just how bad is the 1L job market?

[asiangirl]

I know getting paid job is hard (harder), but did not quite expect so many people finding difficulty in getting volunteer/ unpaid positions.

[LawSchoolAuthority]

There is more competition than ever for these public sector positions, even volunteer/unpaid positions.  The situation may be frustrated even more when there are a number of Biglaw firms trying to secure work for incoming 3Ls/associates that they are temporarily putting on "leave." http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/16/lawyer.layoff.public/index.html

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

It's terrible out there.  People are scrambling to find *RA* positions.  Staff attorneys are climbing floors in the hope of escaping the ghastly layoffs below.

Doc Review?  What Doc Review?

[lyre]

hey guys, i currently have an offer from PI organization that I really like doing immigration and asylum work. i have request from an state judge to come in for interview and i'm hesitant to go. my school has a rule that if you get an offer from a judge you must accept.

my concern is what would look better for OCI this fall or will it even matter? Thoughts?

Is that rule about being required to accept offers from judges standard?  I've never heard of anything like that, but maybe my school is just weird.  I suppose if you think you might be interested in working for the judge, you could go interview with him -- then if you get the impression during the interview that it's not really what you're looking for, you could just quickly send a follow-up e-mail the next day thanking him for his time but asking to be taken out of consideration for the position since you are going to pursue something else.  That way, you avoid getting a formal offer from him... but you also run the small risk that he might offer you a position on the spot in the interview, LOL.  I'm also not sure how ethical this is -- I'm sure your school doesn't really want people doing this either, but also there's no prohibition on it...

But if you are just as happy doing the immigration work, I'd just stick with that and tell the judge thanks but no thanks.  I might think working for a judge would look a LITTLE bit better during OCI, but it probably depends on what type of law you are interested in -- like if you want to do immigration, go for the immigration work, obviously.  Even if you're interested in an immigration career, you could still spin the hands-on experience you get this summer to be impressive for another field of law.

[Susan B. Anthony]

Is that rule about being required to accept offers from judges standard? 

Pretty much. It's considered very poor form to decline an offer from a judge - and most judges won't hesitate to contact your career services office if they feel you've made a breach of etiquette. Our career services office policy states that you need to research judges carefully and only accept interviews from judges you would be okay working for, and, if after an interview you can't see yourself working there, you are to withdraw yourself from consideration as soon as possible.

[Miss P]

Is that rule about being required to accept offers from judges standard? 

Pretty much. It's considered very poor form to decline an offer from a judge - and most judges won't hesitate to contact your career services office if they feel you've made a breach of etiquette. Our career services office policy states that you need to research judges carefully and only accept interviews from judges you would be okay working for, and, if after an interview you can't see yourself working there, you are to withdraw yourself from consideration as soon as possible.

At my school, this rule applies only to federal judges and judges in the NYS appellate courts, but I know at some schools it applies to all judges in all courts.

[Susan B. Anthony]

Is that rule about being required to accept offers from judges standard? 

Pretty much. It's considered very poor form to decline an offer from a judge - and most judges won't hesitate to contact your career services office if they feel you've made a breach of etiquette. Our career services office policy states that you need to research judges carefully and only accept interviews from judges you would be okay working for, and, if after an interview you can't see yourself working there, you are to withdraw yourself from consideration as soon as possible.

At my school, this rule applies only to federal judges and judges in the NYS appellate courts, but I know at some schools it applies to all judges in all courts.

Do you know why this is?

I've gotten the impression that career service offices are mostly interested in not messing up future hiring with the judges, but there could well be more going on.

[eat it]

i'm still looking for a summer job, if anyone knows of places in new england (preferably ct) that are hiring.

[Miss P]

Do you know why this is?

I've gotten the impression that career service offices are mostly interested in not messing up future hiring with the judges, but there could well be more going on.

I think it's about two related things: (1) the special place judges (who are only known by honorifics, etc.) have in the legal world and (2) not messing up future hiring.  There's this idea that judges have very little time and that an interview with one, even for a fairly non-competitive externship, is a huge honor.  My school probably allows us to turn down trial court judges because permanent hiring in the trial courts goes through a central system (and also possibly because they are less elite in some senses) and other states' judges because we do not have a lot of repeat applications to other states' courts.  I bet career services would still frown on a student turning down an offer to work on, say, the California or Delaware Supreme Court, however.

[asiangirl]

at my school about 15% people last year did judicial internships.
and the school asked people not to turn down judges' offers too.
would it be reasonable to assume that not that many people got offers from judges?