Federal District Court Internship v. Bankruptcy Court Internship

[blaze.1]

Does anyone have any information on either of these 1L summer internships? Which is more prestigious? What are the pros and cons of each?

[lipper]

District Court -

trial level experience, open-ended

Bankruptcy Ct -

trial level geared towards bankruptcy

I would think either is fine, although obviously if u want to do bankruptcy work, that one would be the way to go. A district court you get just about all legal issues. if u have no idea what u want to do yet, i would say the district ct.

Kind of a self-answered question.

[Lenny]

Lipper is correct about the differences between the two experiences. 

Now, as for the prestige question, you seem to basically be asking which will be better for your future job prospects.  For post-graduate clerkships, the answer is pretty clearly a federal district clerkship over a bankruptcy clerkship.  For a summer internship, I think the answer turns more on the level of "connectedness" of the individual judge.  Which judge has more contacts or more leverage in your desired job market?  You could find this out by asking attorneys in that job market which position they would seek.  My baseless assumption will be that most attorneys will say work for the district judge, but there may be situations in which there are very connected bankruptcy judges out there. 

[blaze.1]

I'm currently applying to 1L summer internships and have no idea what each judge does because I haven't taken civ pro yet so your input is much appreciated. I plan to practice in some aspect of corporate law so I've heard bankruptcy courts can be an excellent experience.

Do you have any suggestions about the process in general? from mailing applications to interviewing? Any tips you picked up along the way? What about magistrate judges? How prestigious?

[giraffe205]

I've externed in both bankruptcy court and federal district court. I can say that it all depends on the type of judge and his law clerks. Some law clerks will really be involved w/ you, whereas others hate delegating.

If you are interested in secured transactions (UCC Article 9), bankruptcy court is a great experience. I thought it was a great conversation point during interviews. My only concern is that perhaps I'll be pigeon-holed into the bankruptcy dept come this summer. However, this is a minor concern since firms will move you around from dept to dept generally.

[tommy]

Buy this book,



http://www.shoplrp.com/product/p-30000.STUDEN3.html

[J D]

Buy this book,



http://www.shoplrp.com/product/p-30000.STUDEN3.html

Looks like a really short read, considering that student loans are nearly impossible to discharge in most cases.

[ut2lblah]

Take the district court internship. Bankruptcy court appeals go to the local district court.

You might work on a bankruptcy appeal.