【新學期將近，《世界日報》8月18日出版了“教育特刊”。這個特刊推出包括“大學申請，課外活動，熱門專業……”等係列專訪。“Studying Law in USA”和“兒子為何選擇讀法學院”作為“熱門專業”推薦文章也收錄刊登。特此對《世界日報》編輯韓傑先生表示感謝。】
在美國律師協會（ABA：American Bar Association）認證的203所法學院裏，法學院的排名近年來基本比較穩定，特別是前15名的法學院排名一直比較穩定。但是學校之間也會有上下浮動。請看以下榜單：
2018年USNews美國大學法學院排名
和2017 年相比，耶魯大學法學院還是最好的法學院，每年都是排名第一。其他學校的排名則有一些變化。哈佛大學法學院今年被斯坦福法學院超越，名列第三。芝加哥大學去年和哥倫比亞大學法學院並列第四，今年成功躋身第四。哥大法學院位居第五，紐約大學保持第六。第二梯隊的杜克大學和伯克利分別跌落兩名和四名，而奧斯汀成功躋身前14。上下浮動和各個法學院每年的BAR通過率，就業率有著極大的影響。目前這些頂級法學院的招生率錄取率都還是保持比較穩定的狀態，所以對申請不會有太大的影響。
耶魯法學院，每年排名第一。
下麵這張圖更詳細地介紹了2018年美國排名前22名法學院的概況。
（由於排名來源不同，可能和上麵的順序不太一樣）。
這裏詳細列出了GPA要求，LSAT範圍，錄取率，教工/學生比例，畢業時就找到工作，畢業後10個月以內找到工作，以及BAR的通過率。
必須指出的是，這個BAR 考試的通過率是考核法學院的一個重要標準。當時我兒子的事務所對新來的助理們通過BAR考試也是非常重視的，還專門給他們時間和參考書。
家長們會更關心畢業後的收入。收入與能否被大的律師事務所錄取有很大關係，差別會很大。紐約的大律師事務所新人的年薪是公開的，在網上都能查到。十年前是16.5萬。據說2019年起薪19萬，這還不算年終獎。實習期間的收入是按第一年工資比例算的。兒子夏季實習的錢，足夠交了第三年的學費。但是如果到小的事務所，年薪不好說，少到三萬的也有。即使是進了大公司的法律部門，剛開始年薪也就幾萬美金。我在原單位網站看過一個廣告，那是個幾萬員工的大醫藥公司。
下麵這篇文章的英文作者熊文劍（Mark Xiong）到美國的時候才四歲，在美國接受了13年義務教育。他高中畢業時獲得美國優秀學生獎（National Merit Scholar finalist），並獲全額獎學金入學新澤西州立大學---羅格斯大學。
畢業後進於德克薩斯州的奧斯汀大學法學院，畢業後就職於紐約的Ropes & Gray法律事務所。
Ropes&Grey 在芝加哥的辦公樓
按照國家法律雜誌2008年基於Ropes & Gray LLP有1162個律師，在美國排名前20。而按照$1,748,209,000這個總收入來看，2019年，在美國排名排名第13。在2018年全球排名，這個事務所在全球總收入排名為第18名。
但是他進入這個律師事務所的道路並不平坦。下麵這篇文章裏，他詳細地介紹了美國法學院的學習，實習，找實習工作的情況。這是在美國讀法學院的親身經曆，希望能對有誌於申請法學院的學生有些幫助。
每年大學錄取季，對大多數家長和學生都是一個很煎熬的過程。兒子高中畢業那年對我們也是。初中畢業時，他囊括七項優秀畢業生獎，隻給他朋友留了一項。那時候，我們和老師們一樣有信心，這孩子肯定進藤校。
和大多數華人家長一樣的想法，我們要為孩子創造最好的條件，搬到好學區去！在他高二的時候轉學到了一個新學區，後來才知道是個極大的錯誤。那時候他已經很難融入那些從小就形成的朋友圈了。兒子一度很迷茫，對新環境適應期間很長，很少參加社團活動，這些對一個華裔男孩來說，都是不利因素。申請大學的時候，我們收到了多個頂尖大學的拒絕信，也有等待信。
但是州立大學的通知卻早在申請以前就到了，天下真有免費午餐？真有！四年全獎，學費和吃住，全包。兒子那一屆高中畢業生有八百多人，他是學校僅有的九名“美國優秀學生獎”獲得者之一（National Merit Scholar Finalist）。這是從每年大約一百五十萬左右高中生參賽者中，選出大約八千二百名獎學金獲得者（0.57%）。那年他還獲得當年克林頓總統簽名的總統獎。
沒有收到藤校錄取，當時也是很遺憾的。後來決定不要等了，上州立大學去！州立大學開出的條件很誘人。四年學費全免，住宿全包，連飯票都發！
