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I'm at a T50 southern school, top ten percent.

I really want to RA for this prof., who is well known in his field, and a reporter for a restatement. I have heard conflicting reports about firm's perceptions of RA for 1L summer.

How poorly is an RA position viewed at 2L OCI?

jessemllr wrote:I'm at a T50 southern school, top ten percent.

I really want to RA for this prof., who is well known in his field, and a reporter for a restatement. I have heard conflicting reports about firm's perceptions of RA for 1L summer.

How poorly is an RA position viewed at 2L OCI?

you might as well get a cushion for the iron seat youll be sitting on at doc review. RA position leaves you dead in the water. Why would you do such a thing???????








this is a totally fine summer job. 1L summer just means do something legal. upshot is youll get paid while most won't.

Stillwater is correct, I'm a 2L with similar stats (top 10%, UC Hastings), and I worked as an RA for a prof my 1L summer.

I had no problems at OCI, no one ever asked "Why were you an RA?", and most interviewers were happy to take the prof as a reference. I landed one of my top choices for this summer as a biglaw SA.

So don't worry, you'll be fine.

I plan on being an RA this summer (should be hearing back from a professor soon). Some of my friends who are 3Ls said it doesn't matter in the slightest for OCI. I hope they're right!

*Edit. Found a PI job that I liked better and took it. Still think the RA is good idea tho, might try to do it after the PI stuff is over or overlap the two.

The one thing I would say is that RA positions are usually pretty flexible and can allow you to work another job. While it's not for everyone, the fact that I had RA'ed and worked for a federal judge gave me lots to talk about at OCI. So if you can manage the workload and it's alright with both employers, this is a nice option.

hds2388 wrote:The one thing I would say is that RA positions are usually pretty flexible and can allow you to work another job. While it's not for everyone, the fact that I had RA'ed and worked for a federal judge gave me lots to talk about at OCI. So if you can manage the workload and it's alright with both employers, this is a nice option.

How did you manage the workload? Was it 9-5 with the judge and then evenings/weekends on RA stuff? Did you find this stressful/overwhelming?

lgcylwyr wrote:

hds2388 wrote:The one thing I would say is that RA positions are usually pretty flexible and can allow you to work another job. While it's not for everyone, the fact that I had RA'ed and worked for a federal judge gave me lots to talk about at OCI. So if you can manage the workload and it's alright with both employers, this is a nice option.

How did you manage the workload? Was it 9-5 with the judge and then evenings/weekends on RA stuff? Did you find this stressful/overwhelming?

I worked for my judge from 9 to 6 and then put in a few hours each night and a few on the weekend (totally, probably 10/wk). I worked for the judge for 7 weeks and then worked the rest of the summer (or about 4 more weeks) full time. Professors are pretty flexible with their RA time/schedule in my experience. So, in the end: it was a busy, but rewarding summer. I'm glad I did both. I seldom felt overwhelmed. I would do it again.