Besides LR and journal, what are some other activities in law school that one should try to have? Forum

[CoLolliRol]

LR is heavily based on grades, and writing is my weakest subject. The secondary journals aren't exactly in any of my field of interests. I want to do corp. law, but I'm scared that by not participating in journal I've ruined my chances.

[guyindfw]

Join a legal clinic and do some trial advocacy course. You will not get a chance to do these once out of law school.

[cavalier1138]

Join a legal clinic and do some trial advocacy course. You will not get a chance to do these once out of law school.

For OCI purposes, wouldn't a secondary journal play better than a clinic for the OP? I know it probably depends on where they go to school, but my impression was that a total lack of a journal can raise eyebrows, especially if you don't have solid grades.

[UVA2B]

Join a legal clinic and do some trial advocacy course. You will not get a chance to do these once out of law school.

For OCI purposes, wouldn't a secondary journal play better than a clinic for the OP? I know it probably depends on where they go to school, but my impression was that a total lack of a journal can raise eyebrows, especially if you don't have solid grades.

Pretty sure they're implying they didn't do write on, so no secondary journal. Which was obviously a poor choice if the OP wanted to get into corp. (unless their school is weird and doesn't have a single business leaning secondary journal).

What are you doing this summer OP? Could maybe get a late flyer RA gig for one of the law and business type profs to add to your resume. But there's not much else you can do right now to improve your resume for OCI season. If you didn't do write-on, can we ask why? And what involvement have you had in school to this point outside of classes?

[zhenders]

Join a legal clinic and do some trial advocacy course. You will not get a chance to do these once out of law school.

For OCI purposes, wouldn't a secondary journal play better than a clinic for the OP? I know it probably depends on where they go to school, but my impression was that a total lack of a journal can raise eyebrows, especially if you don't have solid grades.

Pretty sure they're implying they didn't do write on, so no secondary journal. Which was obviously a poor choice if the OP wanted to get into corp. (unless their school is weird and doesn't have a single business leaning secondary journal).

What are you doing this summer OP? Could maybe get a late flyer RA gig for one of the law and business type profs to add to your resume. But there's not much else you can do right now to improve your resume for OCI season. If you didn't do write-on, can we ask why? And what involvement have you had in school to this point outside of classes?

The bolded is utterly nonsensical. Corporate doesn't care about secondary journals. At. All.

[UVA2B]

Join a legal clinic and do some trial advocacy course. You will not get a chance to do these once out of law school.

For OCI purposes, wouldn't a secondary journal play better than a clinic for the OP? I know it probably depends on where they go to school, but my impression was that a total lack of a journal can raise eyebrows, especially if you don't have solid grades.

Pretty sure they're implying they didn't do write on, so no secondary journal. Which was obviously a poor choice if the OP wanted to get into corp. (unless their school is weird and doesn't have a single business leaning secondary journal).

What are you doing this summer OP? Could maybe get a late flyer RA gig for one of the law and business type profs to add to your resume. But there's not much else you can do right now to improve your resume for OCI season. If you didn't do write-on, can we ask why? And what involvement have you had in school to this point outside of classes?

The bolded is utterly nonsensical. Corporate doesn't care about secondary journals. At. All.

That's fair, corporate work has nothing to do with academia or journals. I meant more as a signaling device on the resume though. It's not going to get you corporate work, but every line on a resume can be helpful in crafting a narrative that your interests make sense with the job you're applying for. I haven't applied for corporate law positions in my life, so I'll defer to you on whether that sort of line on a resume has any bearing on the conversation that happens in a corporate law interview, and grades/school will matter much more than whether the person is on a journal, but I still wonder why you wouldn't try for it if it, at the very least, prevents someone from inferring something negative about you because you're lacking a journal.

I didn't mean it was a poor choice to forego journal write on because a journal is necessary to get a corporate job, but more as a "why wouldn't you do write on and try to get a journal that an interviewer can pick off your resume to talk about for a few minutes?" Maybe OCI interviewers won't care in the least since the person wants to go into corporate, but everything I've ever understood was having a journal is always a good thing because it removes the possibility of not being on a journal raising red flags.

[RaceJudicata]

Try and get an externship. While not a school activity per se, its a great experience.

[hiima3L]

I was entirely litigation-focused. I very, very strongly recommend interning for a judge. It's an incredible experience, very useful, and most likely the only time you'll get to work in chambers. (Getting a clerkship is dramatically harder than an internship, and for a variety of reasons, it might not make sense to do it.)

I would also recommend moot court or mock trial. Moot court will teach you how to write and argue your point well, which is the vast majority of what you'll be doing as a litigator. Mock trial is great too, but of less utility if you're going into civil work because trials are so rare. If you want to be an ADA or PD, trial team would be essential IMO.

[Tortious Conduct]

I was entirely litigation-focused. I very, very strongly recommend interning for a judge. It's an incredible experience, very useful, and most likely the only time you'll get to work in chambers. (Getting a clerkship is dramatically harder than an internship, and for a variety of reasons, it might not make sense to do it.)

I would also recommend moot court or mock trial. Moot court will teach you how to write and argue your point well, which is the vast majority of what you'll be doing as a litigator. Mock trial is great too, but of less utility if you're going into civil work because trials are so rare. If you want to be an ADA or PD, trial team would be essential IMO.

Excuse my ignorance, but what does ADA mean in this context? I'm assuming Assistant District Attorney? PD as in Public Defender?

[hiima3L]

I was entirely litigation-focused. I very, very strongly recommend interning for a judge. It's an incredible experience, very useful, and most likely the only time you'll get to work in chambers. (Getting a clerkship is dramatically harder than an internship, and for a variety of reasons, it might not make sense to do it.)

I would also recommend moot court or mock trial. Moot court will teach you how to write and argue your point well, which is the vast majority of what you'll be doing as a litigator. Mock trial is great too, but of less utility if you're going into civil work because trials are so rare. If you want to be an ADA or PD, trial team would be essential IMO.

Excuse my ignorance, but what does ADA mean in this context? I'm assuming Assistant District Attorney? PD as in Public Defender?

Yes. I should have just said "if you want to practice criminal law."

[Nebby]

Try and get an externship. While not a school activity per se, its a great experience.