Summer Job Hints

When you land that summer job, it may be the job of your dreams or one you are a little nervous about. Either way, with a bit of effort and planning, you can make the summer a great one.

Over the past few years, OPIA has solicited opinions and hosted panel discussions at which 2Ls and 3Ls have talked about how they made the most of their summers during law school. Below are some of the students' comments and suggestions.

Getting Started

Try to strike a balance between getting what you want out of a summer and making yourself useful (read: indispensable). You can do both, but it takes steady communication and a willingness to work. First teach yourself what you can, then pay attention to clues at the office and don't forget to ask questions and act on what you've learned.

• View your summer in the context of your whole law school experience. How do the pieces fit together and complement one another?
• What do lawyers really do? Amass as many different kinds of experience as you can. Sample different kinds of lawyering, writing and research
• Do the necessary research about an organization before beginning work there. Find out about the board of directors, funding sources, relevant cases and future goals. Should your project fall through, this kind of information will be extremely valuable in suggesting a new project.
• Investigate office personalities before you arrive. Find a great supervisor based on past students' experiences. Don't rely entirely on other people's opinions. Your personality may be perfectly suited to someone another intern found challenging.
• Call your supervisor before you start and get an idea of what sorts of issues you'll be working on and express a preference if it makes sense. Try to find out what projects they may assign you. Simply asking may get them started thinking so that they will be more prepared when you arrive.

On the Job

First impressions really do matter.

• Start off on the right foot by showing respect. Arrive on time, be nice to everyone and willing to help, from support staff to copier repair people to your colleagues to your supervisors. One student commented, "Remember that an office works best when people work as a team. An office with disrespect within it is not going to be an office that deals with its clients well, either."
• Avoid thinking things like "they don't pay me enough to do X, Y or Z." That's not productive; instead look at how that small task affects the bigger picture and try to do it efficiently before you go on to more substantive work.
• Be flexible. You might not have a permanent office or the technological resources that you're used to. You can be creative and find other workspaces, like empty conference rooms or office libraries. Don't let these conditions distract you from the valuable experience you can gain by doing the work and getting immersed in your organization.
• Take control of your situation. Find the work that you want to do. Listen carefully to attorneys. When they say, "I wish I had time to…" you could say, "I can help you with that."
• Acknowledge that while you may be a summer intern, you are still a part of the organization's staff. Take your responsibilities seriously and professionally. Some of your coworkers this summer may end up as colleagues later!
• Become involved in the office — go to meetings, go to court, get feedback in both formal and informal settings. For example, you might want to accompany co-workers on their coffee breaks, go on tours or ride-alongs or attend brown-bag lunches. Sometimes the best moment to catch attorneys, especially the overworked and inaccessible ones, is during lunch breaks.
• Adhere to escalation theory in your attempts to sign on to various projects. If you see a project or issue that interests you, ask to do a lesser version of the overall work. Do a stellar job on it and you will be given more and more responsibility.
• Never be afraid to ask questions or admit that you don't know what you're doing – you're there to learn! You'll get better and better at condensing your questions and being efficient in how you ask them.

Establishing a Relationship with Your Supervisor

• Getting Feedback: It is often difficult to get structured feedback. Try to schedule weekly meetings with your supervisor. Stay after 6 p.m. and you'll have more opportunities for feedback: clients stop calling, support staff goes home and you can catch your supervisor.
• Get involved in a long-term project: Some places do a poor job of assigning work to interns and interns end up being involved in a few shortterm, unconnected issues or cases. It's much better early on to try to get on a case that will be active all summer. You'll learn so much more, be much more interested and forge better connections. Often this isn't easy because most of the people you work for will be thinking in the very shortterm.
• Some say that the best feedback is how attorneys react to you and whether or not you're given new projects and other responsibilities.
• Keep in touch with your employer (and with several attorneys in the office) because it will help in the future in ways you can't imagine now.

