How important are internships/work exp. for admission? Forum

(Please Ask Questions and Answer Questions)
Post Reply
jordy

New
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri May 05, 2017 4:53 am

How important are internships/work exp. for admission?

Post by jordy » Sat Jun 10, 2017 8:54 pm

Hello, this is my first time posting on TLS. I am a junior majoring in Business Law at Arizona State University. ASU's undergraduate law association club partnered with a law firm in Phoenix a few years ago to provide internships for interested students planning on attending law school. This past spring semester I was led to believe I had an internship at a law firm in Phoenix, but was taken by surprise when I found out the only role this law firm performs is to find "law-related" internships for those who apply. Thus said, I received an email congratulating me on being matched with a xeroxing company who provides paper to law firms and this was adequate enough in someone's mind to pass off as a "law-related" internship. I am now in a position of possessing no summer plans for internship experience or work and am seeking opinions on whether or not this is harmful to my chances of admission in the future (at any given law school). How important is the completion of a law-related internship or work experience in the application process for law school?

User avatar
Platopus

Gold
Posts: 1507
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 11:20 pm

Re: How important are internships/work exp. for admission?

Post by Platopus » Sat Jun 10, 2017 11:33 pm

jordy wrote: How important is the completion of a law-related internship or work experience in the application process for law school?
Not at all important. It is by no means necessary to have any prior internship/work experience directly related to law, and not having one will in no way hurt your application. It is useful though, as it helps you figure out if this is something you really want to do. If you feel like you need more exposure to the work lawyers actually do, then look for something a bit more law related, otherwise enjoy your summer at Dunder Mifflin.

snowball2

Bronze
Posts: 121
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2016 5:13 pm

Re: How important are internships/work exp. for admission?

Post by snowball2 » Thu Jun 29, 2017 12:43 pm

jordy wrote:Hello, this is my first time posting on TLS. I am a junior majoring in Business Law at Arizona State University. ASU's undergraduate law association club partnered with a law firm in Phoenix a few years ago to provide internships for interested students planning on attending law school. This past spring semester I was led to believe I had an internship at a law firm in Phoenix, but was taken by surprise when I found out the only role this law firm performs is to find "law-related" internships for those who apply. Thus said, I received an email congratulating me on being matched with a xeroxing company who provides paper to law firms and this was adequate enough in someone's mind to pass off as a "law-related" internship. I am now in a position of possessing no summer plans for internship experience or work and am seeking opinions on whether or not this is harmful to my chances of admission in the future (at any given law school). How important is the completion of a law-related internship or work experience in the application process for law school?
If you get a 178 on your LSAT and have stellar grades and the person competing against you for the last remaining spot at Harvard has the exact same score/grades, then maybe, just maybe, you'll have the slight edge. Or not.

Post Reply

Return to “Ask a Law Student”