Robots + Civil Rights + Law School = Help Me Find a Job!
January 21, 2015 4:48 PM Subscribe
I am a first year law student in Seattle. I am looking for a summer internship/job. I want to work on civil rights issues and technology issues, and I'm pretty sure the future will involve a lot of overlap between the two (issues like this, for example).
I'm running into trouble because I'm basically looking for jobs that don't yet really exist. How do I find a job that will help me prepare for The Future? Career services seems to think that technology necessarily means intellectual property, but that's not really what I'm looking for. And Civil Rights groups have like, 1 open position per office, and those go to 4.0 students from Harvard who've been organizing marches since the fourth grade, and my flimsy resume doesn't even get a response. I need clues, leads, places to look. Any and all advice is appreciated at this point.
I'm running into trouble because I'm basically looking for jobs that don't yet really exist. How do I find a job that will help me prepare for The Future? Career services seems to think that technology necessarily means intellectual property, but that's not really what I'm looking for. And Civil Rights groups have like, 1 open position per office, and those go to 4.0 students from Harvard who've been organizing marches since the fourth grade, and my flimsy resume doesn't even get a response. I need clues, leads, places to look. Any and all advice is appreciated at this point.
I work in a completely unrelated field, but I did some informational interviewing early on in my career that was extremely helpful. If you can, find people who work in related areas and ask them for ten minutes of their time to help a student with career research. Then tell them what you're wanting (expressed as a problem to which you have no answer) and see what they say. Even if they have no ideas at all, they usually have some general advice or can recommend another plugged-in person you can talk to.
In general, an important rule for informational interviews is that you never ask the interviewee for a job and don't put a resume in front of anybody unless they ask.
In my own case, after a couple of interviews I saved myself from a career path that would have probably been awful. Good luck to you--hope you find what you're after.
posted by circular at 5:32 PM on January 21, 2015
In general, an important rule for informational interviews is that you never ask the interviewee for a job and don't put a resume in front of anybody unless they ask.
In my own case, after a couple of interviews I saved myself from a career path that would have probably been awful. Good luck to you--hope you find what you're after.
posted by circular at 5:32 PM on January 21, 2015
Not a direct answer, but are you familiar with the Stanford Center for Internet and Society? Also, a Federal agency might be a good match, but you'll need to hurry since the hiring process is glacial.
posted by chocotaco at 5:53 PM on January 21, 2015
posted by chocotaco at 5:53 PM on January 21, 2015
Check out Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. They take summer interns and their website might give you ideas even if you're not interested in going there.
I work for a state government and we deal with lots of issues related to technology and civil rights. A number of states are starting, or already have, data offices. Ask around to see if there is anything in WA or CA around big data. You may also want to make contact with the AG's offices in these states to see what sorts of tech law issues they deal with. Your law school should have contacts that you can use.
If you're so inclined, you might also want to check out groups like the Free Software Foundation -- they focus more on open source, not so much civil rights, but a lot of interesting issues there.
posted by chickenmagazine at 6:44 PM on January 21, 2015
I work for a state government and we deal with lots of issues related to technology and civil rights. A number of states are starting, or already have, data offices. Ask around to see if there is anything in WA or CA around big data. You may also want to make contact with the AG's offices in these states to see what sorts of tech law issues they deal with. Your law school should have contacts that you can use.
If you're so inclined, you might also want to check out groups like the Free Software Foundation -- they focus more on open source, not so much civil rights, but a lot of interesting issues there.
posted by chickenmagazine at 6:44 PM on January 21, 2015
The Electronic Frontier Foundation "defends civil liberties in the digital world," and they are hiring interns! The ACLU has a technology wing, dotrights.org, that seeks to "protect civil liberties in the digital era," which might have leads too.
posted by *s at 7:03 PM on January 21, 2015
posted by *s at 7:03 PM on January 21, 2015
The above answers are all good.
In addition to the above, listen to Career Services. This is their expertise. You are a first-year law student. Snobbery is not the best policy for you right now.
By the way, your tech/society insights are interesting. Bring them up in your interviews if you can.
posted by JimN2TAW at 9:19 PM on January 21, 2015
In addition to the above, listen to Career Services. This is their expertise. You are a first-year law student. Snobbery is not the best policy for you right now.
By the way, your tech/society insights are interesting. Bring them up in your interviews if you can.
posted by JimN2TAW at 9:19 PM on January 21, 2015
Consider getting a research position - or at least an office hour chat - with someone on the law faculty who's publishing in related areas - cyberlaw, Internet law, robotics, privacy, etc. (I feel like privacy's been the hot button issue in this area for ACLU/EFF-type orgs; even if not a perfect fit, it's probably a better-developed place to start.) There might also be faculty who are looking at this on the criminal (rather than civil) side -- police crime prediction software, etc. Also, don't discount IP; there may be intersections of your interests, like access to expensive pharmaceutical patents.
If you're not sure who's doing research in this area, ask your 1L profs for pointers. (Or send me a PM.)
posted by cdefgfeadgagfe at 9:24 PM on January 21, 2015
If you're not sure who's doing research in this area, ask your 1L profs for pointers. (Or send me a PM.)
posted by cdefgfeadgagfe at 9:24 PM on January 21, 2015
I have worked with a couple of consumer rights groups looking at consumner data and smart grids. Might be worth looking if there are equivalents where you are.
posted by biffa at 12:08 AM on January 22, 2015
posted by biffa at 12:08 AM on January 22, 2015
If you have time, check out one of the Code for Seattle meetups. It's a group of civic-minded technology folks who work on issues around civic technology in the area.
There's usually a fair number of people, especially at the Socrata meetups. I don't know about any specific openings, but you may find some people who can point you in the right direction.
posted by formless at 12:42 AM on January 23, 2015
There's usually a fair number of people, especially at the Socrata meetups. I don't know about any specific openings, but you may find some people who can point you in the right direction.
posted by formless at 12:42 AM on January 23, 2015
Have you considered looking at tech firms in-house? That would satisfy half of what you want, and if you find a more policy-oriented position then it could be perfect.
Has Microsoft done their screener interviews at your school? They hire one from UW, one from Seattle U, and one each from the T6, so you are only competing against other students from your school. They are just finishing up the T6 screener interviews.
posted by obviousresistance at 3:57 PM on January 24, 2015
Has Microsoft done their screener interviews at your school? They hire one from UW, one from Seattle U, and one each from the T6, so you are only competing against other students from your school. They are just finishing up the T6 screener interviews.
posted by obviousresistance at 3:57 PM on January 24, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
Also, first year summer jobs (at least where I'm from) don't have to be legal, necessarily. Maybe intern for a tech company and spearhead some legal research projects to be able to put that on your resume. It demonstrates initiative and the ability to work with minimal guidance.
posted by hepta at 4:58 PM on January 21, 2015 [1 favorite]