Law School Discussion

this is hilarious.

A job in high school should be irrelevant after four years of undergrad and three years of law school. Unless you were arrested for the conduct or did something crazy like stalk your night manager, you should be okay... you were in high school.

what is the name of the facebook group?

Quote from: templeace on June 30, 2007, 01:26:06 AM

Quote from: vap on June 29, 2007, 04:37:05 PM

This would be my hierarchy of what looks best on a resume for 1L summer.  Of course, different people will have different opinions.

1) US Ct. of Appeals
2) BigLaw or rare federal government position
3) US District Court or State Supreme Court (but some of these might be trumped by a solid medium law firm)
4) Medium law firm, state appellate court, or other federal government position
5) State government position
6) State trial judge, county/local government position, small firm
7) Public interest or county judge

Thanks for the help... this is exactly the type of answer I was looking for. Any 1L jobs I should steer away from?

You might consider not worrying about how something might look on your resume. This is about your life, dude.  What do you WANT to do? It seems like you are ready to base this decision on what other people think. Worse, what you are doing here is asking people you've never met what THEY think other people you've never met will think about what you do.  And you seem to be giving this opinion some weight!!!  Why do you care? Are you your own person?  Are you going to law school just so other people can think you're cool?  Just to be "rich"?  Do you not have any particular areas that you interested/passionate about? 

That's so sad.  Law school would be much more fun if more people actually went because they were interested in working in a particular area and not just because they want other people to think they are cool/smart/rich.

Try thinking this - if BIGLAW doesn't like something that you really want to do for 1L summer, then that's a clue that maybe you will HATE working in BIGLAW, because your interests aren't compatible.  Then, find something else to do with law.  There's a lot of stuff out there, and you can get just as rich.  The important thing is to stay true to yourself and not care what some knucklehead hiring partner at a law firm thinks.  It's called being your own person.  And in the end, it's the only thing that will really make you happy.

It is awfully a shame when you can't even thank someone for posting an answer to a question you have.

It is always good to know information. That is why I asked this question. When you are an extremely bored 0L with nothing else to do with his life at 3 in the morning, I think I should have the right to come on here and ask if anyone in Portland likes Greg Oden if I would like to... if it is a great question that will spark a discussion.

I personally am interested in a several fields of law. I do not think that I will continue to be interested in them all as I continue through law school, and I will probably become interested in a few more. Since I know that I will not have time to ask these types of questions in late October, November and December, I thought that I would do research on different types of positions, their prestige, and the other factors associated with these positions. I don't want to... no let me fix that.... I will not be concerned with these things during the school year, so I will research these things now.

When speaking with professors and meeting alumni and members of the legal community, you have the oppurtunities to build a network and will come upon vast oppurtunities, but if I don't know a golden oppurtunity when I see it, shame on me. And if I forego one for a lesser oppurtunity, shame on me times two. Knowing the names of county, state and fed. judges, and other prominent attorneys in the legal community will be a huge benefit to me.. but I wanted a little help as to where to start. I get a kick out of research. I find it fun. But I refuse to go on google and type in Philly lawyer and start taking down notes (esp. with the great info you can find on forums like this).

I personally am a fan of BigLaw... I come from humble beginnings and really would appreciate a 10-14 hour work day as an attorney (alot easier than lifting luggage in the extremes of mother nature on an airport runway for 10-14 hours). To each his own.

And about what looks good on my resume... did you ever hear that your resume is what decides what you can do with your degree throughout your life??? If you do not practice law or take on unimportant jobs, it can destroy opportunities down the road that are only open to experienced attorneys with a certain set of credentials (I removed one of my credentials by not attending a T20 school). I will more than likely have trouble breaking into academia one day simply because I am attending Temple.

What I want to do is have a diverse, prestigous, and exciting career. The hierachy explained above isn't simply about a resume or money (even though I would also appreciate those benefits very much). Fed. App. clerks work with some of the most intelligent men and women in America, and that is why I wanted to be sure that a clerkship with them during 1L was #1. Possible #2 Worth it (i.e. how am I to be sure that a 1L clerkship with a fed. court or BigLaw firm would benefit me over such a small time period (with all the other, more experienced clerks working compared to a smaller enviroment where I slave for 8-10 hours and learn a massive amount about the law and have more responsibilities).

That is also a question I have:

As a 1L you are pretty inexperienced and some judges have prestigous published Law profs. working as clerks along with T14 grads who have already passed the bar. Would the clerkship truly be a beneficial and educational position or would I do alot of busy work?

And another answer to the above post..yes, I am my own person... my Mommy told me so lmao :p

I just wanted to pose a hypothetical question...

What is the ideal summer job for a 1L? I know that there are many factors, but let's say that I am in the top 5% of my class and I have an open mind about what type of law I want to practice. Do 1L's clerk for fed. judges or work in BigLaw for large salaries like 2L's? I know all of this depends on the type of law the student plans on practicing, but I just wanted to know what would be considered an awesome job for a summer 1L across the board.