Taking the Summer off Before Law School Forum

[Princetonlaw68]

Alright, so this might seem like a stupid question, but I need your help. I am well aware that I could just be completely neurotic, but better safe than sorry

I am planning to take the summer off before I start law school. I have only been out of undergrad for a year, and I have interned/worked since I graduated. My plan is for my last day of work to be in the middle of June, so I will effectively have a little over 2 months in which I am not employed right before law school. Obviously, this would show up on my resume. My question is, could this look bad to employers, more specifically, employers at OCI? While I'd like to take these 2 months off, if there's any chance that any employer would think "why would you take 2 months off, you had only been working for about a year..." then it's obviously not worth it for me to take the summer off. I don't want to look lazy or anything to employers. Does anyone think that this could make my resume look even slightly worse? Does it not matter at all?

Is it more acceptable for someone who has worked for 5 years before he/she starts law school to take the summer off, than it is for someone like me? I really want to come off as a hard worker, and part of me feels like this could go against that.

I would love some advice from anyone who has already gone through OCI or has graduated law school. It would be amazing if any people who work at an NLJ 250 firm could give me their take on this. Thank you so much!!


Edit: Oh, and also, is it common for people to take 2 months off before law school? Do most people do this?

[Nelson]

Why would this show on your resume? Just use seasons instead of months. E.g. Intern - Fall 2077-Summer 2078

[Princetonlaw68]

Why would this show on your resume? Just use seasons instead of months. E.g. Intern - Fall 2077-Summer 2078

My coworkers told me that employers can figure out exactly when your jobs started and ended. Like, to the exact date.

No one I know uses seasons on their resume.


Also, to be clear, I first interned right after undergrad, and since the internship, I've worked a real job that pays me.

[sd5289]

Part of the summer off isn't going to make a damn bit of difference to prospective employers. The fact that you've even taken a gap year and worked will be more helpful than not. If, for god knows what reason, you are asked why you stopped working in June you can be perfectly honest and say "I wanted to take some time to recuperate and relax before starting the grind that is law school." Anyone who's gone through law school knows what this means and will get it. I only took three weeks off before starting law school, but I'm neurotic and get bored with time off very quickly (case in point, finished finals a week ago and started back with RA work two days ago).

[Princetonlaw68]

Part of the summer off isn't going to make a damn bit of difference to prospective employers. The fact that you've even taken a gap year and worked will be more helpful than not. If, for god knows what reason, you are asked why you stopped working in June you can be perfectly honest and say "I wanted to take some time to recuperate and relax before starting the grind that is law school." Anyone who's gone through law school knows what this means and will get it. I only took three weeks off before starting law school, but I'm neurotic and get bored with time off very quickly (case in point, finished finals a week ago and started back with RA work two days ago).

Thanks for the input. Have you spoken to any lawyers whose opinions coincided with this?

[sd5289]

Part of the summer off isn't going to make a damn bit of difference to prospective employers. The fact that you've even taken a gap year and worked will be more helpful than not. If, for god knows what reason, you are asked why you stopped working in June you can be perfectly honest and say "I wanted to take some time to recuperate and relax before starting the grind that is law school." Anyone who's gone through law school knows what this means and will get it. I only took three weeks off before starting law school, but I'm neurotic and get bored with time off very quickly (case in point, finished finals a week ago and started back with RA work two days ago).

Thanks for the input. Have you spoken to any lawyers whose opinions coincided with this?

No, but I used to do legal hiring where I worked before law school, and really didn't care how much time a person took off before law school if he/she had taken a gap year and worked. We were far more interested in the fact that the applicant actually did that, and we looked at it more favorably than those who went straight through.

Perhaps others on the forum will chime in.

[Princetonlaw68]

Part of the summer off isn't going to make a damn bit of difference to prospective employers. The fact that you've even taken a gap year and worked will be more helpful than not. If, for god knows what reason, you are asked why you stopped working in June you can be perfectly honest and say "I wanted to take some time to recuperate and relax before starting the grind that is law school." Anyone who's gone through law school knows what this means and will get it. I only took three weeks off before starting law school, but I'm neurotic and get bored with time off very quickly (case in point, finished finals a week ago and started back with RA work two days ago).

Thanks for the input. Have you spoken to any lawyers whose opinions coincided with this?

No, but I used to do legal hiring where I worked before law school, and really didn't care how much time a person took off before law school if he/she had taken a gap year and worked. We were far more interested in the fact that the applicant actually did that, and we looked at it more favorably than those who went straight through.

Perhaps others on the forum will chime in.

Well, if you used to do legal hiring, then that's probably even more reliable than if you spoke to a lawyer. I'm just wondering if other people where you worked had the same view as you. Was that the case, or you didn't speak much to other people about it?

[jdx2014]

summer off?

I thought that stuff only happened in the movies. Good for you I guess.

[anyriotgirl]

don't you want the money?

[Princetonlaw68]

don't you want the money?