上了大學，學什麽專業呢？我想這也是很多家長和孩子們的困惑。兒子一向平衡發展，連SAT都是文理科分數完全一樣，所以決定都試試。誰知計算機編程學了一個月就不幹了，覺得簡單，不好玩。還回家對爸爸說：“爸爸，這麽沒意思的事，你怎麽還能天天做？”
到大學裏，他卻對哲學，心理學，曆史越來越感興趣。可是最後選什麽專業呢？感覺很為難。幸運的是，兒子碰到了一位好教授，胡門博士（Dr. Humane）。胡門博士是一位知名學者，美國很多大學用他寫的書做教材。一次偶然的機會，兒子去教授的辦公室幫忙，兩人竟十分投緣。
經過幾次長談，教授告訴兒子，如果不知道學什麽專業就選政治科學吧。（Political Science）。因為羅格斯大學的政治科學在美國大學排名是相當靠前的。可是我們，作為“學好數理化，走遍天下都不怕”的理科生家長，當時還是很吃驚，政治能算科學嗎？我們很懷疑。可是兒子對他的這個專業非常上心，學得渾身是勁。每次我去學校接他回來的路上，他都會津津有味地講那些美國曆史上發生的重大事件，還有很多法庭案例。
到大學第三年，兒子還是不知道畢業以後幹什麽。有一次上課是跟著警察轉了一天，本來他是有當警察的打算。一天下來，馬上打消了這個念頭。因為除了在路邊發發違規停車罰單，一天啥也沒幹。
後來，還是那位胡門博士救了他。教授說，要是不知道畢業以後幹什麽，就讀法學院，去當個律師吧。這個建議我是一直都不敢想的，因為律師和醫生是兒子從小就發誓不幹的職業。所以當兒子說要考律師入學考試，想當律師，我還真嚇了一跳。我想: 教授閱人無數，以教授對兒子的了解，他給兒子指點了一條適合這孩子的路。
考LAST不是一件容易的事。從小就沒進過補習班的兒子，報名參加了“Princeton Review”專門練習這個考試。
不過有趣的是，兒子進去摸底考試就考了166，當時老師就問“你幹嘛來了？補習以後才考了170，1000多塊錢才買了4分。好在兒子在州立大學裏學得較輕鬆，平均學分績點（GPA）4.0。由於法學院錄取是綜合兩項，他還是被排名14的德州奧斯汀法學院錄取了。他大學畢業的主專業是政治科學，輔專業是歐洲曆史和哲學。
雖然兒子後來讀法學院時找工作時遇到了一些曲折，他也從那個過程中學會了積極建立各種關係，主動地掌握前進方向。剛開始工作時，當同伴們都還在等待分配工作，他已經主動聯係進了一個大項目組，取得了對一個青年律師非常重要的工作經驗。這個項目，據說涉及資金兩億多美元。他們的客戶之一，就是那個大名鼎鼎，譽滿全球的股神巴菲特。
美國的法學學位有三種：
1）法律博士--JD（Juris Doctor），一般大學畢業後再讀三年，這是最基本的法學學位。大概需要八十到九十學分才能畢業。
2）法學碩士---LL.M(Master of Law)，一般四年完成。很多國際學生願意讀LLM，這是因為他們已經有了本國的法律學位。如果轉了學分，再加上一，兩年就可以得到LLM，在美國當律師。也可以回到自己的國家運用美國法律，或者進行國際法這方麵的工作。
3）法學博士---SJD（Juris Doctor of Science），這個學位是研究法律的某一個方向，需要在導師的指導下完成一篇論文。這是在取得JD和LL.M 以後再進一步的學位，相當於其他學科的博士學位。除了學院派以外，一般很少有人去讀。
一般美國人都很現實，有一個JD就可以開始他們的法律職業了，很少有人去讀更高的學位。就連最高法院的大法官都是JD畢業，誰還願意多花時間和錢多讀幾年呢？所以 LLM 和SJD一般供外國律師和學者來讀。
在美國要想進法學院學習，需要參加“法學院入學考試”（LSAT：Law School Admission Test)。
LSAT每年四次，(考試時間和次數可能近年來有變化。)是由五個35分鍾的選答題部分組成，其中一個部分是實驗，不算分（但是考試者並不知道哪一部分不算。)還有一個35分鍾的寫作部分，這個部分也不算分，但是會送到學校作為參考。
LSAT考試主要考三個方麵：
1）閱讀理解能力（ReadingComprehension）
2）分析與推理能力（AnalyticalReasoning）
3) 邏輯與推理能力（LogicalReasoning）。
