I’m an entering 1L at Berkeley primarily interested in public interest stuff (specifically international human rights) but am willing to consider pretty much anything and am trying to decide whether or not I should look for a part-time job for this year. Convention seems to dictate that I shouldn’t, since 1L is already a stressful transition/project and, in the long run, employment-wise, I’ll be better served by focusing on my studies.
Still, I feel like I’ll be at a big disadvantage in terms of applying for all sorts of jobs for 1L summer if I don’t work. For one thing, I’m coming straight out of college. I do have good work experience considering that – I worked at Sidley Austin for a summer and spent a spring and a fall working for a state senator in Chicago – but I haven’t had a job since January 2007, since I wanted to focus on finishing my BA. I also don’t have a summer job right now because, until 2 weeks ago, I was planning to work full-time next year.
Of course, my first priority is doing well in school. But I know that unlike college, law school’s also a segue into a career, so I want to be sure that I can compete with fellow applicants for positions at good organizations/firms. That said, I’d even be willing to work jobs on a volunteer basis since I have a good aid package from Boalt, so I’m considering trying to work at a non-profit or in the San Francisco office of one of California’s senators, so I can build my resume/possibly have a more flexible work schedule.
I’d appreciate any advice… this is pretty difficult considering I don’t really have personal experience with how demanding school will be or how much of a chance I have to get decent 1L summer jobs. I’m especially worried since recruiting for 1Ls begins November 1 (or is it December 1? I’ve seen that as well), and I don’t want to be even further behind, since I’m already at a disadvantage due to my relative inexperience/atrophied resume.
As a side note, this is all further complicated by Boalt’s novel grading system:
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/students/career_services/foremployers/grading.html.