I do, but I really make extremely little, and I imagine this will be my last chance to take a summer off until I'm retired, so I'm thinking it would be worth it as long as it doesn't look bad on my resume.

[Princetonlaw68]

Why did all the responses just stop all of the sudden?

[chizzy]

I don't think there's anything wrong taking the summer off. I'm K-JD and I'm still taking the summer off before law school. It's really just to relax your mind before school starts and I don't think June till August would do any harm. (Compare it to my own situation were I'm taking the summer off from may till August . I'm basically just traveling and I'm K-JD. So feel better)

[sd5289]

Well, if you used to do legal hiring, then that's probably even more reliable than if you spoke to a lawyer. I'm just wondering if other people where you worked had the same view as you. Was that the case, or you didn't speak much to other people about it?

There were three of us that were responsible for it, and we were all involved with first and second round interviews with candidates as well as meeting over who our top candidates were. The other two didn't explicitly tell me that they didn't care about stuff like this, but they never brought it up either when we were comparing candidates. In my (anecdotal) experience, it was a non-issue in this context.

[Kronk]

Why did all the responses just stop all of the sudden?

b/c asked and answered

[Princetonlaw68]

Why did all the responses just stop all of the sudden?

b/c asked and answered

Yeah, but no one who works in big law ever chimed in :-/.

Thanks to everyone who responded so far though, especially sd!

[Kronk]

Why did all the responses just stop all of the sudden?

b/c asked and answered

Yeah, but no one who works in big law ever chimed in :-/.

Thanks to everyone who responded so far though, especially sd!

idk man, I just think you were pretty much spot-on when you said you were being neurotic. if it makes you feel better, i had a few SA offers at biglaw firms and I didn't work june-july-aug before starting law school. it never came up in any interviews. if you have something relevant to the firm or the practice area they might talk about what you did before ls, but for the most part they just shoot the shit with you, talk about your extracurricular law stuff, your grades, and whatever you did 1L summer.

[chuckbass]

I don't think there's anything wrong taking the summer off. I'm K-JD and I'm still taking the summer off before law school. It's really just to relax your mind before school starts and I don't think June till August would do any harm. (Compare it to my own situation were I'm taking the summer off from may till August . I'm basically just traveling and I'm K-JD. So feel better)

I'm in the same boat, clearly we're not getting biglaw offers...

[Princetonlaw68]

I don't think there's anything wrong taking the summer off. I'm K-JD and I'm still taking the summer off before law school. It's really just to relax your mind before school starts and I don't think June till August would do any harm. (Compare it to my own situation were I'm taking the summer off from may till August . I'm basically just traveling and I'm K-JD. So feel better)

I'm in the same boat, clearly we're not getting biglaw offers...

Haha, I think this has pretty much been answered. However, I'd just like to make it clear that even my neuroticism would not lead me to irrationally believe that anyone who doesn't work the summer before he/she starts law school has virtually no chance at big law. I was more wondering if it could decrease my chances by maybe 5%. It looks like it wouldn't

[Princetonlaw68]

Why did all the responses just stop all of the sudden?

b/c asked and answered

Yeah, but no one who works in big law ever chimed in :-/.

Thanks to everyone who responded so far though, especially sd!

idk man, I just think you were pretty much spot-on when you said you were being neurotic. if it makes you feel better, i had a few SA offers at biglaw firms and I didn't work june-july-aug before starting law school. it never came up in any interviews. if you have something relevant to the firm or the practice area they might talk about what you did before ls, but for the most part they just shoot the shit with you, talk about your extracurricular law stuff, your grades, and whatever you did 1L summer.

Thanks for the input!

[chizzy]

I don't think there's anything wrong taking the summer off. I'm K-JD and I'm still taking the summer off before law school. It's really just to relax your mind before school starts and I don't think June till August would do any harm. (Compare it to my own situation were I'm taking the summer off from may till August . I'm basically just traveling and I'm K-JD. So feel better)

I'm in the same boat, clearly we're not getting biglaw offers...

Haha I hope not
We still have other summers to make it up I hope.

[jbagelboy]

Lol I basically did the exact same thing. Last day beginning of July, then took six weeks to myself. it was glorious, and necessary.

If you are making really good money, that might be a consideration for staying.. but that has nothing to do with future employers.

[Nelson]

Why would this show on your resume? Just use seasons instead of months. E.g. Intern - Fall 2077-Summer 2078

My coworkers told me that employers can figure out exactly when your jobs started and ended. Like, to the exact date.

No one I know uses seasons on their resume.


Also, to be clear, I first interned right after undergrad, and since the internship, I've worked a real job that pays me.

How would employers find that out? By the time they're checking your references or you're filling out a detailed work history, you're already passed the looking at a resume stage. I used seasons on my resume all through OCI because I had a lot of seasonal employment. No one ever blinked. No one is going to care about a month long gap in employment history, especially when it's clear that you weren't laid off.

[Tiago Splitter]

I jumped over seasons and just used years. Bye bye four month gap and six week gap before law school.