LSAT 滿分為180分。如果LSAT能考到165分以上，GPA在3.9以上就商量美國頂尖法學院的錄取線了。所以我的建議是，考試前一定要多多地做練習題，越多越好，因為LSAT可不是你閉著眼睛，隨便就能考好的。LSAT成績在法學院的錄取中占的比例最大。
美國法學院的錄取和大學錄取的情況完全不同，值得指出的有下麵幾點：
1）和SAT在大學錄取的算法不同的是，LSAT在法學院錄取中分量最重要。所以考一個好的LSAT分數非常重要。
2) 法學院錄取更重視學術表現，也就是你的分數，而不是參加社團活動的多少。
3) 與畢業的大學本身排名也沒有很大關係。我和幾個畢業於羅格斯州立大學的朋友，本科專業是政治科學，都被很好的法學院錄取了。
4) 與大學本科專業也沒有什麽關係。
不管你是學的哲學，曆史，數學，還是音樂，隻要是你願意考LSAT，分數夠高的話，就可以申請法學院。但是要想進好的法學院，LSAT和大學GPA的成績越高越好。
法學院學習總共三年，但是第一年的成績最重要。在法學院的第一年，大家的課程安排都基本上一樣。必修課包括：物業法，國家法，刑法，合同法，法律研究與寫作，侵權法，和憲法。其中寫作部分非常重要，也很鍛煉人。這一年的課程，最重要而又關鍵的，是訓練學生學會“像律師那樣去思維”。我個人認為，這一年學到的知識，比在大學四年裏學到的都多。
由於有大量的閱讀與寫作，很多學生都認為法學院的第一年是非常緊張的。而且第一年是學習成績最重要的一年。因為第二年初的時候，各個大的律師事務所，很多需要律師的大公司，以及政府部門都要到各個法學院來麵試選人，招下一年的夏季實習生，這樣可以試驗一下他們想雇傭的人。
由於律師事務所的雇員主要來自夏季實習生，所以他們在實習生招聘是非常嚴肅的。如果這一次麵試不好的話，想進入頂尖律師事務所和大公司的機會就少得可憐了。因為律師事務所和招人單位隻能根據第一年的成績，和第一年夏季實習來考慮學生的能力。如果第一年的成績不好的話，會影響麵試結果，而使自己從一開始就處在不利的位置。不但麵試機會少，而且會麵臨更嚴格的麵試。
法學院的夏季實習是一個非常重要的學習過程。第一年的夏季實習，主要是學習一些基本的法律程序，了解真正的法律世界。我第一年夏季實習是在華盛頓DC的聯邦巡回法庭。在那裏我在幫助法官的案例中，也看到了真正的法庭活動。我和法官在一起工作，也建立了很好的關係。而這種關係為我後來找到律師事務所的工作，打下了堅定的基礎。不過這種實習往往是沒有錢的，（甚至有時候還要交錢，因為那樣可以算學分）。但是這也是很值得的，因為這樣的工作經曆，對下一年的麵試會很有幫助。
到了第二年以後就可以根據自己的興趣去選課。比如我就選學了合同法，知識產權法，和商業上的有關課程。還有一些國際法的課程等等。還有一些對以後考各州的律師資格證有幫助的課。
第二年的夏季實習可以說是法學院最重要的時期，因為這次實習會直接關係到將來的工作。前麵講了法律事務所一般都是從實習生中招雇員，也就是說不通過實習直接進入的可能性幾乎為零。第二年的實習是有錢的，而且是按照以後被雇用的工資來算，還挺高的。我自己就是用第二年夏季實習的錢，交了第三年的學費。
第三年的選課就比較自由，通常這時候離畢業所需要的學分已經差的不多了，而且大多數人都知道了自己畢業後的去向。一般就選一些自己最感興趣的課來補足學分。
上法學院的時候，夏天實習和上課一樣重要。因為這是法學院個人簡曆上非常重要的一部分--工作經驗。而頂尖律師事務所都希望學生有夏季實習的經驗。
上法學院後第一年的夏季實習，我去了兩個地方。首先，我去了華盛頓特區的聯邦索賠法院。
聯邦索賠法院有一個很特別的管轄範圍，全美國就隻有一個這樣的索賠法院。最簡單的解釋就是，任何人想狀告美國政府，不管是什麽原因，也不管是在美國哪個區域，都可以到這個法院起訴。但是大部分的時候，原告也可以到就近的法院起訴，所以美國索賠法院並不比別的法院忙。如果原告不滿意索賠法院的裁判，可以到聯邦巡回法院上訴。要是對巡回法院結果還布滿意，還可以上訴到美國最高法院。說起來，美國索賠法院很像一個地方法院，但是這法院的管轄範圍是按主題決定的。
那一次是在法官布萊頓（Braden）的議事室實習。法官布萊頓那年招了七個實習生。開始隻有六個人，都被塞在一個長方形的小屋。那個屋子確實太小了，因為坐在裏麵的人，常常需要從別人身上翻過去。擠是有一點擠，但是因為坐得那麽近，也很快就成朋友了，沒事就聊天（當然有時候有事也會聊天）。我們實習期間有兩個主要任務：第一是要學習寫一個從頭至尾的完整司法決議，第二是要仔細地觀察法官布萊頓帶我們參加的所有活動。
