Summer Experiences: Advice for the 1L
By Theresa DiCenzo, Kerry Sullivan and Zannah Tyndall
As a first-year law student, it is understandable to feel overwhelmed about securing the “perfect” internship or externship for your first summer. There is so much pressure to get valuable experience and boost your resume. However, it’s important to keep things in perspective. The reality is any legal experience you gain as a 1L will provide learning opportunities and help you develop as an attorney-in-training.
1. Don’t be worried about getting the perfect or most prestigious experience.
Rather than obsessing over landing a prestigious big law internship, keep an open mind about the range of options available. Smaller firms, government agencies, nonprofit legal aid organizations, and even judges’ chambers welcome 1L interns. The day-to-day work may vary, but every position will allow you to gain exposure to the legal field, build your network, improve research and writing skills, and clarify your own interests.
It’s understandable to have high hopes, but don’t beat yourself up if you don’t obtain your top choice right out of the gate. Don’t let the process overwhelm your studies. The most valuable experiences are often unexpected. Over time, you’ll determine what areas interest you the most and what work settings suit you the best. Every position will teach you something useful for the future. The key is to stay open-minded, and don’t worry about checking boxes. Focus on pursuing genuine learning experiences, building skills, and identifying the career paths that excite you. The “perfect” job often comes from unexpected beginnings.
2. Do what you say you won’t do.
Upon entering law school, it is common to have in our mind that we will only practice a certain type of law, or we will never practice in a specific area of law; however, you may learn that the area of law you said you would never do turns out to be your favorite!
Oftentimes, our intrusive thoughts against a particular area of law are motivated by fear of the unknown; however, the only way to know that you truly don’t prefer that area of law and you want to practice in another area is to try it out. For example, if you are telling yourself that you never want to practice criminal law, aim to earn a position at a public defender’s office and help defendants navigate the criminal justice system. There is potential to gain vast amounts of legal knowledge and to gain the satisfaction of serving those in your community.
Be bold. Be brave. Challenge yourself. Try something new – even a summer internship in an area of law you don’t know much about. Sometimes our best interactions and life lessons come from those experiences we are extremely hesitant to take on at first.
You’ve landed a summer internship or externship. Nicely done! However, the closer summer gets, the more nervous you might be getting. Now what?
3. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
You just got assigned your first project, but you aren’t entirely sure how to proceed. That’s OK! Head back to your desk and take time to review the project and any notes you just took. Maybe even start working on it. This leads us to our tip number one: do not be afraid to ask questions. No one is expecting you to have all of the answers after your first year of law school. Perhaps this is your first real-world experience, and you’re learning what it even looks like to show up to work every day and be in an office. The best thing you can do is to show you’ve started working on it and go to your supervisor with pointed questions. Articulate to your supervisor exactly where and how you’re stuck and ask what their recommendations are for proceeding. However, don’t wait until you’re almost done with the project. The best time to ask questions is before you get too far along, so you can pivot if needed.
4. Reflect on the projects you worked on throughout the summer.
After your summer internship has come to an end, take the time to reflect on the projects you worked on. What did you like? What did you not like? If you liked something specific, are there opportunities to take classes in that area of law at your law school? Your 2L year is the time to take classes that you think you’re really interested in and learn the subject matter, and the experiences you had over the summer can help you to chart your next two semesters. Perhaps you’re not interested in taking classes but are interested in finding a fall internship or externship in the area of law you worked on over the summer because you enjoyed it; this can help familiarize you more with the area of law and its community.