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[brucewaynegretzky]

Congratulations! Paid = good. Is it a livable wage?

Thank you! Find out tomorrow. My educated guess: Almost.

It should also lead to some really great networking opportunities, which is why I'm excited about it. I'm also gonna tell my current stipend employer, who I've spent A LOT of time working for through school, about it and that I'm still really interested in some positions that look like they are going to be open in the very near future. There's a chance it could force my boss' hand because I think he genuinely does want to keep me around, but knew that he could take his time as long as I was in the program I'm in now.

 

[Pollux]

Got offered a paid internship today. Almost definitely gonna take it. No idea where this is gonna go. I think this may qualify as one of Manos' "non-law" jobs, but not really....

Don't wanna say anymore just yet.

Hell yea! Congrats dude!

 

[Byakuya769]

Got offered a paid internship today. Almost definitely gonna take it. No idea where this is gonna go. I think this may qualify as one of Manos' "non-law" jobs, but not really....

Don't wanna say anymore just yet.

Congrats! Resting a little more easy?

 

[brucewaynegretzky]

Hell yea! Congrats dude!

Congrats! Resting a little more easy?

Thanks guys! Definitely resting a little easier. Not done hustling just yet, but this is a big step.

 

[brucewaynegretzky]

Congratulations! Paid = good. Is it a livable wage?

Updated Answer: No, but it's still better than my stipend.

Starting tomorrow. I'm kinda worried. At my old job I was unpaid, but I really did function as an integral part of the office. I got to do research on actual legal matters and my opinion was weighed in the decision making process. I also had developed a pretty good knowledge of what went on in the office and had even made myself the "expert" on one or two things.

Now I'm going into an internship that is advertised to undergrads.... The woman I met with did say that they've hired a few lawyers out of the program in recent years due to the market, but I think I've made a horrible decision. The company is really great and has name brand recognition here in DC, but I'm worried I just made it so I wasted the last 3 years of my life...

 

[Byakuya769]

Have you ever considered consulting? Granted, you'd still run into the "not legal" problem, but they seem to like JDs a lot.

 

[brucewaynegretzky]

Have you ever considered consulting? Granted, you'd still run into the "not legal" problem, but they seem to like JDs a lot.

This is actually pretty similar to that.

 

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

Got offered a paid internship today. Almost definitely gonna take it. No idea where this is gonna go. I think this may qualify as one of Manos' "non-law" jobs, but not really....

Don't wanna say anymore just yet.

Belated congrats.

 

[Byakuya769]

This is actually pretty similar to that.

Ah ok. My mentor actually went straight to McKenzie after finishing law school, despite offers from Wachtell and Sull/Crom. He doesn't seem to regret it.

 

[Byakuya769]

Any advice on callbacks? It's starting to look like I'll only have two, and there's one I really want to kill!

 

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

Any advice on callbacks? It's starting to look like I'll only have two, and there's one I really want to kill!

Give it your best. Also be a little nerdy, when you talk about a part of the job, act a little giddy about it and apologize, saying "you just love that aspect and the thought of doing it made me really happy". Eh it's a bit hard to explain if you haven't seen it, but I think having a nerdish glee at doing something helps a bit.

 

[Bboy AJ]

Give it your best. Also be a little nerdy, when you talk about a part of the job, act a little giddy about it and apologize, saying "you just love that aspect and the thought of doing it made me really happy". Eh it's a bit hard to explain if you haven't seen it, but I think having a nerdish glee at doing something helps a bit.

Are you joking? Everyone knows the job sucks. You have to sell it, sure, but doing something like that just screams insincere.

 

[mre]

"Oh golly, yes. I've always dreamed of doing DUI defense. Absolutely."

 

[Byakuya769]

It's at a v10, does that change anything?

 

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

Are you joking? Everyone knows the job sucks. You have to sell it, sure, but doing something like that just screams insincere.

Keep in mind it was actually something I liked. I truthfully got excited talking about it. lol

 

[mre]

It's at a v10, does that change anything?

How are your dick sucking skills?

 

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

How are your dick sucking skills?

What's a v10?

 

[Byakuya769]

How are your dick sucking skills?

Hahaha. When I saw that you had replied I actually anticipated that response!

What's a v10?

Law students have transplanted their prestige whoring ranking shit from US News & World Report's school rankings to Vault's firm rankings.

 

[LowEndTorque]

So, can any of mah law-gaf homies recommend any good resources describing how to put together an awesome cover/CV for law firms?

 

[mre]

So, can any of mah law-gaf homies recommend any good resources describing how to put together an awesome cover/CV for law firms?

Still in school or already practicing?

 

[LowEndTorque]

Still in school or already practicing?