我在法官布萊頓的議事室實習隻有一個半月，但是給她留下了很好的印象。法官布萊頓給了我們很多機會，參加各種各樣的活動。比如，我們觀察了很多真實的法庭審理過程，到美國最高法院去聽講話和吃晚飯。作為一次尋找真相的訪問，還去了一個宇航工業公司。下班後還會跟別的法庭或政府機關打棒球。
雖然我在法官布萊頓的議事室時間不是很長，但卻是我最重要的實習經驗。法官布萊頓在法律界裏有很多關係，她也很願意利用這些關係來幫她的實習生去建立關係和找工作。如果不是到她那裏去實習，我很可能不會順利找到畢業後的第一份工作，進了Ropes &Gray。
那次夏季剩下的時間，我去了一個很小的知識產權法律公司，每周去三次。因為公司很小，大部分的工作都是從網上來的，所以基本上沒有客戶到辦公室。在那裏，我主要做的事都與申請商標有關。事情和活動沒有在法院那邊那麽多，但是由於我對知識產權法很感興趣，所以覺得挺有意思的。
以我看來，第一年的夏天實習是非常非常重要的機會，不僅僅是讓學生體會以後的工作環境，而且對建立簡曆也很有幫助。第一年實習常常被忽視（特別是當你學習成績不錯的時候。）但是這次實習也可能是你校園麵試和畢業後找工作的決定因素。
找到一個好的第二年夏季實習可能是上法學院最最重要的事情。這是因為法律界招工都是非常早的。到第二年夏天來到的時候，90%的頂尖事務所的工作已經被他們的實習生填滿了。不經過這種傳統途徑而進入公司的員工，需要很強有力的關係，運氣超好，或兩者都有。
找第二年夏季實習最常見的方法，是參加法學院的校園麵試（OCIs：On CampusInterviews)。每年十月份，（現在好像越來越早了。）每個法學院都會請大批的法律事務所，政府機構，和其他的大公司，到學校跟學生麵試。每個公司派的麵試者會在兩天的時間選一些候選人，送到公司的本部去第二輪麵試。校園麵試時，每個人隻有15分鍾麵試時間。記住，這是你唯一的機會讓麵試者知道你的能力和個性。
當你通過了第一輪麵試後，公司或者律師事務所，會讓你去公司總部進行第二輪更加正式的麵試（一般叫做“Call-back”）。律師事務所的麵試是用半天時間，和4-6個來自不同部門的律師麵談。（我對其他公司和政府部門的麵試不了解，因為沒有那方麵麵試經驗。）麵試完了，平常會有兩個律師帶你出去吃飯。別太放鬆了，這也是麵試的一方麵，是看你在非正式的場合下的表現如何）。第二論麵試主要是看你的個性跟公司的文化是不是融洽，所以不會有說明特別專業的問題。
我的校園麵試結果很不好。雖然有很多第一輪麵試，最後隻有兩個律師事務所給了我第二輪麵試機會。一個在紐約，一個在洛杉磯。遺憾的是，他們最後都沒給我實習機會，必須承認，我都是感到很震驚。
現在回頭想想，我可以清楚地看到我犯的兩大錯誤：
第一， 我沒有及時強調自己的長處。首先，我很自然地不喜歡吹噓自己或者多說自己的長處。我總是覺得完美是一種需要永遠去追求而不容易得到的東西，不管你做得多好。我也不知道怎麽會有這樣的想法，估計是我的父母害了我！
麵試時，我隻是感覺自己的內心，沒有把精力放在鼓吹自己的強處上。這是一個巨大的錯誤！特別是在麵試的時候，沒有任何人會主動幫你說好話，除了你自己。如果有什麽事情不在您的簡曆和求職信上，麵試者是完全不可能發現的，除非你親口告訴他。當然會有好多和不好的方式去強調你的長處，但是如果任何人告訴你，應該盡量讓麵試你的人多說，你隻需要問些問題，那絕對是個很壞的衷告。
第二，我過分懶散了，沒有充分表示我對工作的熱情。幾乎每個要去麵試的人得到的勸告都是不要緊張。這當然是個很好的勸告如果你是個容易緊張的人，可是我不是。回頭看看，我認為這害了我，因為我的懶散讓麵試方覺得我好像對那個工作沒有興趣。當然，這隻是我自己的印象。但是我還是堅定地認為，這就是我過了第二輪麵試二沒得到實習職位的原因。不緊張當然是很好的忠告，但是你一定要有點緊張並且表現出你對那個位置的極大的興趣。
正如我前麵所說的，校園麵試後，我沒有得到實習機會，我很失望。後來我想，也許這是個信號，法律事務所也許不是我最好的選擇。第二學年一開始，有一位校友來講授關於一門“電信規章與創新”的課，使我對電信和做生意產生了興趣。這位校友教授原來有自己的電信公司，賣給了AT&T以後，拿了一大筆錢，就來把給學生講課當作一個愛好。那門課結束以後，我問那位教授有什麽項目需要學生幫他做些事。沒有想到，一個簡簡單單的問題導致一個全新的非盈利電信公司的誕生，還有我的第一個公司領導職位。
