1L summer Question Forum

[najumobi]

hey you all. back after a TLS free first semester of law school...haven't been on since august. all i know is that romo is still posting a lot.

any other 1Ls, like me, are totally clueless about how to go about getting work for this summer?

I've been under the impression that it's necessary to try to work this summer where i ultimately want to end up, but they're cities where i have no connections so i'm probably going to have some hurdles to get over.

[Helmholtz]

Your school doesn't have 1L OCI?

[najumobi]

ha...never knew such a thing existed....

[kxz]

Now you do!

[Helmholtz]

ha...never knew such a thing existed....

It's that thing a week after 1L orientation where firms come and give interviews for 1L summer jobs?

Damn, dude, where do you go to school?

[D. H2Oman]

ha...never knew such a thing existed....

It's that thing a week after 1L orientation where firms come and give interviews for 1L summer jobs?

Damn, dude, where do you go to school?

Listen buddy not all of us were top 1/3 after orientation. I missed the dean's welcome speech, I had to take the library tour pass/fail, so yeah i struck out and now I'm scrambling. But that doesn't define me (or the OP) as a person.

[Jarndyce]

ha...never knew such a thing existed....

It's that thing a week after 1L orientation where firms come and give interviews for 1L summer jobs?

Damn, dude, where do you go to school?

Listen buddy not all of us were top 1/3 after orientation. I missed the dean's welcome speech, I had to take the library tour pass/fail, so yeah i struck out and now I'm scrambling. But that doesn't define me (or the OP) as a person.

Lots of pent-up hostility lurking underneath...

The cutoff time under NALP is December 1- that means that since December started, it has been open season for 1Ls applying for summer jobs. All law schools (I imagine), even the worst ones, should have what are called OCIs- on-campus interviews, which will be conducted at some point next January or February. You should apply via your career services office to all of the firms who are interested in having 1Ls work over summer. This number is greatly less than the firms willing to hire 2Ls. But some people still get jobs through them, and they tend to be the best jobs out there.

Additionally, I strongly encourage 1Ls who have not yet done so to apply to jobs on their own. Do the research and determine what firms are out there, both in your city and outside of your city. For context, I ended my first semester in top 5%. I ended up with 4 offers, two of which were volunteer public interest positions, one of which was a small law firm, and one big law offer (which I took). Of those four offers, three came from OCIs and only one (the small firm) came from my individual work/research. Still- that shows that it is possible to get a 1L job either way.

[najumobi]

ha...never knew such a thing existed....

It's that thing a week after 1L orientation where firms come and give interviews for 1L summer jobs?

Damn, dude, where do you go to school?

wustl....
firms interview 1Ls at your school before they have any grades? had no idea.

[najumobi]

Lots of pent-up hostility lurking underneath...

The cutoff time under NALP is December 1- that means that since December started, it has been open season for 1Ls applying for summer jobs. All law schools (I imagine), even the worst ones, should have what are called OCIs- on-campus interviews, which will be conducted at some point next January or February. You should apply via your career services office to all of the firms who are interested in having 1Ls work over summer. This number is greatly less than the firms willing to hire 2Ls. But some people still get jobs through them, and they tend to be the best jobs out there.

Additionally, I strongly encourage 1Ls who have not yet done so to apply to jobs on their own. Do the research and determine what firms are out there, both in your city and outside of your city. For context, I ended my first semester in top 5%. I ended up with 4 offers, two of which were volunteer public interest positions, one of which was a small law firm, and one big law offer (which I took). Of those four offers, three came from OCIs and only one (the small firm) came from my individual work/research. Still- that shows that it is possible to get a 1L job either way.

thanks

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

As I am sure you already know, getting work with a firm as a 1L can be really hard, even from a top ranked school. That said, if you can't gobble up a firm job, there is a lot of merit in working in the place you want to ultimately end up (especially if you have no previous/weak ties to the area). It is great if you can go into OCI and have a more tangible, recent explanation of why you want to work in city X than "I hear it's nice." Obviously that is facetious, but it will make you look a lot more credible if you say you want to work in that city and have last summer in that city to talk about.

Edit: btw, congrats on being done with your first semester of law school!

[JCougar]

Hey dude...

We do have Spring OCI later on next semester. But I'd also start sending resumes out to firms that don't OCI here and researching firms in your target area. ITE, getting your applications in early is a good idea.

[camstant]

If it weren't for that pesky cover letter...

[holdencaulfield]

Your school doesn't have 1L OCI?

Look to mid-size and smaller firms as well. A very small percent of 1L's will land gigs through OCI.