About to start 1L in a couple of weeks. There are a few firms doing OCI's at our school this September that invited 1L's to apply for summer articling positions. Applications are due in about a week and imma give it a shot.

It's extremely, extremely unlikely I'll get hired since probably only one or two 1L's from our entire school will end up getting hired, but I want to give it a shot anyways. If I can at least get an interview, I want to have the experience of knowing what a law firm interview feels like.

 

[mre]

About to start 1L in a couple of weeks. There are a few firms doing OCI's at our school this September that invited 1L's to apply for summer articling positions. Applications are due in about a week and imma give it a shot.

It's extremely, extremely unlikely I'll get hired since probably only one or two 1L's from our entire school will end up getting hired, but I want to give it a shot anyways. If I can at least get an interview, I want to have the experience of knowing what a law firm interview feels like.

Does your school have a career services office? If so, go there tomorrow. If not, post back in here and we'll try to help you out.

 

[LowEndTorque]

Does your school have a career services office? If so, go there tomorrow. If not, post back in here and we'll try to help you out.

Yup. The director of the Career Services Office said she would be happy to go over my resume and cover letter and make suggestions once they’re done, but didn't offer much advice in the way of getting started.

I've researched and gathered information about the firms and I’m now just at the stage of starting to draft the cover letter. Having writers block right now and was kinda just asking for links to any good online resources to help me get started on writing the damn thing.

 

[mre]

Yup. The director of the Career Services Office said she would be happy to go over my resume and cover letter and make suggestions once they’re done, but didn't offer much advice in the way of getting started.

I've researched and gathered information about the firms and I’m now just at the stage of starting to draft the cover letter. Having writers block right now and was kinda just asking for links to any good online resources to help me get started on writing the damn thing.

Well, you're a 1L about 3 weeks into your legal career, so there's not going to be much to your resume. Did you have to submit a resume in your application to law school? That would probably suffice. If you have had any sort of legal experience up to this point, then emphasize that.

 

[PBY]

It's at a v10, does that change anything?

Just swag out on em. You'll be fine, congrats on the cb

 

[commish]

Give it your best. Also be a little nerdy, when you talk about a part of the job, act a little giddy about it and apologize, saying "you just love that aspect and the thought of doing it made me really happy". Eh it's a bit hard to explain if you haven't seen it, but I think having a nerdish glee at doing something helps a bit.

Dear Jesus, don't do this. It'd be an automatic no offer if someone did this shit with me. Partners might like it. Associates will think you're ... uh... insincere.

 

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

Dear Jesus, don't do this. It'd be an automatic no offer if someone did this shit with me. Partners might like it. Associates will think you're ... uh... insincere.

Once again I really liked the work and talked about experience too.

 

[Bboy AJ]

About to start 1L in a couple of weeks. There are a few firms doing OCI's at our school this September that invited 1L's to apply for summer articling positions. Applications are due in about a week and imma give it a shot.

It's extremely, extremely unlikely I'll get hired since probably only one or two 1L's from our entire school will end up getting hired, but I want to give it a shot anyways. If I can at least get an interview, I want to have the experience of knowing what a law firm interview feels like.

You're not allowed to do anything job related until November. Then you can't apply until December.

 

[LowEndTorque]

You're not allowed to do anything job related until November. Then you can't apply until December.

Not sure I'm following you, unless the instructions given to us by the office are incorrect.

Memo/email sent out to all the incoming 1L's instructed us to have applications submitted by a deadline next week if we're interested. First round of interviews are at the end of September (for those of us lucky enough to be selected for an interview). Second round of interviews and hiring is in January/February (once the employers have some actual grades to see if any of us are actually worth hiring). For those that get hired, work begins summer 2013.

 

[Bboy AJ]

Not sure I'm following you, unless the instructions given to us by the office are incorrect.

Memo/email sent out to all the incoming 1L's instructed us to have applications submitted by a deadline next week if we're interested. First round of interviews are at the end of September (for those of us lucky enough to be selected for an interview). Second round of interviews and hiring is in January/February (once the employers have some actual grades to see if any of us are actually worth hiring). For those that get hired, work begins summer 2013.

Q: Why is my access to Career Development restricted until November 1, and why can't I contact employers prior to December 1?

A: The National Association for Law Placement (NALP), an association of nearly every law school and a significant number of legal employers, adopted a set of guidelines intended to govern the conduct of law students and employers.  The guidelines state that: "Law schools should not offer Career Development to first-semester first year law students prior to November 1 [and] [p]rospective employers and first year law students should not initiate contact with one another and employers [and] not interview or make offers to first year students before December 1."  Nearly every law school, including Berkeley Law, adheres to these guidelines.  Their purpose is to allow students to focus on their studies, acclimate to law school life and learn about some of their options before they have to engage in a time-consuming job search.  Even if these guidelines were not in place, the fact is that many employers do not even begin to think about hiring first-year students until they have completed their hiring decisions regarding second- and third-year students in November or December.

http://www.law.berkeley.edu/6058.htm#november_1

 

[LowEndTorque]

^Thanks for the info. I only see two possible explanations for this.

a) Those NALP guidelines do not apply to Canadian law schools and/or Canadian legal employers.

b) We were given incorrect instructions in the memo.

