ADVICE needed - DOJ or NYC Law Dept for 2L Summer

[cubbos]

I'm looking for advice re: 2L summer employment.  I have an offer from the DOJ (Not SLIP) as a DC summer volunteer intern in a department I really may want to eventually get into, and an offer for the NYC Law Dept Summer Honors Program.  Does anyone have advice as to which is more prestigious and a better opportunity to learn over the summer?  I plan to eventually practice in NYC in either government or firm work (but fine with living in DC for a bit), so trying to figure out which would be the better job.

thanks in advance.

[,.,.,.;.,.,.]

I would imagine that the DOJ is almost always more prestigious, unless it's being compared to clerking, a top firm, or prestigious PI like the ACLU.

Anecdotally, I know a student at my school who worked for the Chicago law department and said the job was boring.  It's not New York, but it's worth whatever weight you want to impute to it.

[deedeeleigh]

The NY Law Dept gives post-grad offers to a large percentage of their Summer Honors Program. It'd be a much smarter move, IMO, to take the NY Law Dept Honors over an unpaid internship at the DOJ. This is especially true if you want to work in NYC. In this economy, an in with the city gvmt, to a nice, decently paid job isn't something to pass up.

[vap]

The NY Law Dept gives post-grad offers to a large percentage of their Summer Honors Program. It'd be a much smarter move, IMO, to take the NY Law Dept Honors over an unpaid internship at the DOJ. This is especially true if you want to work in NYC. In this economy, an in with the city gvmt, to a nice, decently paid job isn't something to pass up.

I'm not familiar with NY Law Dept Honors Program, but if this statement about post-grad offers is correct, I would choose the NY Law Dept.

Unpaid DOJ internships are relatively common.  And, if you applied for SLIP but were passed over and offered a volunteer position instead, my guess is that you are not going to be a very competitive candidate for permanent hire after your internship.

Have you considered splitting the summer between both?

[cubbos]

Unfortunately, its unlikely that I will be able to split the summer.  & Yes, there is a potential offer after the summer at the NYC Law Dept (not huge $ but on par w/ govt salary).  The reason I am on the fence is b/c with the DOJ, I would be working for the exact dept I would want to get into eventually whereas with the NYC Law Dept, I would not.  Is this trade-off worth it?  Also, has anyone gone through the NYC Law Dept Honors Program and what was your experience.  Thanks all.

[vap]

Also, keep in mind that nothing precludes you from applying to the DOJ through the honors program as a 3L (so long as you don't commit to NY Law Dept permanently).  Even if you did the unpaid DOJ internship, you would need to reapply through the honors program to get a permanent employment offer.

[NYC3L]

Probably NYC Corp Counsel. It has a really good reputation under Michael Cardozo, and it's a great place to work. They also give permanent offers to almost everyone. DOJ is, too, but even DOJ SLIP is no guarantee of a permanent offer there.

[scappy]

Actually, I just came back from a call-back interview from the NYC Law Department and I'd love to get into that program.  Does anyone know how long it takes for a decision to be made after your call-back interview?

[NYC3L]

Is your callback with the head of legal hiring? If so, they'll call your references and probably give you an offer in a week or so (or snail mail rejection a few weeks later). It's a great program, from what I hear. And 2L summer gov't jobs rarely turn into full time positions like NYCLD.

[scappy]

My call back was with 2 senior counsels, one of whom was the head of the department I'm interested in, and an associate counsel who pretty much just told me about the program.  I never met the head of legal hiring so maybe I'm screwed.