liked the experience/idea of formally clerking later on, or at the very least fulfill the 50+ pro bono hours a lot of school require of their students before graduating during this timeframe.

However, there may be optics issues. My law school was in a southern market, and many southern markets have these summer-split situations. Many firms in that area may notice that you didn't split and ask about it, but who knows. If you don't plan on interviewing elsewhere next summer, that's probably not even remotely an issue.

[CovidLurker]

I guess there's nothing wrong with this per say, except that it might be a little awkward when you show up to the second half of summer and people ask you what you did for the first half and you have no real response. However, if your summer is virtual I guess no one will even really notice.

But, can I ask why? Being a summer associate is probably the best job you can have in the legal industry. You will do close to zero work, get paid a lot of money, and be given free meals/shows/etc. I'm not sure why you would want to forego half your pay to do nothing, which quite frankly, you'll already be doing as a summer.

Edit: Misread this - your firm has a 6 week program and you're attending all of the six weeks. My mistake. Yeah, probably nothing wrong with doing nothing for the rest of time.

[papermateflair]

I assume this is a 6 week program because of the pandemic, and not because you asked to split or something like that but then didn't find something. Assuming that's the case, the only downside to not finding something for the first half would be if you think you can make some money for a few weeks, or if you want a second option if you don't like the 6 week firm or for some reason you get drunk and push a partner off a boat or something and don't get an offer.

At this point in the year I can't imagine there's really a ton of firms or programs that have openings (although maybe things are different with COVID?) so if I was you I would just enjoy the time before the SA, do great work on the SA, ????, profit. Or go do some volunteer work if you want to really fill your time.