1L Law student summer internship questions for organization?
February 3, 2023 3:12 PM Subscribe
What questions do I need to ask an organization before accepting a summer legal internship?
I had a very short interview with an organization as part of an online career fair and I have now received an offer for a summer internship. I thought I might have an additional interview with them before the offer, but now I'm going to have to send them an email with some questions before I make a decision on the offer. Here are the questions I have so far. What am I missing?
1. Do you have a firm start and end date or do we need to discuss that?
2. Is this paid or unpaid?
3. Is it virtual, hybrid, or in the office?
What else should I ask them? Thanks!
I had a very short interview with an organization as part of an online career fair and I have now received an offer for a summer internship. I thought I might have an additional interview with them before the offer, but now I'm going to have to send them an email with some questions before I make a decision on the offer. Here are the questions I have so far. What am I missing?
1. Do you have a firm start and end date or do we need to discuss that?
2. Is this paid or unpaid?
3. Is it virtual, hybrid, or in the office?
What else should I ask them? Thanks!
Will I have the opportunity to produce written work that can be a writing sample?
posted by praemunire at 3:44 PM on February 3, 2023
posted by praemunire at 3:44 PM on February 3, 2023
My answer would be ''when will I receive the terms of employment / formal offer', which at the very least ought to include the basic information you don't have - pay, hours, responsibilities, benefits. This is not specific to this being a legal internship, it's just what makes a job offer up.
I would not spell out for them what they should tell you just yet. Leave them to explain what they're offering - you'll get details you won't think to ask about - and then you can ask for clarifications on any missing points.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 4:01 PM on February 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
I would not spell out for them what they should tell you just yet. Leave them to explain what they're offering - you'll get details you won't think to ask about - and then you can ask for clarifications on any missing points.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 4:01 PM on February 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
(By the way, asking questions to which the posting gives the answer will not give a good impression. I'm surprised that at least your (2) and (3) aren't covered there.)
posted by praemunire at 4:55 PM on February 3, 2023
posted by praemunire at 4:55 PM on February 3, 2023
Response by poster: (By the way, asking questions to which the posting gives the answer will not give a good impression. I'm surprised that at least your (2) and (3) aren't covered there.)
The online career fair was a list of organizations with their websites. There weren't internship listings, per se.
posted by davidstandaford at 5:05 PM on February 3, 2023
The online career fair was a list of organizations with their websites. There weren't internship listings, per se.
posted by davidstandaford at 5:05 PM on February 3, 2023
Check in with your school’s career services staff, and see what’s on the career fair website. Ideally they have some experience with previous placements and have a relationship, so your follow up, with having done that homework/reading the fine print, has questions that are based on a depth of information, if that is available.
posted by childofTethys at 5:48 PM on February 3, 2023
posted by childofTethys at 5:48 PM on February 3, 2023
So I would first try to do some research on your own - things like 'are they paid or unpaid' can usually be found either in the job posting that may exist on their website (I would check), or by googling around to find previous people talking about it. My general assumption would be that if they didn't talk about the stipend or pay, they are unpaid - paid summer internships for 1Ls don't seem to be growing on trees, so places that are offering stipends or pay seem, in my admittedly limited experience, to be usually pretty up-front about it.
I've been asking a number of places about their start/end dates, and it all seems somewhat nebulous - I think this is in part because law schools are not all on the same schedule. (Some people go back in August, some September, for example).
However - if this is at the career fair, I think your best resource is going to be the 2Ls and 3Ls at your school who may have already interned there. Do you have an affinity group or society that provides mentors that you could ask? That's been a pretty helpful resource for me at least, more so than career services.
posted by corb at 6:45 PM on February 3, 2023
I've been asking a number of places about their start/end dates, and it all seems somewhat nebulous - I think this is in part because law schools are not all on the same schedule. (Some people go back in August, some September, for example).
However - if this is at the career fair, I think your best resource is going to be the 2Ls and 3Ls at your school who may have already interned there. Do you have an affinity group or society that provides mentors that you could ask? That's been a pretty helpful resource for me at least, more so than career services.
posted by corb at 6:45 PM on February 3, 2023
“What will I do on an average day?”
“Who will I be working with?”
“Will there be opportunities to observe [your interests here]?”
“How will I receive feedback?”
(I have law student interns every year)
posted by kerf at 6:52 PM on February 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
“Who will I be working with?”
“Will there be opportunities to observe [your interests here]?”
“How will I receive feedback?”
(I have law student interns every year)
posted by kerf at 6:52 PM on February 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
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Following around busy lawyers can be great, but you’ll get a lot more out of it if someone is going to take the time to give you assignments and then review your performance on then.
posted by Xalf at 3:42 PM on February 3, 2023