2L - Take an Unpaid Internship?

Hi all. I am a second year law student. I may have the opportunity to intern for a large corporation's in-house counsel during the coming summer. However, the job would most probably not offer any sort of compensation (other than the satisfaction of a job well done ). Should I accept the big job or find a low paying job in a small local firm?
The money is an issue for me but I think it still may be worthwhile to accept the job. I have not been told anything in particular but I would hope that there would be room for me to stay on. It would also look great on a resume.

Can anyone offer some advice?

Thanks!

take it. no question.

I'd try to find out if there is any chance of a post-grad offer in your future at the corporation. The vast majority of corp. employers I am familiar with only make offers to people out of firms.

If this is the exception to the rule then I would not worry too much about it being unpaid. A bit of cash during the summer is no substitute for a good job after school ends.

Originally Posted by daft

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take it. no question.

+1

Originally Posted by jc138

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A bit of cash during the summer is no substitute for a good job after school ends.

+1

I am not sure I would take it.

I did an internship in the legal department and government affairs department of a large corporation after my second year of school, although I was in fact paid.

I spent almost the majority of my time doing document review of the company's contracts, looking for certain clauses. Maybe the experience was useful, but I don't recall it giving me much knowledge I used later. Probably the best thing about the job was that I had the company's name on my resume and I got some exposure to some very high quality attorneys. As someone mentioned though, generally these firms hire people after they have been placed at a firm for a couple of years, so I am not sure what the value is in terms of future employment.

In contrast for me, is that during my third year of law school I put myself through school (sort of) by working for a small solo practitioner who shared an office with 5 other solo guys. I wrote briefs, motions, pleadings, and did a lot of practical research that got me familiar with doing actual legal work in practice. I think despite the fact that this was not as "impressive" on my resume, I learned a whole lot more and the experience was a lot more valuable in terms of seeing how solo practitioners operate.

I think you'll need to decide based on realisticially what you'll do after graduation.

I got great litigation experience at a small firm last summer as a 2L, but I also discovered I don't want to do litigation.

If you want to do transactional work you might possibly get more relevant experience if the work you'd be doing in the corporation's legal department would be mostly transactional (as opposed to, say, employment litigation or patent work or product liability litigation). I'm assuming a small firm job would be litigation, unless you specifically have an "in" at a small firm that does transactional or other specialty work that you are interested in (estate planning, tax, etc.).

You might be able to make better contacts at the corporation, but if you think you want to do litigation, or if you are not sure the level of responsibility you will get at the corporation, you might want to try to get a paid job at a small firm.

You are a student, you shouldn't be paid in the first place. Take it.

DL

Originally Posted by AnGeLiCbOrIs

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Hi all. I am a second year law student. I may have the opportunity to intern for a large corporation's in-house counsel during the coming summer. However, the job would most probably not offer any sort of compensation (other than the satisfaction of a job well done

). Should I accept the big job or find a low paying job in a small local firm?
The money is an issue for me but I think it still may be worthwhile to accept the job. I have not been told anything in particular but I would hope that there would be room for me to stay on. It would also look great on a resume.

Can anyone offer some advice?

Thanks!

Might be worth making the financial sacrifice for a few months for the experience and contacts you might be able to make working at the bigger firm. I think many of these bigger firms know they don't have to pay because they have so many applicants banging on the door to get their foot in the door.

The other side of it is whether you'll get the kind of experience you want working at the bigger firm. If you're not looking to work in that area of law in the future, then it might be better to go with a firm that's a closer match to your interests, regardless of size or pay...

As a 1L I was surprised to get a second-round interview at large corporation for a (paying) summer job. I didn't get the job, so I ended up getting a (paying) job at a law firm instead.

Now that I'm about 11 years out of law school, I think it's probably a good thing that I didn't take that job. I have been in-house for about six years now so I know what things are like on the corporate side.

Big corporations don't hire lawyers straight out of school. They don't have the time or resources to do training so they hire from law firms. Further, they have tons of applicants for most job openings, because there are lots of young lawyers who get sick of law firm life and want to jump ship. As such, I do not believe this company will extend you an offer of permanent employment when you pass the bar next summer.

Keep in mind that you're a 2L. I was a 1L and so things were different when I was considering that in-house (summer) position. As a 2L you're looking for a place that will offer you permanent employment after you pass the bar. If you are successful at your 2L summer internship, you will not only be assured of a job after graduation (which takes a lot of stress off you as a 3L), you will also benefit because your future employer will pay for (1) bar review; (2) bar application fees; and (3) summer stipend. Given my above belief that corporations will not hire people straight out of school, you'll be passing up these benefits even if you do well at your internships.

Long story short: I'd pass on the in-house job and get a job at a law firm instead.

Best of luck!

I don't think an in-house gig is good for any law student unless there was assurance they would hire you upon graduation, but that is unlikely. Even so, I doubt you will receive any great training in that type of legal environment.

At the same time, you shouldn't pass up any opportunity unless you have a better alternative. I'm not sure how the timing is shaking out for you, but I wouldn't decline the in-house job if you don't already have something lined up at a small firm (or at least you're fairly confident a small firm opportunity will come your way).

Originally Posted by dl20

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You are a student, you shouldn't be paid in the first place.

Not that the OP shouldn't consider the unpaid position, but you clearly have no idea how law firm recruiting works.

Originally Posted by Ace Rimmer

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Big corporations don't hire lawyers straight out of school. They don't have the time or resources to do training so they hire from law firms. Further, they have tons of applicants for most job openings, because there are lots of young lawyers who get sick of law firm life and want to jump ship. As such, I do not believe this company will extend you an offer of permanent employment when you pass the bar next summer.

Some corporate law departments will give permanent offers, but they aren't likely to be the kind of jobs anyone would want coming out of school. I know some people with no firm experience who have been offered staff attorney positions in law departments. They were for basically glorified paralegal positions, doing e-discovery and doc review that the companies did not want to spend biglaw hourly rates on.

Originally Posted by retronotmetro

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Not that the OP shouldn't consider the unpaid position, but you clearly have no idea how law firm recruiting works.

My fiancee went through it and graduated 2 yrs ago. I gave her the same advice at the time.

dl

It's already mid-March, so there are no paying summer associate positions at big firms left. The OP really shouldn't hope for anything like that. Other positions are much less likely to pay (any worthwhile amount, at least). At this point, the OP should strongly consider taking the best of what's in front of him. I'd keep the internship offer open as long as possible while searching for other jobs. If nothing turns up, I'd take it. Even though it won't net a permanent offer, the OP will still have something on his resume to help him get a job somewhere else post-graduation. Nothing is worse than an unaccounted-for 2L summer.

If the OP must choose between this internship and some other job without the possibility of a permanent offer, I think he should simply pick the one most related to the practice area he's interested in.

Originally Posted by mafoofan

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It's already mid-March, so there are no paying summer associate positions at big firms left. The OP really shouldn't hope for anything like that. Other positions are much less likely to pay (any worthwhile amount, at least). At this point, the OP should strongly consider taking the best of what's in front of him. I'd keep the internship offer open as long as possible while searching for other jobs. If nothing turns up, I'd take it. Even though it won't net a permanent offer, the OP will still have something on his resume to help him get a job somewhere else post-graduation. Nothing is worse than an unaccounted-for 2L summer. If the OP must choose between this internship and some other job without the possibility of a permanent offer, I think he should simply pick the one most related to the practice area he's interested in.
Seconded. At this point, you can't be terribly picky--you really have to have something.