那一年，我們從頭開始建立了一個叫做“USFON”的公司，這是一個非常特別的公司，迄今為止，我還不知道世界上還有這樣的公司。從起步到最後運作成功，整個過程用了差不多一年時間，雖然我在課堂上學到了很多知識，但我在成立公司的實踐中學到了更多。在申請公司成立的時候，我給自己封了一個主要監管負責人的位置，從一個電信公司的日常，到和政府打交道。不過我也自己動手鋪了第一根電話線。
到第二年的二月，我收到了法官布萊頓的電郵問我情況。我告訴了她我們公司的情況，也說了夏天繼續要在自己公司工作。她問我想不想跟她到紐約“知識產權法律協會年會”，她想介紹我認識一些人。這是一個法律界規格很高的年會，一般不允許帶別人去，除非是自己的孩子。（她在法律界威望很高，估計也是對我印象很好。）我當時就答應了，因為我覺得這是跟知識產權律師建立關係的好機會，也能進一步擴大我們公司的影響。
三月份，我來到了紐約。那天晚上法官布萊頓介紹我認識了很多人，從晚上八點一直跑到十二點多。每見到一個人我就介紹我們的公司和公司所做的工作，等到我和布萊頓法官的好朋友，Ropes& Gray LLP律師事務所的M先生見麵的時候，我已經用了好幾個小時練好了我的演說，肯定給了他很好的印象。
第二天我就飛回了學校。沒過幾天，布萊頓法官的好朋友M先生給我打來電話，問我願不願意去紐約麵試，他說紐約夏季實習生班還有一個空缺。這時候我有一點兒為難，因為我們的新公司剛剛起步，我不想做事隻做一半。我谘詢了我的父母，朋友，甚至和一起開公司的教授，他們都認為我應該去紐約去麵試。因為公司的工作可以等我夏季實習回來在做，另外還有別人也可以接著做。於是我同意去麵試。
因為有了足夠長的時間去總結上次第二輪麵試時的問題，這次我作好了充分的準備。麵試過程很正常，隻是很多給我麵試的人都很感到奇怪，為什麽那個時候會麵試實習生？因為實習生麵試早就結束了。後來我才了解到，因為我給M先生的實在印象太好了，他專門在實習班為我設立了這個位置，因為他本人就是招生委員。麵試以後我對結果有些信心，我認為自己一定留下了好印象，當然在等待的時候也有一點兒緊張。
五月二號，M先生給我打了電話，說我得到了下一年到事務所在紐約辦事處實習的機會。夏季實習結束時，我得到了工作機會，我高興第接受了這個機會。
希望我的經驗可以給想進法學院的朋友們一點幫，同時也是提供一個例子，通往成功的路並不隻有一條。有時候，看起來一個很失敗的事件也許是個很好是機會去學習和成長，你隻是需要去抓住這個機會。
By Mark Xiong
The types of law degrees in US
1. JD (Juris Doctor) – This is usually a three-year degree available for college graduates and is the most common law degree. It takes about 80 to 90 credits tocomplete.
2. LLM (Master of Law)– This is usually a four-year degree. Many international students choose to pursue an LLM rather than a JD because they already have a law-related degree from their own country. Assuming thecredits are transferable, it only takes another year or two of additional credits to receive an LLM, after which you will be qualified to practice in theU.S. A LLM graduate also has the option to return to his or her country and leverage the U.S. degree to practice international law.
