Top Law Schools

I’ve got a JAG slot and the decision is between law review and a year-long internship at a local D.A.’s office (mid-sized city). I’m in the top 6% at a TTT and coauthored a law review article last year (long story, but an attorney-friend threw me a bone as a 1L).

Long term career prospects vary, but I’m mostly interested in fed gov, career JAG, or potentially management side labor and employment. I know that’s a bit inconsistent, but those are my thoughts now.

Pre-law career was as a military officer in the combat arms.

Is law review worth it or would getting the D.A. experience be better, considering I’m going JAG, but may want to change jobs down the line (meaning that the law review resume bullet point might become relevant).

when in doubt, why not both?

Definitely both.

Doing both would mean somewhat around 300 hours of hours required outside of class. I've got a wife and one-year old, so I'm just have no idea if this is doable, but it seems like a hell of a lot in addition to classes, even though I could bottom out at 12 hours. (1 LR credit, 3 clinic credits, 8 class credits, including trial ad). Do you think this is manageable?

I don't know. It'll depend on what you want, I guess. You can't get credit for the clinic? It's certainly not at all unusual for people on LR to also do a clinic/internship.

I appreciate the feedback. I do think it's kind of silly (to put it nicely). I can't imagine an MBA student being told "yes, you should spend the next year editing articles that discuss far-fetched business ideas in topics unrelated to your chosen career field, rather than participating in an internship that will closely mimic your first job. The editing is a much better choice." Or likewise that a ROTC cadet should edit journal articles about military affairs rather than doing a wilderness survival school or something else that will actually build competence for future career success as a military officer.

That said, I guess that's the game. I know I'm fortunate enough to have a job at this point. I hope the 350 hours of cite-checking over the next year adds the brass ring that everyone says it does for jobs later down the line (I'd love to hear anecdotes backing this up because I have yet to find a single positive aspect about law review other than the immediate payoff as a resume bullet point during OCIs).

Thanks very much for the input. I begrudgingly, but sincerely appreciate it....

I actually really loved second year on law review and the first year was much less painful than I expected.

350 hours of cite-checking? Where is this law review, the gulag? Our LR was two cite-checks a semester and each was mayyyyyybe 15 hours (mine were nothing near that, but there was potential to get stuck with really bad ones).

Which is to say I don't see any reason not to do both. For reference, at my law school one academic credit for LR was supposed to equal 50 hours work over the semester, which was the same standard for externship credit (50 hours = 1 credit). It's definitely doable to do both (and I hope this doesn't sound snotty, but if you were in the military you can definitely handle classes, LR, and an internship).

But if you really don't want to do LR, then don't do it. It's another box to check, for those situations where box-checking is helpful; it counts as "superior academic achievement" for federal hiring (but then, your grades will count for that); some biglaw employers will care; some judges will care.

I personally really enjoyed law review, but then, everyone here tells me I don't know what fun is, so keep that in mind.