Summer associate firm job chances from T14s Forum

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Kiwilaw

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Summer associate firm job chances from T14s

Post by Kiwilaw » Tue Apr 16, 2019 7:11 pm

Does anyone know how the chances for a summer law firm job (the $3000 per week kind) vary through the T14?

My understanding is that for 1L, such a position is nearly impossible unless you are a top student or URM. But when I look at some schools' published data, it seems like almost everyone gets a summer firm job for 2L - Chicago has nearly 90% in firm jobs, Michigan 80%, etc. Are these summer firm jobs the $3000 a week kind? Or how much are they making? And does anyone know the difference in chances in getting a high paying summer firm job from schools like Columbia vs Northwestern?

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cavalier1138

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Re: Summer associate firm job chances from T14s

Post by cavalier1138 » Tue Apr 16, 2019 7:29 pm

Look at the combined big firm and federal clerk numbers for each school. Those are a pretty good proxy for summer associate positions in 2L, because almost all of those students had one. And you're correct that a 1L summer position is very, very difficult to land, even from a top school.

But based on your username, you're international, which can add a wrinkle to this process, because you're going to need to convince a firm that you're worth a visa sponsorship. So you might want to check in with other international students at specific schools to hear about their experience.

P.S. Don't forget to read the sub-forum stickies before posting. This forum is for current law students and graduates to discuss employment, not 0Ls with questions about school placement power.

icansortofmath

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Re: Summer associate firm job chances from T14s

Post by icansortofmath » Tue Apr 16, 2019 9:33 pm

1L summer associate jobs are pretty common. If you want one, above median (maybe top 1/3 toward lower T14? I don't know for sure) is probably enough to land you something if you're a minority/woman/STEM (obviously depending on how many boxes you can convincingly check.) But I did meet 1L white male summers so the positions are out there. That said, there is a lot more randomness in the process and your undergrad matters a lot (a lot of the action happens before any grade is out. A lot of weirdness comes out of that.)

That said, a lot of people do private summers at places like Prudential, Viacom, and big name corps like that and get paid pretty well (not as well as firm summers). Altogether, I think if you're at T14, it's pretty easy to score a summer position that will pay you 10k+ for ~10 weeks of work.

Finally, I think the most important thing about 1L recruiting is that it's practice for the real thing: OCI for 2L summers. Although even at near the bottom of T14, from the excel spreadsheets I've seen, 80+% (closer to 90) of OCI participants get offers from at least one law firm (with the 150+ sort just short of market and other regional firms included), you REALLY don't want to be that 1/10 with no 2L summer job.

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