When Should You Do an Internship as a Law Student?
A law school internship is key to your experience for several reasons—aside from the fact that everyone expects you do it, and you will find yourself comparing notes on where you performed such an experience and with whom for years to come (so consider making it a good one!). The internship helps you build on what you are learning and what you have already begun retaining in law school, and especially as you are able to put it into a real situation in a real firm with real clients. Work experience is integral for many undergraduates who are trying to get into competitive law schools—and indeed it may be the extra that gets them where they want to go over other applications—but internships while you are a law student help reinforce your education as well as help you get a job later.
Most law students will not be accepted for an internship until after they have completed their first year of law school, which is an excellent way to bring closure to the beginning of an intense experience. Most first year students must adapt to a rigorous schedule of classroom time and study time, and while it may be exhausting and even intimidating at times, completing that milestone is usually extremely empowering too. Summer is usually the appropriate time for an internship, allowing for the student to take a break from studies but enjoy a substantial amount of time working in a law firm.
While you may continue with the same law firm on vacations and each summer until you graduate—and it may be a perfect fit for you to work there after you graduate—it can also be in your best interest to seek a range of experiences in research, government, a corporate environment, and more. Whether you are paid or not has a lot to do with what you have agreed to as well as what the law states regarding your position there, either in an employee or trainee position.
Your internship may consist of many hours spent performing research, along with exercising your skills in legal writing. There may also be an extensive amount of time spent filing, making copies, and other administrative duties—along with meeting clients and helping attorneys in the firm with whatever clerical duties need fulfilling.
Our mission at CDTA College of Law is to educate, train, and develop extraordinary legal advocates. Your legal education will be comprised of bar-tested academic subjects, skills training, and values reinforcement. Upon completion of your 4-year course of study you will be fully qualified to take and pass the California Bar examination. Call us today at (760) 342-0900 or find out more online here.