How do you get your first real lawyer job while you're still in law school?
The reality is that in the three years of law school, there are very few windows
of time to actually be able to get a job.
And the first one is that summer, right after your first year of law school,
otherwise known as your one oh summer.
And so we are gonna walk through exactly what you need to know
about landing your one L summer.
So you can absolutely take advantage of that opportunity and be sure
to stick around till the end.
Cuz I'm gonna tell you guys what I did, my one L summer and how that came
totally full circle in my legal career.
So if you guys are excited to get started and dive in, smash
that like button and let's go.
The first thing we need to know when we are talking about a one L
summer job is what is the point?
What is the strategic purpose of this job?
And it might not be.
Think, and to be completely blunt, the purpose of your one L
summer job is not to make money.
Money is a wonderful side benefit, and if we can get some, we absolutely
are gonna take steps to do that.
But at its core, your one L job has a different primary purpose,
and that purpose is to get legal experience plain and simple.
That is what its.
And the beauty of this is that it doesn't actually matter what you
do as long as it's legally related.
It doesn't matter what type of law you practice.
It doesn't matter what legal organization you work in, and it
doesn't matter if you're paid or unpaid.
Future legal employers are not going to care.
All they wanna see is that you have.
Some type of legal experience.
You can articulate credibly some kinds of projects that you worked on, and
you have some kind of understanding of what a lawyer does day to day.
And the reason that this is important is because when you go onto your
two L summer job interviews, these strategic purposes vary different.
In your two L summer job interviews, we are trying to get paid and we are looking
for a full-time job after graduation.
And in those interviews, 100% without.
They are going to ask you, what did you do your one L summer?
And we want to be able to talk credibly and substantively about
what projects we worked on, what we did, and what we learned.
Now, another amazing sign benefit of the fact that all we wanna do is get
legal experience one L summer, is that you have more flexibility and
opportunity to try different types.
Of law.
They don't have to be the types of law that you're thinking of
working full-time after law school.
They can be things that you're interested in or curious about or have just
always wondered about, and that's okay.
Legal employers are not going to care or judge the type of law that you
practice in that one L summer job.
And so in a low stakes environment, you can really be more creative.
And more curious about the experience that you're actually getting.
Next step we need to know, well, what kinds of jobs can you actually
get during your one L summer?
And there are several different categories.
So the first category is the private sector, meaning these organizations
offer a service that clients pay for.
And when we talk about the private sector, we're talking
about law firms and corporations.
Now, traditionally, corporations haven't really hired one L interns.
Corporations generally don't hire new lawyers right out
of law school to practice.
Usually you need three to five years of experience to be considered a viable
candidate to go in-house at a corporation.
But lately I've been seeing a lot more law schools partnering
with corporations to provide for one L internship opportunities.
So just know that that is an option at some law schools and in some.
The other one is way better known, right?
Working in a law firm.
And we'll talk in a second about how to actually go about getting these jobs,
but just know that when we're talking about law firm hiring for that one L
summer, it is very limited, especially when compared to your two L summer.
And so when we talk about law firm hiring as one l's, there's some very
specific avenues and very specific pipe.
That you'll need to enter in order to be competitive for these positions,
but they tend to be the most sought after because they actually pay money
your one L Summer, which most of these internship opportunities won't.
The second sector to be aware of is the public sector.
And when we're talking about the public sector, we mean jobs on the government
side or jobs in public interests will also be included in that bucket.
And so this is where most one Ls will fall because these agencies
and these organizations tend to have far fewer resources.
They need a lot more help, and they don't pay out of pocket for the.
That they hired during the one L summer.
And so to give you an example of some of the jobs that you might get in one
of these sectors, on the government side, we're looking at a local, state,
or federal level of the justice system.
So municipal courts, state courts, federal courts.
You could also work in any one of those levels in an agency, so maybe a local
housing agency or a state transportation agency or a federal tax agency.
You'll also have judicial internship.
In this category as well, because that also happens at the local,
state or federal level of government.
And then in the public interest side of things, that could really be any
non-profit, working with lower income individuals and offering either free legal
services or discounted legal services.
So think sort of legal aid and they can handle anything from eviction
matters to criminal matters, family matters, immigration matters.
And so anything that kind of falls into that public interest
bucket will also be in the public.
The third category of jobs to be aware of that are available to you during your one
L Summer are other, I'm going to call them because they're kind of a mix, and so on
the one side you have jobs that you can get specifically through your law school.
Now remember we do want to get substantive legal.
Experience.
So we're not gonna prioritize, for example, working in the
library, but most law professors do hire research assistants.
And so that's absolutely a way to get substantive legal
experience while also getting paid.
Another option through your law school is to take a clinic.
Now a clinic is unpaid, it is actual course hours, but you are working as
a real lawyer with real clients under the supervision of your professor who's
gonna be your supervising attorney.
So that's another great way to get legal experience if you're not
finding an internship somewhere.
On the other side, we have a lot of one-off sort of pro bono projects,
and so a lot of these sort of clinics around town organized by local bar
associations will have one day, three day, one week clinics where you can
go and help somebody draft a will.
You can go and help somebody with a family matter like divorce.
They have immigration clinics, they have housing eviction clinic.