3. SJD (Doctor of Juridical Science) –This is an advanced degree that is only available after receiving a JD or an LLM. It’sbasically the legal equivalent of a PhD and is very rarely pursued outside of academia.
Generally speaking, Americans are very pragmatic and are happy to start their legal careers with just a JD. This is widely accepted in the U.S. with even the Justices of the Supreme Court usually having (at most) a JD. That being the case, why waste time and money pursuing a more advanced degree? This is why LLMs and SJDs are generally pursued by foreign practitioners and scholars.
The LSAT entrance exam
Anyone interested in applying for law school in the U.S. has to take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT).The LSAT is administered six times each year and consists of five 35-minute parts, one of which is an experimental section that is not counted towards your score (but you won’t know which part is the one that isnot counted).
There is also a 35-minute writing section that does not counted towards your score, but is sent to the schools you apply to as a reference.
The LSAT exam mainly tests three areas:
1. Reading Comprehension
2. Analytical Reasoning
3. Logical Reasoning
A full score for the LSAT is 180 points。If you can score higher than 165 points and your GPA is 3.9 or higher, you are generally above the cut-off for any of the top tier law school. My advice is to take a prep class and as many practice examsas you can stomach before your exam as it is not something that you should walk-in to blind.
It’simportant to keep in mind that the law school admissions process is totally different from the college admissions process in a number of key ways:
1. Unlike the SAT when applying for undergraduate programs, the LSAT is given more substantive weight in the law school admissions process so it is important to score well.
2. Academic performance generally outweighs extra-curricular activities.
3. Where a candidate went to undergrad doesn’t have as big of an impact on what schools they can get into. My friends and I graduated from Rutgers University with "political science" degrees and we were both accepted to top 15 law schools.
4. Your undergrad major doesn’t matter.
Whether you majored in philosophy, history, mathematics, even music, you can apply to (and get into)law school as long as you score well enough on the LSATs. If you want toget into a top tier law school, you will want your LSAT score and GPA as highas possible.
Law school life
In the first year of law school,everyone's curriculum is basically the same. Required courses include: property law, civil procedure, criminal law, contracts, legal research & writing,torts, and constitutional law. The first year is also critically important asit really reshapes your mind to “think like a lawyer.” I personally believe that I learned more in this first year than all four year of college combined.
Due to the large volume of reading and writing, many students find the first year in law school to be very intense. The first year is also the most important year for academic performance because at the beginning of the second year, many law firms,companies, and government agencies will go to the different law schools to recruit interns for the upcoming summer.
Law firms in particular hire their employees almost exclusively from their summer interns so they take their intern recruiting very seriously. If a candidate doesn’t do well on these interviews, the chances of finding a job at a top tier firm or company are incredibly slim.
Because law firms can only consider the student's credentials based on the first year's grades and any activities the student pursued over the 1L summer, this puts extra pressure to do well in that first year. Poor grades will put a candidate at a disadvantage from the beginning since he or she will get less, and tougher, interviews.
The first-year summer is also acritical time during law school and a great opportunity to learn what theactual practice of law is like. My first summer was spent interning atthe Court of Federal Claims in D.C. where I saw the court in action as I helpedmy judge with her caseload. I worked closely with my judge and built a great relationship that ended up being instrumental to how I got my law firm job. While this kind of internship is often unpaid (and sometimes you even have to pay for it because that can be counted as school credits), it is still worth pursuingas it builds your resume for the second-year interviews.
Starting your second year, you can choose classes according to your own interests. For example, I chose to study secured credit, intellectual property law, and mostly business-related courses. There are also courses in international law, tax, etc. that can be helpful when taking the state bar exam.
The second year of summer internship can be said to be the most important period of law school because this internship will likely be directly related to your future employment. As mentioned earlier, law firms (and companies in general) usually recruit employees from their summer interns and getting into a law firm through other means is almost impossible.
The 2L summer internship is also usually paid, and quite well actually as you are generally paid at the same rate as anentry-level associate. For context, I was able to pay for my entire third yearof law school tuition with the money from my 2L internship.
Summerinternships – 1L
When attending law school,summer internships are just as important as classes. This is because it is acrucial source of work experience for a resume that usually consists entirely of school. Additionally, all top tier law firms will expect students to havesome sort of work experience on their resume for the 1L summer.
