This time last year, the noise surrounding 2L summer recruiting was so loud that the idea of lining up a 1L summer job barely crossed my mind. Never mind that 1L summer is the one that comes first; I was too busy rewriting cover letters and agonizing over whether I’d given a big law attorney a rancid vibe at a networking event to split my focus any further. On top of that, I’d heard the whispers that 1L summer is a wash and 2L summer is the only one that counts.
Looking back, it’s easy to see why this mentality was so pervasive. The accelerated recruiting timeline has pushed students to start thinking about Big Law the moment they set foot on campus in August. Some 1Ls I know started networking with Big Law attorneys over the summer, months before they’d even had their first law school class. The anxiety is understandable, given the sheer amount of information 1Ls receive and the constant fearmongering that anyone who doesn’t devote all their energy to recruiting will end up unemployed. A 2L summer associate position looks like the ultimate prize; meanwhile, the 1L summer falls to the wayside.
As I’ve entered 2L fall, though, I’ve realized now how much this outlook sells 1L summer short. 1L summer is truly “yours” in the sense that it offers an unprecedented level of freedom. Maybe you’re curious about litigation but didn’t feel comfortable committing to it during your 2L recruiting process. 1L summer is the three-month stretch where you can engage in these kinds of explorations without the pressure of dedicating your career to it. For ten weeks or so, you can figure out which types of work excite you and which you could go your whole life without doing again. Either way, you walk away knowing more about yourself and your aspirations.
I entered law school with a strong interest in immigration law. I landed my 1L and 2L jobs roughly around the same time, so I already knew that I was slated to do corporate work the following summer. This gave me the freedom to approach my 1L summer job search as less of a hunt for resume padding and more as a way to pursue the interest that brought me to law school in the first place.
I spent my 1L summer in the immigration unit at the De Novo Center for Justice and Healing, working on asylum, U-Visa, VAWA, and SIJ cases. I’d veered away from litigation during 2L recruiting because I had quickly become enemies with the Blue Book and Lexis. I soon discovered, though, that practice is completely different from the classroom. Applying what I’d learned in Law Practice to write briefs and motions for real clients, I found myself feeling more energized by the work than I’d expected. Citations become less of a chore and more of a meaningful task when your client’s case depends on them.
We all have only so many hours in a day and 1L is the ultimate test of time management. Thus, I know how challenging it can be to make room for thinking about 1L summer on top of your academic obligations and the grind of 2L summer recruiting, not to mention daily tasks like making sure you have two clean, matching socks for each day of the week. But even amidst all the noise, I’d encourage you not to discount 1L summer. You never know what you might learn about yourself or the legal profession.
Sydney Byun is a second-year student at BC Law. Contact her at byunsy@bc.edu.
