Aspiring Law School Student?

I am seriously considering the possibility of attending law school. I will be entering my sophomore year at a good community college this fall. As of right now, I have a 3.6 GPA. I am interested in either a legal internship or job at a firm in my city. However, not only am I having trouble finding these sorts of positions, but most require quite a bit of experience, which I do not have at this point. It will be another three years before I am ready for law school, but I would like to get started so I can get a head start and gain some confidence in the field! I would like to know if someone could steer me in the right direction. Thanks for any help!

Edward r

You need to work on your grades if you want to go to a good law school. Your GPA of 3.6 from a community college needs to be improved on. If the GPA was at high ranking 4-year university it would be a good start, but since it's not, you need to work on it. You should work on that and transfer to a good 4-year university before you should concern yourself with getting legal experience.

Additionally, you will not be able to get a legal internship (known as law clerk or summer associate positions) because they are only available for law students. However, if you want to get legal experience during college, you should probably look to legal aid as I am sure they would be happy to have you assist their law clerks.

You should try to work in the field even in an unrelated position, as some have indicated. That way you find out what it's like and meet people in the field. The other things to do is go to court, I believe you can sit in on public court cases. Also, read the text books that are used in the classes if you want. You should also study for the LSAT.

mj69catz

Would you hire you for a legal internship and take the possibility that your lack of experience would cause a problem with a client?

You may be aiming too high up. Legal internships are difficult to come by. Contact some of the larger firms and see if there is a position you could start with -- billing assistant, runner, receptionist, etc. Any of these positions will have the benefit of getting you past the doors, and in touch with the people who work at the firm. Show them your strengths, and watch what they do. If they know that you are working towards law school, they may throw you a bone and give you something a little meatier to do.

Good luck.

dave

It sounds like you're looking at internships designed for law students, and jobs for people trained in the field like paralegals and legal aides. If your school has a career center go there - they can tell you if your college has a history of sending students to particular law firms in the area for unpaid internships. If your college doesn't have one pull out the Yellow Pages and start making calls. There is bound to be a law firm somewhere locally that will accept an upaid intern. As for getting a head start in the field, I wouldn't worry about it. Your first year in law school tears down any preconceived notions you may have and then builds you back up towards becoming a lawyer. In fact, many law schools state they prefer working with a blank slate over students with some experience in the field.

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