Career Planning: How Should I Spend My Rising 2L Summer?

By the winter of your 1L year (earlier for some internship opportunities), it’s time to start thinking about the career opportunities available to you for the summer between 1L and 2L years (usually referred to as either your “1L summer” or your “rising 2L summer”). Unless you have extenuating circumstances, it’s likely that you both need and want to work over the summer either to earn money, to start building your resume with relevant employment, or both. For most students, rising 2L summer (the summer after your first year of law school) is your first time experiencing the real legal world outside of the classroom, and presents an important opportunity to build your network, teaches you legal professionalism, and helps you discern where you fit in the legal profession.

There are a wide range of externships and opportunities to pursue your rising 2L summer, including (but not limited to):

• BigLaw Summer Associate Positions. These are roles at large national or global law firms that are highly competitive. The work includes legal research, memo drafting, and attending client meetings and firm events. One of the biggest benefits of these roles is competitive pay, and they can lead to post-grad offers. If you want to go into BigLaw after law school, this is a great goal to strive for as it is one of the most common pathways to a BigLaw career.
• Midsize to Small Law Firms. BigLaw isn’t for everyone, and is a highly competitive area of the legal profession. In fact, most law students spend their summers working at local midsize or small law firms where they gain real-world experience lawyering and get plugged into the local legal world. Much like in BigLaw, summer associates at smaller firms also conduct legal research, draft memos, and attend client meetings and firm events.
• Government Internships. Both federal and state governments offer summer internships for law students at places like the DOJ, SEC, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, state AGs, local DAs/public defenders, etc. During these internships, students conduct legal research, draft memos, and shadow attorneys in court or investigations. This is great experience in public service, and possibly in litigation, that looks great whether you want to have a government legal career or go into the private sector. It can also be especially helpful if you are interested in clerking one day. These positions may not be paid as well as private sector internships, but they are considered fairly prestigious.
• Judicial Internships/Externships. Federal, state, and sometimes local courts host judicial clerks, who support the work of a judge. Summer clerks research, summarize documents, draft bench memos or opinions, and observe court proceedings. This is fantastic experience if you are interesting in clerking post-grad, or if you’d like to be a trial attorney who is frequently in court. Additionally, clerking can be an excellent way to add judges to your network and may lead to academic-year clerkship offers as well.
• Public Interest Internships. A legal internship at a non-profit advocacy organizations (like the ACLU or your local legal aid) etc.) is a great fit for students interested in using their law degree to serve the public, and particularly marginalized communities and low-income folks. While these internships are often unpaid, you can apply for fellowships (like PILF or Equal Justice America) to make them more financially attainable. They provide real-world lawyering experience and allow you to put your knowledge to use for the community, giving you insight into what a career as a public interest attorney may look like. Networking in these roles is often critical to securing post-grad positions at larger public interest organizations, like Lambda Legal, NCLR, or the ACLU.
• In-House Internships. Rather than working at a firm, court, or non profit, some students spend their summer in the legal departments of corporations learning more about what it looks like to serve as In-House counsel. These positions are rare, but they pay well and are highly competitive.

What about non-legal employment?

Not everyone opts for a legal-related job their first summer of law school. You might have a non-legal job already lined up that is well-paying, or in a place where your housing costs are covered. You also may already know that you plan to use your law degree for a JD Advantage job rather than a JD Required job, and in that case it might be a better use of your summer to work in the field you plan to be in later rather than in the legal industry. If this is the case, it’s really okay to spend this summer in non-legal employment! It will matter to future employers that you have a solid track record of any type of employment and can call on a reference to attest to your reliability, work ethic, and more (depending on the skills required in your job), and you will still have your rising 3L summer to have a legal field job. Regardless of your reasons, just know that you are not dooming your future career if you don’t take a legal job this summer.

Regardless of what kind of summer position you are pursuing, here are some questions you should ask yourself as you apply to positions and accept/decline offers:

• How does this opportunity fit into my long-term career goals? Will I have a possibility of being hired here next summer or permanently? Will I gain skills that will help my next desired career step (consider litigation skills, policy skills, advocacy skills, administrative skills, etc.)? Will I have networking opportunities from the internship/job that could launch my next step?
• What does the internship/job pay? Do I need more than that to make it through the summer? Do I have higher paying options? If the internship is with a non-profit, might I be eligible for a grant or stipend from an organization such as Equal Justice Works that could help? Is the employer negotiable on the payment?
• Where is the internship/job located? Will I need to relocate? Will that bring additional costs for me? Will I need to keep paying rent in my year-round housing while also being in a summer place? Could the internship/job be remote, and would that be better for my health/accessibility/housing costs? What might I miss out on if I accept a remote job rather than one in an office?

Additional considerations to keep in mind while planning your rising 2L summer: 

• Extracurricular Activities: If you have decided to go out for Law Review, the testing process or even the work itself might start over the summer. Likewise, if you have accepted a leadership position with a student organization like OUTLaw or another SBA organization, you may have summer responsibilities. Regardless of what school-related activities you engage in, be sure to take some time just for you, and build in a good vacation time to just enjoy life.
• OCI (On Campus Interviews): If your school offers on campus interviews during the summer, be sure to take advantage of the opportunities to meet prospective employers and practice your interviewing skills! Even if the employers coming to campus aren’t your top choices, it’s a great opportunity to get more comfortable with the interviewing process and learn what kinds of questions you’re likely to be asked. Be sure to tap all the help your Career Counseling Office can provide – they are there to help you get your dream job.
• Lavender Law® Conference and Career Fair: Don’t miss out on the National LGBTQ+ Bar’s annual “family reunion” for LGBTQ+ lawyers, judges, and law students – the Lavender Law® Conference and Career Fair! Lavender Law® brings the best of the LGBTQ+ legal community together for three days each summer. The Conference gives you the opportunity to interview for jobs for next summer with top employers who want to diversify their workforce, get career counseling advice from experienced LGBTQ+ legal professionals, network at receptions and luncheons with LGBTQ+ lawyers and judges in all areas of practice and from all over the country, and hear top notch legal education programming on issues ranging from immigration to big firm diversity to racial equity to the challenging facing transgender youth. Lavender Law® has it all – and it’s free for law student members of the LGBTQ+ Bar. Click here to learn more and register today!

Your law school’s Career Counseling Office is a great place to start if you are beginning to think about your first law school summer, but the suggestions below may also be helpful as you decide what positions to pursue and navigate your first time applying to legal jobs.