For my 1L summer, I interned at two places. The first was the Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C. TheCourt of Federal Claims has a very special jurisdiction and there is only onesuch court in the United States. The simplest explanation is that anyone whowants to sue the U.S. government can do so in this court, regardless of thereason or where the harm occurred. However, plaintiffs can also usually sue intheir district level federal court so despite its broad subject-matter reach, the Court of Federal Claims is about as busy as any other district level court. Ifa plaintiff is not satisfied with the judgment provided by the Court of Federal Claims, they can appeal to the U.S.Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Ifthe U.S. Court of Appeals can't resolve the claim, it can further be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In other words, the Court of Federal Claims is much like a district level federal court, except that its jurisdiction is based onwho the defendant is.
While at the Court of Federal Claims, I interned in the Chamber of Judge Susan G.Braden. That year, Judge Braden had a total of seven interns. We started with only six people and all of us were stuffed in a long small room. It was definitely a bit crowded with folks in the back of the room having to climb over others to get in, but the close proximity helped us quickly bond and become friends. When there wasn’t much going on, we would spend our time chatting (and ofcourse even if there was work to be done, we would sometimes just chat the day away as well). There were two main tasks assigned to us during our internship:the first was to write a decision for an actual case from beginning to end and the second was to carefully observe during all the activities that Judge Braden took us to.
My internship in Judge Braden’s Chambers lasted only about a month and a half but the impression she left on me was a very positive one. Judge Braden gave us many opportunities to participate in a variety of activities. For example, we observed a lot of court trials, went to the U.S. Supreme Court to listen to talks given by the judges, and visited an aerospace company as part of a fact finding mission. After work, we also played softball with other courts and government agencies. Although I wasn’t there very long,it was the most important internship experience I had. Judge Braden has a lot of relationships in the legal profession and she is also willing to use these relationships to help her interns to find jobs. If I didn't go to her for an internship, I would not have gotten my job at Ropes & Gray LLP.
After the Court of FederalClaims, I went to a small intellectual property law firm for the rest of my 1Lsummer. The firm was quite small and most of the work came in through their website so it was extremely rare that a client would actually come into the office. My main job was to assist with the trademark application process. This was much more of a real job so there wasn’t much interms of activities outside of work. That said, it was still a great experience for me as I am very interested in intellectual property law.
In my opinion, the 1L summer isan incredibly important opportunity to gain real working experience while building your resume. It’s often overlooked (especially if you already have good grades) but it can be a deciding factor going into youron-campus interviews and post-graduation job hunt.
Summerinternships – 2L
Securing a good second-year summer internship is probably the single most important thing you can do whilein law school. This is because legal recruitment occurs extremely early so by the time the 2L summer comes around, 90% of the top tier jobs will already have been filled by their summer internship pool. To get a job outside of this traditional path requires strong relationships, great luck, or both.
The most common way to find a 2L summer internship is to attend your law school’s On Campus Interviews (or OCIs). Starting in October (although it seems to get earlier every year), each law school will invite a large number of law firms,government agencies, and companies to interview their students. For OCIs, each interview only lasts about 15 minutes and often times it is your single chance to showcase your abilities and personality.
If you make it past this initial round of interviews, the next step is to be flown out to the employer’s headquarters for a more formal round of interviews (often called a “call back”). For a law firm call-back (I don’t know what company or government agency call backs are like as I never had any), you usually meetwith 4-6 lawyers from different groups over the course of half aday. Afterwards, two junior associates will take you to lunch (or dinner if your interviews were in the afternoon). Do not be too relaxed at lunch/ dinner, this is just another aspect of the interview process to see how you respond in a less formal environment. These call back interviews are really a personality test to see if you would be a good cultural fit for the firm /company so you shouldn’t expect much in the way of substantive questions.
My OCIs actually went very poorly. While I was able to do a lot of interview, I only had two call backs for two law firms, one in NYC and one in LA. Ultimately, neither of theselaw firms offered me a position, which was quite a shock to me at the time.
Looking back at it now, I could clearly see that I had two major problems:
1. I didn’t properly highlight my strengths. First of all, it is very much against my nature to brag or talk myself up to strangers. My mindset has always been that perfection is something that can always be chased but never achieved and no matter how good you are,there will always be someone better—I don’t know where I developed this mindset, probably my parents!
During my interviews, I followed my natural inclinations and didn’t put much effort in highlighting my strengths. This was a big mistake.
Especially in an interview context, nobody is going to speak on your behalf or say anything good about you except yourself. If something is not already on your resume or cover letter, it is literally impossible for an interviewer to know about it unless you tell them. Of course, there are good ways and bad ways to highlight your strengths, but if anyone ever tells you that you should try to let your interviewer talk as much as possible and just ask questions, that is very bad advice.