So there are always opportunities to get real legal substantive work, even
if you're not having luck in identifying sort of a formal one L internship.
So don't ever get discouraged if you are finding yourself needing
something a little bit more resourceful, a little bit more
creative to get that actual experience.
Now before we move on, I know some of you guys actually have interviews
coming up, so if that is you, then definitely grab the free best questions.
In law firm interviews guide.
It is word for word the most amazing questions that I have asked in
law firm interviews to make the conversation really compelling
and engaging with that interviewer and really wow them in the room.
So I'll leave that link and the description below so you guys can grab it.
Now that we know what one L summer jobs are, hypothetically available,
how do we actually go about finding these things to apply to?
And there are five main ways to look these things up.
The first one, and without a doubt, the most comprehensive,
is your law school's job board.
And every single law school will have a list.
Of all of the different legal employers in the area who have
reached out to that specific law school to ask for one L interns.
And so by far this is the most direct way to find a job because these employers
have already said one, that they're looking for one L's and two, that they're
looking for one L's from your law school.
The second place to look is in your own career services office and specifically
looking for a list of the public interest organizations and the judicial in.
That the law school has available for its students because career services
offices cultivate these relationships with judges, with organizations in the area.
And this is where, again, most of us will fall.
And the great thing about these positions is that a lot of law schools
will actually give public interest.
Stipends to students who work in public interest and judicial internships as
a way to give back to the community.
So that can be anywhere from 1500 to $3,000 for some of these internships,
which is a great way to also make a little bit of money your one L summer.
The third thing to be aware of are diversity pipeline programs, and this
is a really important avenue to explore because when we talk about law firms that
hire one LS and corporations that hire.
Almost exclusively, they hire through these diversity pipeline programs.
And so you wanna be asking your career services office about local diversity
programs, regional diversity programs, and national diversity programs.
And I'll link the biggest one in the description below L C L D.
But this is a really great way to get access to those organizations,
law firms and corporations that don't historically hire one L'S and only
give those opportunities or mostly give those opportunities to diversity.
The fourth place to go to look for these one L Summer jobs
is your local bar association.
Now, all states have a bar association, meaning the Texas
Bar Association, for example.
But if you're in a major city, you should also have a city Bar Association.
So the Dallas Bar Association, for example.
And if you look into that, almost universally, they will have in.
Programs for public interest, internships and judicial internship programs.
So definitely give that a look because there are a lot of opportunities
sort of hidden in these organizations that you might not be aware of
and that your law school might not actually have on its job board.
The fifth place to go to find these one L job opportunities is totally
old school and it's pounding the pavement, meaning cold reach outs
and informational interviews.
And I know it can be really scary if you find yourself in this place, in
this category where all of the other avenues haven't worked for you, but I
guarantee you that cultivating these skills and forcing yourself to kind of
go through a bootcamp of networking like.
Will not only help you find a one L summer internship, but
will serve you for years to come.
So if you find yourself in this place, really celebrate it because you're gonna
become an amazing networker and really jumpstart your professional community.
. So now that we know what the purpose of our one L summer job is, what jobs
are available and how to actually find those positions, I wanted to share with
you guys what I did my one L summer.
And so my one L summer of law school, I split between two places.
The first place was the Human Rights Initiative of North Dallas, and
the second place was the Dallas County District Attorney's office.
And in the first internship that I did for six weeks, we worked
primarily in immigration law and specifically helping ass.
Asylum.
And in the second internship that I spent six weeks at, we were starting
off in misdemeanors, so things like drunk driving and petty theft.
And then about halfway through, I moved up to the felony division and actually
got to sit through an entire trial with the prosecutors on a felony murder charge.
And so both of these internships were crazy amazing and really opened
my eyes to these types of law that.
Only ever heard of before writers seen on tv, but I didn't really understand
the intricacies of what was involved or what the day-to-day looked like.
So that was really, really neat to be able to get sort of a window into
human rights law and criminal law.
And in full transparency.
I will tell you guys that I did apply to the law firms that came to campus through
the one L on campus interviewing process, and I didn't get any of those positions.
Now, at the time, there wasn't really a diversity pipeline program.
And the global financial crisis had just happened, so you really needed
to be kind of in the top five, top 3% of the class to even be competitive
for those positions, which I was not.
But the cool thing was, just to kind of reiterate my point from before,
that even if your goal is to work in a corporation or work in a law
firm full-time upon graduation, they don't care what it is you do, your.
Summer, you can work in any type of law.
You can work for any type of organization.
All you need to do is to be able to articul.
A couple of the projects you worked on, a little bit about the type of law so that
you can't have a substantive answer ready for your two L summer job interviews.
So just wanted to kind of reiterate that point and hopefully it helps you
guys feel a little bit more grounded.
Takes the pressure off a little bit so that you don't have to
know what type of law you wanna practice or what you wanna do.
Your one L summer, we're just going out there and.
Some kind of substantive legal experience.
All right guys, so if you're actually headed into an interview soon, which
is so incredibly exciting, definitely check out this playlist of the most
popular questions that law firms will ask an interview so you know
exactly how to answer them, and you can totally wow them in the room.
So with that, I hope this was helpful, guys.
Let me know how your interviews go, and best of luck in your
one L Summer job search.
All right guys, I'll see you in the next one.