Pre-1L summer internships? Forum

[Yardbird]

I am applying to law schools this cycle and if things go nicely will be at some law school in the fall. I am graduating with degrees in business administration and philosophy. I know the general advice for 0Ls is to relax for their summer off, but my work experience up until now (while very substantive) has been in education and not business and may or may not help with OCI (other than being a talking point since its a very non-traditional position).

1) Would it be worth getting an internship for my pre-1L summer?
2) If so, where might be a good place/position keeping in mind something that would be valuable during OCI for 2L. I'll have a 3.3 by graduation with two degrees, a BA and a BSBA - cum laude in both.

Thanks!

[Dany]

If you want something that will be valuable for OCI, don't be a K-JD. Take time off and get a real job after undergrad. Firms likely won't care about a random 2-3 month summer internship.

[Yardbird]

If you want something that will be valuable for OCI, don't be a K-JD. Take time off and get a real job after undergrad. Firms likely won't care about a random 2-3 month summer internship.

A year off isn't much of an option because I stayed an extra year in undergrad to finish the business degree (so an extra cost of $20k + lost income from graduating a year late). I also want to avoid my loans entering repayment if possible.

I realize that a 2-3 month summer internship might not help too much with OCI, but its better than nothing in my opinion. Anyone else have any thoughts on a position that's moderately substantive for the summer?

[Ruxin1]

If you want something that will be valuable for OCI, don't be a K-JD. Take time off and get a real job after undergrad. Firms likely won't care about a random 2-3 month summer internship.

A year off isn't much of an option because I stayed an extra year in undergrad to finish the business degree (so an extra cost of $20k + lost income from graduating a year late). I also want to avoid my loans entering repayment if possible.

I realize that a 2-3 month summer internship might not help too much with OCI, but its better than nothing in my opinion. Anyone else have any thoughts on a position that's moderately substantive for the summer?

So you plan to k-jd with an ED and UG debt....

[Yardbird]

If you want something that will be valuable for OCI, don't be a K-JD. Take time off and get a real job after undergrad. Firms likely won't care about a random 2-3 month summer internship.

A year off isn't much of an option because I stayed an extra year in undergrad to finish the business degree (so an extra cost of $20k + lost income from graduating a year late). I also want to avoid my loans entering repayment if possible.

I realize that a 2-3 month summer internship might not help too much with OCI, but its better than nothing in my opinion. Anyone else have any thoughts on a position that's moderately substantive for the summer?

So you plan to k-jd with an ED and UG debt....

UG debt is light, I'd just rather not pay it [the principal] right now [I've been paying interest].

[Ruxin1]

If you want something that will be valuable for OCI, don't be a K-JD. Take time off and get a real job after undergrad. Firms likely won't care about a random 2-3 month summer internship.

A year off isn't much of an option because I stayed an extra year in undergrad to finish the business degree (so an extra cost of $20k + lost income from graduating a year late). I also want to avoid my loans entering repayment if possible.

I realize that a 2-3 month summer internship might not help too much with OCI, but its better than nothing in my opinion. Anyone else have any thoughts on a position that's moderately substantive for the summer?

So you plan to k-jd with an ED and UG debt....

UG debt is light, I'd just rather not pay it right now.

It's not light when you add another 200k to it...

Just work for a year or two, LS will always be there.

[Yardbird]

A year off isn't much of an option because I stayed an extra year in undergrad to finish the business degree (so an extra cost of $20k + lost income from graduating a year late). I also want to avoid my loans entering repayment if possible.

I realize that a 2-3 month summer internship might not help too much with OCI, but its better than nothing in my opinion. Anyone else have any thoughts on a position that's moderately substantive for the summer?

So you plan to k-jd with an ED and UG debt....

UG debt is light, I'd just rather not pay it right now.

It's not light when you add another 200k to it...

Just work for a year or two, LS will always be there.

It'll be more like 130k adding on (I have 20k in savings from work the last two years and my rents are throwing in 50k total for law school). Like I said, I understand that if I take a few years off I'll be in a much better position for OCI (and law school apps in general given my splitter-ness), and I'm not really looking for people advising me to take a year off. I'm specifically just looking for advice on my original question assuming I go to law school next year (there's always the chance I'll get an offer and choose to take a year or two off anyways):

What would be a good summer internship between undergrad and law school, if any?

[Edit] I should specify Boston, NY, and Chicago are all options.

[2014]

I won't jump in on the wait a year wagon, that's a personal choice and you seem to have made it.

To answer your question, realistically anything you can do over the summer is not going to make or break you for an OCI situation imo. As a result, I would personally prioritize in order of:

1. What pays the most
2. What could conceivably lead to an in for a full time job post law school, even if not your first choice
3. Working with, for, or around lawyers to get an idea of the day to day

Ideally you'd find a paid legal assistant type job at a small-midsized firm that gives you opportunity to spend a lot of time around attorneys but few enough of them that you can forge relationships. These are also the firms that during any given year probably will hire one or no associates, and should they ultimately hire when you are looking, you would probably have a distinct advantage over a random if you did a good job for them.

The absolute worst thing you could probably do is take an unpaid gig that has no potential benefit. Something like a volunteer clerk position with a traffic court judge or whatever that would never hire you, you would never want to clerk for, and probably doesn't know many attorneys that would be good networking contacts.

[Yardbird]

I won't jump in on the wait a year wagon, that's a personal choice and you seem to have made it.

To answer your question, realistically anything you can do over the summer is not going to make or break you for an OCI situation imo. As a result, I would personally prioritize in order of:

1. What pays the most
2. What could conceivably lead to an in for a full time job post law school, even if not your first choice
3. Working with, for, or around lawyers to get an idea of the day to day

Ideally you'd find a paid legal assistant type job at a small-midsized firm that gives you opportunity to spend a lot of time around attorneys but few enough of them that you can forge relationships. These are also the firms that during any given year probably will hire one or no associates, and should they ultimately hire when you are looking, you would probably have a distinct advantage over a random if you did a good job for them.

The absolute worst thing you could probably do is take an unpaid gig that has no potential benefit. Something like a volunteer clerk position with a traffic court judge or whatever that would never hire you, you would never want to clerk for, and probably doesn't know many attorneys that would be good networking contacts.

Thanks, this is more what I was looking for. I don't plan on doing anything volunteer based (any $ I make this summer will go directly toward tuition). I'll look around and see what I can find.