No legal references going into law school Forum

[Young Marino]

Hello all. I'm hoping someone can answer this for me. I don't have any legal references that can help me when applying for 1L summer internships (I am a 0L as of now). Is this a big problem? I plan to put down my local mayor as a reference for sure as I did an internship under her for about 8 months and then thinking of putting down one or multiple of three: my undergrad thesis professor/retail job supervisor/mayor's administrative secretary/maybe a law school professor? Is it common for students to enter law school without legal references and if you don't have any, how much does it hurt?

[sopranorleone]

Is this a big problem?

No.

Is it common for students to enter law school without legal references?

Yes.

[stillwater]

Is this a big problem?

No.

Is it common for students to enter law school without legal references?

Yes.

ma man sopranorleone killin it

[Young Marino]

Is this a big problem?

No.

Is it common for students to enter law school without legal references?

Yes.

Thanks bro.

[Void]

Almost nobody has legal references, and especially ones that will actually be helpful. Any internship looking to take on 1L summers will be totally accustomed to folks who have zero legal experience before law school.

Source: I had never even met an attorney before going to law school. This had zero effect on my experience.

[worldtraveler]

I'm not sure you understand what a reference is. Your references for law school should be people who know you well, either in an academic or professional capacity.

[jbagelboy]

If you are going to a local school where only half the grads get legal jobs after graduation, I can maybe see how prior connections and references from practicing attorneys or judges would be an important asset for idiosyncratic hiring. For any school with large OCIs (tier 1) it makes no difference.

[Young Marino]

If you are going to a local school where only half the grads get legal jobs after graduation, I can maybe see how prior connections and references from practicing attorneys or judges would be an important asset for idiosyncratic hiring. For any school with large OCIs (tier 1) it makes no difference.

I'm going to try to volunteer at a larger firm after the holidays for a few months where a lot of alumni from my perspective school work. Even if it's just doing a bunch of bs office work I'm fine with that. Hopefully I can make a few solid connects and see if working in the private sector is something I'd like to do

[jbagelboy]

If you are going to a local school where only half the grads get legal jobs after graduation, I can maybe see how prior connections and references from practicing attorneys or judges would be an important asset for idiosyncratic hiring. For any school with large OCIs (tier 1) it makes no difference.

I'm going to try to volunteer at a larger firm after the holidays for a few months where a lot of alumni from my perspective school work. Even if it's just doing a bunch of bs office work I'm fine with that. Hopefully I can make a few solid connects and see if working in the private sector is something I'd like to do

Alright. Just fyi, a good reference isnt just someone who nominally employed you, or knows who you are. It should be someone who has seen what you can do in close quarters, admires your work, and would really go to bat for you.

[kykiske]

I got really close with two of my 1L professors during the fall semester.

And I happened to also do well on their exams. So I had them act as my references, and that seemed to work out fine.

[Void]

I got really close with two of my 1L professors during the fall semester.

And I happened to also do well on their exams. So I had them act as my references, and that seemed to work out fine.

Even if you're not super close with professors, and even if you only did alright in their classes, you can still use them for references. It's part of their job, and most professors have a canned set of comments to describe all of their students anyway. Unless you bomb a class or get the sense that a professor actually dislikes you, don't hesitate to ask to list them as references.

[collegewriter]

You don't need legal references to get a 1L job. I used my boss of 5 years from a non-legal profession and someone who worked at a non-profit. That being said, a great way to boost resume as a 1L is to do legal-type things like Uncontested Divorce Project, Suspension Representation, Unemployment Action Center, etc. These basically mimic real legal work and allow you to talk about legal work in a job-like setting as opposed to the legal theory you work on at school. Your school will advertise these in the beginning of both semesters. Since you'll be working in public interest/govt. as a 1L most likely, you greatly benefit from doing these and writing about them in your cover letter.