 

[Bboy AJ]

^Thanks for the info. I only see two possible explanations for this.

a) Those NALP guidelines do not apply to Canadian law schools and/or Canadian legal employers.

b) We were given incorrect instructions in the memo.

You're in Canada? Ohhh, that might change things. My mistake.

 

[LowEndTorque]

You're in Canada? Ohhh, that might change things. My mistake.

My bad, I probably should have mentioned that I'm in Canada at the outset.

I was kind of hoping that you were right and that a mistake or typo was made in the memo. It would have given me a lot more time to put these applications together

 

[Byakuya769]

Ok, the CB at least FELT better than 90% of the screeners I've done. Really liked the people I interviewed with and the information they provided about the firm. One of the interviewers told my career adviser that he really liked me...

-fingers crossed-

 

[Pollux]

Good luck, brother!

on a completely different topic....moot court write on fucking sucks.

 

[idlethreats]

I'm a 3L so I probably shouldn't complain, but classes just started yesterday and I am so, so sick of this song and dance already. I can't wait to graduate and start studying for the Bar.

 

[ZackieChan]

I'm a 3L so I probably shouldn't complain, but classes just started yesterday and I am so, so sick of this song and dance already. I can't wait to graduate and start studying for the Bar.

You aren't alone. I'm basically doing real work at my internships; the only difference is that I don't have an esquire after my name. Why won't this year END ALREADY?

 

[brucewaynegretzky]

I'm a 3L so I probably shouldn't complain, but classes just started yesterday and I am so, so sick of this song and dance already. I can't wait to graduate and start studying for the Bar.

You aren't alone. I'm basically doing real work at my internships; the only difference is that I don't have an esquire after my name. Why won't this year END ALREADY?

You sound like you have jobs lined up...

 

[Bboy AJ]

As much as I enjoyed law school, my job is way more fun. I don't regret law school for one second.

 

[brucewaynegretzky]

As much as I enjoyed law school, my job is way more fun. I don't regret law school for one second.

I go back and forth on it. Working is ALWAYS better though. I don't even really like this new job and it's way better.

 

[idlethreats]

You sound like you have jobs lined up...

Honestly, idk. My firm hasn't released offers for our summer class yet, so it's up in the air.

 

[PBY]

Offered, ny firm that pays market. Game, set match job search. Still have a few more CBs so not accepting yet, but I feel great considering I'm basically at the bottom of my class.

Good luck to everyone else- Byak that sounds realllly promising, keep us posted

 

[Bboy AJ]

Offered, ny firm that pays market. Game, set match job search. Still have a few more CBs so not accepting yet, but I feel great considering I'm basically at the bottom of my class.

Good luck to everyone else- Byak that sounds realllly promising, keep us posted

Congrats! Now just coast all of 3L year and don't f up the bar.

 

[brucewaynegretzky]

http://brosatthebar.tumblr.com/post/31079447771/when-a-job-application-asks-me-to-list-my

 

[mre]

Congrats! Now just coast all of 3L year and don't f up the bar.

I think he's only a 2L.

 

[cozo]

qualified as a lawyer in 2008. took a year out to travel, came back and the market was shot to shit. took a non-law job in 2010... and only just this month secured an interview (!) for a job in law again. (albeit not a solicitor job, though it is in a professional capacity within a law firm.)

excited for the opportunity and looking forward (!) to the interview... I think

not in anyway counting my chickens tho

 

[RandomDancing]

Finally started working at a firm owned by a family member last week. It's definitely not the type of law I would have chosen for myself but it pays the bills and it's a legal job (which is better than a lot of my friends can say).

I'm debating whether to apply for clerkships in the state where I went to law school for next Sept. and I'm very quickly running out of time on this. Is it weird to work a year at a firm then do a clerkship, especially if it ends up being only at the state level? I'm very certain I failed the bar as well (in a state that only offers it once a year) which factors into this.

 

[Frank the Great]

in my third year, applying to clerkships. starting to feel the panic. i have no idea what i am going to do if i do not get a clerkship . . .

 

[Arksy]

Australian Law Student about to complete my degree here. How's the Jobs market for young lawyers in the US right now?

 

[Bboy AJ]

I think he's only a 2L.

Oh yeah, that's right. 2L year is the hardest because you have a lot of stuff going on. But the mot important thing, getting a job, is taken care of already.