Work It

• Keep a journal and write down what you've liked/disliked about the summer to help you with future job choices.
• Ask a lot of questions. Try to find interesting people in your office and ask them to talk with you over lunch or coffee about their work and their career path and what advice they can offer you (most people like giving advice). You can make new networks this way.
• Call alums living in the area who are working or have worked, in fields that interest you—get their contact information from your school's mentor database. See if you can have lunch or coffee with them over the summer to learn more about their career.
• Don't just hang out with other interns at lunch; join the attorneys. They often discuss current work and this can give you ideas for extra projects, etc. Plus you'll form friendships. However, be aware of how you blend your personal and professional relationships while at work. Students working abroad should be especially mindful of cultural differences that may affect the office environment.
• You don't have to "do lunch" if that style of networking doesn't feel comfortable to you. Talk to people working in a particular field during your research. Ask them for names of other people you should talk to. Touch base with them after your initial conversation, keep them up to date as your work develops, ask if they'd be willing to give you feedback on drafts, ask if they'd like a copy of your final work. When you get someone's business card, write where you met him/her on the back of the card for future reference.
• Seek out a mentor: it's crucial to find and connect with people you think are smart, interesting and who are working on cases/issues you care about. It doesn't matter how the work assignment system operates or who they've matched you up with. You should seek these people out and connect with them, regardless.

Writing

• If you know that one of your goals is to obtain a writing sample by the end of the summer, let that be known at the beginning and that way you and your supervisor can discuss a writing assignment that will be useful to you and the organization.
• Make your first piece of writing outstanding. This will set the precedent for how the rest of your work is regarded and the kind of future assignments you will receive.
• There is no such thing as a draft. When writing a memo, be sure that your introduction outlines the question you are tackling so it will make sense as the case evolves and mutates. Make sure you are answering the question – before you churn out ten pages, discuss your initial thoughts on the subject and research plan with your supervisor. When you are done, attach relevant cases.
• Good writing samples include court motions and memos. In human rights you'll probably do less traditional writing; you might have a harder time coming up with a traditional legal writing sample.
• Public interest organizations don't have the same resources as firms. Ask what resources they have and how they share resources so you don't offend anyone in the organization. Some public interest organizations rely primarily on books because they can't afford to do computer research. Local law school libraries are also great resources for research.
• A major research project during your second summer can turn into a third year paper. Try to get your work published.

Explore and Reflect

• Remember to get out and see the city you're living in—if you are only required to work 40 or 50 hours a week, this may be the best opportunity you'll have. Be sure to take advantage of that free time.
• Periodically get together with the other interns in your office and brainstorm things you'd like to learn/ do.
• Take note of how a particular organization impacts the community in which it is located. If it is a public service organization, what is its place in the larger network of local and/or national organizations? If it is a government agency, where does it fit into the government structure as a whole?
• Even if you are only there for a summer, pay attention to how individuals participate as members of the community and envision your particular role there for a long period of time. Connecting to a community is a critical part of quality of life in public service.
• Shadow people with whom the attorneys regularly work, such as social workers and police officers.

Getting Recommendations

• Keep a detailed log of everything you do over the summer and give it to your supervisor at the end. It's helpful for your supervisor to have something concrete to refer to when providing a reference for you and it's helpful for you when you go to update your resume or prepare for an interview.
• If you don't establish lasting relationships, ask for a recommendation before you leave at the end of the summer. Present your recommender with a bullet-point list of your summer accomplishments.
• Try to stay in touch with one or more supervisors. If you've really connected with one of them, write or email him/her even as the years go by.

Other Considerations

• Use this summer to learn about the work environment that is best for you – consider such things as required hours, amount of supervision, number of attorneys for whom you're working (thus number of assignments), balance of personal and work responsibilities.
• Enjoy not being in school: read for pleasure or remember some of your other favorite leisure activities that law school had eclipsed.
• Watch what the lawyers are doing as their duties may be quite different from yours.
• Keep in touch with friends at firms, ask them about the work that they get to do and share your experiences with them. Your contact could result in added pro bono help.
• Be open to new people and new ideas and to be professional in all situations.
• Get some downtime before you return to school, even if it's just a few days.