1L summer associate

zengerl

To: Experienced attorneys

From: A first year JD student

Date: 11/19/2007

Subject: How to choose law firms for 1L summer associate; How to apply for such positions

Introduction:

           I know, my first semester grades are going to be crappy. But I still want to give it a try: securing a summer associat in biglaw.

           I am really puzzled by what to choose. I have made bunch of flaunders in my precious life. As age skyrockets, I just can not afford another one. Considering this, I figure it is a good idea to ask for advice from the experienced ¾  I found the opinions in this forum extremely helpful, and I still owe those who helped a lot.

          In addition, I am nervous on how to apply to summer associate postions, as the starting applying date for the summer of 2008¾  Dec. 1, 2007 ¾ is dawing close.

Background:

          Decent law school (JD); Ph.D. in Engineering.

Career Goal:

          Practicing IP law.

Questions:

What to choose

    Which firms have more life-work balance?

    Which firms have more opportunities for partnership?

    Which firms have more opportunities of working in China after couple of years?

    Which firms have more friendly work environment, especially to a foreign attorney?

    Which cities afford the best package, especially for IP practice. E.g., DC, N.Y.C, L.A., and etc.

    ...

How to Apply:

    What persons should I contact? Their attorney recruiter, the administrative partner, the partner in charge of IP department, or someone else?

    What kind of legal writing sample should I enclose.

    What are the law fims looking for? Should I behave nice or aggresive?

    ...

Acknowledgement:

    All those who helped and are going to help.

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-11-20 5:09:16编辑过]

sisinliag

I'm also a 1L, so the advice for reference only.

You'd better talk to the ppls in career office, they could help you a lot in many ways.

If you have personal contact in law firm, that's the best; otherwise, looking for alumni.

PS, how to post on forum using a macbook ?

neohawk

以下是引用zengerl在2007-11-20 5:08:00的发言：

To: Experienced attorneys

From: A first year JD student

Date: 11/19/2007

Subject: How to choose law firms for 1L summer associate; How to apply for such positions

Introduction:

           I know, my first semester grades are going to be crappy. But I still want to give it a try: securing a summer associat in biglaw.

           I am really puzzled by what to choose. I have made bunch of flaunders in my precious life. As age skyrockets, I just can not afford another one. Considering this, I figure it is a good idea to ask for advice from the experienced ¾  I found the opinions in this forum extremely helpful, and I still owe those who helped a lot.

          In addition, I am nervous on how to apply to summer associate postions, as the starting applying date for the summer of 2008¾  Dec. 1, 2007 ¾ is dawing close.

Background:

          Decent law school (JD); Ph.D. in Engineering.

Career Goal:

          Practicing IP law.

Questions:

What to choose

    Which firms have more life-work balance?

    Which firms have more opportunities for partnership?

    Which firms have more opportunities of working in China after couple of years?

    Which firms have more friendly work environment, especially to a foreign attorney?

    Which cities afford the best package, especially for IP practice. E.g., DC, N.Y.C, L.A., and etc.

    ...

How to Apply:

    What persons should I contact? Their attorney recruiter, the administrative partner, the partner in charge of IP department, or someone else?

    What kind of legal writing sample should I enclose.

    What are the law fims looking for? Should I behave nice or aggresive?

    ...

Acknowledgement:

    All those who helped and are going to help.

You are in much better shape than me, do not worry.

jeremyang

If you still have so many questions about law firms and first year SA at this time, your chance of getting an offer from a big law firm is very limited.

neohawk

以下是引用jeremyang在2007-11-22 9:50:00的发言：
If you still have so many questions about law firms and first year SA at this time, your chance of getting an offer from a big law firm is very limited.

What a bad news for me. But we are not allowed to talk with firms before Dec. 1. In my school, we were even not allowed to talk with CSO personnel before Nov. 1.

zengerl

I am doomed, guys!^_^What should I do? kill self?^_^

jeremyang

Generally, those who get offer from big law firm of first year SA are people who have some sort of legal family background or extremely excellent academic/working experience. Remember you dont anything from law school to prove your ability at this time yet. The chance of getting a first year SA from big law, especially from big market, is rare except YHS. Of course you can try some other legal markets, like Atlanta, TX, Phily, if you have families or lived there before.

But since you are planning to practice IP law after graduation, there might be a better chance for you if you have very strong academic performance from your PhD degree, and you did some related job, such as a  patent agent in law firm before.

About where to get the answers for your other questions, I would recommend to spend some time on reading some websites/bloggers to get the informations you need. Also you can try to contact the attorneys who are currently practicing IP law at big firms. Yes, some of them might be too busy to answer your question but there certainly will be a few exceptions.