js1663 wrote:Veronica2015 wrote:Maybe too early to think about this, but quite curious now: are summer associate positions after 1L difficult to get even at HLS? Is it harder for KJDs? Does previous internship in law firms make up for that? Thanks in advance for any input!
I'm a 0L so take it with a grain of salt, but based on my interaction with quite a few students at ASW and outside it, it does seem like it's far from guaranteed, and in fact takes a lot of hustling to get a summer associate job and even many competitive PI jobs for your 1L year. I met a few 1L's (with good grades no less!) who don't have anything lined up yet for summer and are still looking. Obviously they could be outliers or poor at applying (though none struck me in any way as socially awkward) but finding your 1L job will be a challenge even from HLS. That said HLS does offer summer public interest funding and while I don't fully understand how it works it should help for your 1L year even if you don't get an SA position.
Hi, I'll be that grain of salt.
Getting a 1L job should not be that hard. I am very, very surprised that some people still don't have jobs. Yes, getting a firm job might be difficult, but I'd guess that the people who didn't get a job only applied to the most competitive places (both in terms of law firms and location). I have plenty of friends who were able to get very good SA positions with relative ease. I even had one friend who was flown out for interviews/greasing up. If you want a SA position, you need to be willing to forgo NY/DC. If you're from a midmarket town like Atlanta, Houston, San Diego, Minneapolis, etc, it should be pretty easy to get a job with a bit if hustling. If you aren't, do some networking back home, and be willing to apply to lower ranked firms.
There are also great public interest positions available for 1L. The school will give you ~$4k in funding, which won't be enough to cover your expenses in NYC or DC, but is fairly generous for anywhere else. Getting PI jobs is also pretty easy- that Harvard name does a lot of work for you. We tend to clean up in federal jobs, especially in DC, but there are also satellite jobs all over the country that look great. For example, there are dozens of US Attorney offices across the states, they're relatively easy to get, and they look very good on your resume for 2L SA gigs.
