1L jobs. Big or Small Firms?

[sdlaw]

Consider yourself lucky you got a job, most first years dont find a job much less a paying job, especially from a t4.  I would bet most of your classmates would jump on the opportunity to work for free (experience is key so I dont blame them).  So I would say take it and be really happy, as for the crappy pay just think of ur fellow classmates doing the same work for FREE.

[tjking82]

If you're after the experience, good for you.  There's something to be said for that.  But don't pretend that's not a bad wage for somebody they're hoping will come back in a few years and help them make hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What else would you be after for 1L summer? A lot of people work 20hrs at a volunteer job and then do a non law related job to make money. I don't think that 20/hr waiter job is going to help in 2L OCI.

It isn't like 2L OCI interviewers require 1L legal experience.  The interviewers I've talked to thus far (Skadden, Fried Frank, Paul Hastings, etc.) have said that all they're looking for in an applicant's 1L summer is something to talk about.  I've explicitly had one tell me that his favorite people to interview are people who took the summers off and went overseas, because they have something unusual and interesting to talk about.

Of course experience is key in order to get a legal job; but NOT experience during 1L summer.  Like you have all been saying, plenty of 2Ls didn't have a job 1L summer and yet they get firm jobs.

Along these lines, it's silly to take a bad paying job "just to get experience."  I would either hold out for a better paying legal job, and if that doesn't happen, *gasp* do something interesting with my summer.  Either way, you get something valuable for 2L OCI without feeling like you're getting used at $11/hr.

[giraffe205]

If you're after the experience, good for you.  There's something to be said for that.  But don't pretend that's not a bad wage for somebody they're hoping will come back in a few years and help them make hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What else would you be after for 1L summer? A lot of people work 20hrs at a volunteer job and then do a non law related job to make money. I don't think that 20/hr waiter job is going to help in 2L OCI.

It isn't like 2L OCI interviewers require 1L legal experience.  The interviewers I've talked to thus far (Skadden, Fried Frank, Paul Hastings, etc.) have said that all they're looking for in an applicant's 1L summer is something to talk about.  I've explicitly had one tell me that his favorite people to interview are people who took the summers off and went overseas, because they have something unusual and interesting to talk about.

Of course experience is key in order to get a legal job; but NOT experience during 1L summer.  Like you have all been saying, plenty of 2Ls didn't have a job 1L summer and yet they get firm jobs.

Along these lines, it's silly to take a bad paying job "just to get experience."  I would either hold out for a better paying legal job, and if that doesn't happen, *gasp* do something interesting with my summer.  Either way, you get something valuable for 2L OCI without feeling like you're getting used at $11/hr.

While that particular interviewer may appreciate a summer spent backpacking in Europe (esp. since most of the OCI interviewers are young), the 8 old stodgy partners at the call-back interview may question your commitment to the law or whether you were even able to even get a non-paid position. In the end, they may actually assume the worst--"other ppl didn't want him/her, there's probably something wrong w/ him, so I'll just take the Columbia student who worked for a judge."

Your summer spent isn't just so you have something to talk about. It's a demonstration of your speaking skills when discussing legal issues. They want to see how well you can talk about the bench memo to the judge on a summary judgment motion or the interoffice memo to the partner on whether to take a case. Thus, while it doesn't matter too much if your summer was spent at a big firm v. small or if your position was paid, what will matter is how you speak about what you did. Speaking of canoeing in Switzerland and how beautiful the mtns. were won't convince them that your top notch atty material. That doesn't mean, however, that one still can't take two weeks to travel to Europe, Costa Rica, or wherever and still discuss that as well.

[beer gunner]

what does two in the hand mean?

"a bird in the hand..."

LOL!