2. I was too laid back and didn’t convey enthusiasm. One of the fundamental pieces of advice everyone receives before going into an interview is to not be nervous. This is great advice ifyou tend to get nervous but personally, I don’t. Looking back on it, I’m pretty sure this hurt me as Iwas probably laid back to the point that my interviewers felt that I wasn’t really interested in working there. This is just my own impression but I’m fairly sure that this is why neitherof my call backs met with any success. Not being nervous is great advice but honestly, you should be a bit nervous and you should definitely show interest in the position that you are applying for!
My experience after failing OCIs
As I mentioned, I ended upwithout a 2L summer internship after OCIs, which was pretty disappointing at the time. After a while though, I felt that not getting a 2L summer internship was a sign that maybe a law firm position wasn’t the best option for me anyways. In the fall of my second year, I took a class taught by a University of Texas alumni who had sold his business to AT&Tfor a ton of money and now taught telecom regulations as a hobby at the law school.I found both the course work and the professor to be quite interesting. After the semester was over, I asked the teacher if he was working on any projects that could use some student assistance. Unexpectedly, this simple question lead to the formation of a non-profit telecommunications company and my first officer position at a company.
That year, we built a fully operational non-profit telecom company from scratch called USFON. It was truly one-of-a-kind when we created it and to this day, I’m not aware of another company like it. The whole process took about a year from inception to full operation and while I learned a lot from the class, I learned even more by actually building the company. I took the position of Chief Regulatory Officer once the company was up and running and did everything from interfacing with the government agencies that managed telecom companies to physically wiring up the phone closet at our first location.
In the middle of all this, I received an email from Judge Braden in the spring of my second year asking me what I wasup to and whether I had found an internship for the coming summer. I told her about USFON and my plans to continue working towards getting our company operating over the summer. She then asked me if I would like to attend the NewYork Intellectual Property Law Association’s Annual Dinner so that she could introduce me to some people. This is considered a very prestigious event in the legal world and especially for practitioners in the intellectual property space. Invitees usually aren’t even allowed to bring a guest unless it is their own child. I happily agreed because I thought it was an great opportunity to not only build relationships with some intellectual property lawyers but also to raise USFON’s profile as well.
A month later, I flew out to NYC on a Friday afternoon and attended the dinner that same night. Judge Braden took me around and introduced me to a ton of people, we were going almost non-stop from 8:00pm until well after midnight. Every time I met someone, I used it as a chance to talk about USFON and the work that we were doing. Towards the end of the night, Judge Braden finally introduced me to a close friend of hers who worked at Ropes & GrayLLP. By that point, I had basically spent hours practicing my speech so I ended up leaving a strong impression.
I flew back to Austin the very next day and a couple days later, Judge Braden’s friend called me up and asked if I would be interested in doing a call back for their summer internship program in NYC.I was a little bit hesitant at first because our new company was just getting off the ground and I didn’t want to leave in the middle of things. I asked the advice of my parents, friends, and even the professor who I had started USFON with and they all advised me to take the internship.
They made the very good point that the company would still be there when I came back in the fall and the other students could help pick upthe slack while I was gone. So, I decided to go in for the interview.
Because I had spent quite a lotof time thinking about what went wrong in my previous call backs, I was fully prepared this time around. The interview process was pretty typical but a lot of people I met with were surprised that the firm was still interviewing any one at all since OCIs were long over. Only later did I realize that I had made such a strong impression on Judge Braden’s friend that he actually created this opening for me in their summer program since he was on the recruiting committee. I was pretty confident that I had made a good impression this time around but of course I was still a bit nervous as I waited to hear back.
On May 2nd, Judge Braden’s friend call me and offered me a position as a summer associate in R&G’s New York office for the coming year. At the end of the internship, I received a job offer from them as well,which I gladly accepted.
I hope that my experience canprovide some insight for anyone interested in applying for law school and also be an example that there are many possible routes to success. Sometimes, evenwhat looks like a total failure is simply another opportunity to learn andgrow, you just have to be willing to chase it.
作者春陽，82年畢業於武漢大學化學係，後獲美國化學碩士。現定居美國新澤西。多篇文章刊登於海內外報刊，雜誌。
參與並編輯出版《與西風共舞》，《生活還可以》，《教育還可以》，《如切如磋，如琢如磨》，《詩情畫意》等多部合集。
多篇文章選入武大海外校友會文集和《武大校友通訊》。
散文曾獲江南美食杯佳作獎。多篇散文，小說獲漢新文學獎。
出版個人文集《散花輕拾》，《歲月流沙》。《歲月流沙》，由劉道玉校長親自作序，並獲海外華文著述獎佳作獎。
北美中文作家協會會員。海外文軒作協首任秘書長，紐約女作家協會會員。
