The Best Law Firms for Legal Internships
In addition to the more than 50 in-house legal departments in the Bay Area, a number of law firms also offer internships. Some of the most prestigious law firms in the country have offices in the Bay Area, including Boies, Schiller & Flexner; Fenwick & West; and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Boies, Schiller & Flexner has 13 offices around the country, including San Francisco, and in London. The 19 attorneys in the San Francisco office specialize in intellectual property, litigation, and public law, as well as privacy and cybersecurity. Interns are likely to work in a variety of practice areas, with a focus on litigation. Fenwick & West was founded in 1972, but in recent decades has significantly grown and is now the nation’s third-largest technology law firm . The 55 attorneys in the San Francisco office make up the patent prosecution group, which is the largest group of its type in the United States. As a result, interns are likely to gain valuable experience in patent law specifically. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has 20 offices around the world. The 162 attorneys who work in the San Francisco office specialize in a variety of practice areas, including antitrust and competition, employee benefits, energy, environmental law, intellectual property, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, and taxation. Interns are likely to work in at least a few different practices.
Internship Application Dos and Don’ts
There are several strategies that can boost your chances for landing a quality internship in the Bay Area’s competitive legal job market. Heels and Hammers’ top tips for effective applications include the following:
- Resume building. Most law firms request no more than one page for an internship resume. Craft your resume carefully to make sure that all of your most relevant experience is outlined clearly and concisely. Without the benefit of pages of work history, you will need to be able to sell yourself on paper. Be sure to highlight your educational, civic and even personal achievements as they relate to the practice of law. Short and to the point is best.
- Cover letter. Just because your resume is one page doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be accompanied by a full page cover letter. Your cover letter will serve as your voice, so be sure that you inflect it with your personality. Describe why you want to be a part of their team. In addition, clarify your academic schedule, such as the levels of law courses you have taken or plan to take, as well as any other prerequisites for admission to their program offered or approved by the school you’re attending. This way, they can see early on whether or not you meet their intern requirements.
- Networking. The Bay Area is ripe with opportunities for aspiring attorneys. Take the time to attend as many networking events as you can and really practice meeting people. Attorneys, judges and other law professionals will often stop by law school events, so be prepared with a solid introduction. Be sure to dress appropriately, but remember that successful networking isn’t about the tie you wear or the purse you carry; it’s about building your interpersonal skills and really getting to know people.
Different Forms of Legal Internships
There are a wide variety of legal internships available in the Bay Area for aspiring practicing attorneys. The type of internship you pursue will play a major role in shaping your career, so it’s important for law students to understand the different options. This is an overview of three primary legal intern types, along with descriptions of what each typically involves.
Corporate Firms
Legal internships at corporate law firms offer students exposure to extensive legal matters. These intern positions provide training and mentorship on the job, putting students face-to-face with attorneys in order to help them understand how legal proceedings work. Some corporate law firms require interns to have graduated from law school before securing a position, while others welcome recent graduates and students actively enrolled in law school programs. There is substantial variation in the corporate law internship application process. For example, some firms expect candidates to submit a letter of interest and resume, while others seek candidates who have already interviewed with a hiring attorney. Academic performance may also be an important consideration in the law firm internship application process.
Public Interest
Law students with a public interest focus may want to consider legal internships with non-profit organizations, which provide essential services to low-income residents. These internships mold students into advocates who can effectively intervene in critical legal matters. Most public interest organizations seek candidates who have completed, or are in, their second or third year of law school. Most public interest legal internships require candidates to submit a cover letter, resume, transcript(s) and writing sample. A person must also apply for (and receive) funding through their law school’s career office in order to obtain a public interest internship.
Governmental Offices
Legal internships with governmental offices allow students to view the legal system through the eyes of public servants. Government legal internships come in two different forms: judicial and administrative. Judicial internships let students work for judges at the state or federal levels as they gain insight into the court system. Administrative government internships, on the other hand, prepare students to assume roles in various executive agencies. Government legal internships often have stringent application processes that include a cover letter and resume, along with several recommendation letters.
Skills Acquired Through Legal Internships
Though each internship may approach these considerations a little bit differently, there are a few general skills and competencies that are particularly beneficial for the legal intern and his or her supervisor. The first two of these are almost always essential: the ability to learn and the ability to follow through. Supervising attorneys in the Bay Area are looking for interns who can pick up things quickly – both the technical side of their intended position (i.e., what the team is doing), and the particular conventions of the Bay Area legal community. Now, just because you know about "suspensive clauses" or the variety of computing devices on the market doesn’t mean you won’t have to learn anything new. But it does mean that you’re flexible, self-aware, and curious. So while that lack of familiarity with Bay Area conventions isn’t a deal-killer, one of the essential skills needed is the ability to consider the unfamiliar and appreciate its value.
The rest is a little more specific to the legal field: hopefully, you’ve picked up at least a working knowledge of legal terminology and procedures, the ability to perform legal research, and some familiarity with the types of software used by legal interns in the Bay Area; you’re also better prepared to exercise sound and ethical judgment. The legal research process is relatively simple – prove that the court has jurisdiction, prove that you (as a person) have standing, prove that there is an issue of law, and then find a case where an appellate court addressed that issue of law.
And while any new intern should feel free to ask about things if he or she is unsure, it’s good to know that the supervising attorney should be more than happy to address non-legal research matters. In other words: don’t be afraid to ask questions! Supervising attorneys in the Bay Area have a tradition of teaching students, and view their interns’ willingness to learn as a tremendous asset.
Legal Internships — Advantages and Opportunities
Legal internships, like jobs across all sectors, continue to be competitive. As the Bay Area’s legal industry is always evolving with new firms and practice areas, we are seeing an increase in law school programs that offer internship or fellowship programs for students and new attorneys. I invite you to participate in one of our upcoming webinars, where Bay Area law school’s will be discussing their programs with firm partners and hiring managers, and their value to the new attorney looking to break into the industry.
Legal internship programs give law students and entry-level attorneys the opportunity to gain valuable experience within a law firm. It’s a chance reach out to employers and observe what its like to work at their firm while simultaneously providing an opportunity for them to evaluate you. It can also be used as a learning experience to find out if the type of work, culture or firm is a good fit for you.
Benefits of Legal Internships:
The chances of getting a full time offer from a legal internship are very promising. If you perform well, you may be offered a full-time position that often commences after graduation. In fact, at some firms’ full-time employment is only offered to those who have already completed a legal internship with them. Students/interns working during their last year have a competitive edge over other candidates and often do receive a full-time offer if they continue to impress their employer. This varies by firms , but its common that the firm will hire at least 10 interns for long-term positions.
What happens if you don’t get hired after your internship?
We should also talk about what it means if you are not offered full-time employment from a law firm. It’s important to note that this might not be indicative of the student’s or firm’s talent level. A large number of students do not get full-time offers after their law school programs end, and there are several reasons as to why this may happen.
Most law students intern, but not all law firms hire all of their interns. Firm’s have different philosophies, and more importantly, different business needs. Internships and clerks can help firms better assess what their staffing needs may be. Law students are also continually interviewing and searching for positions while they intern. There are many factors that go into how and when firms hire new attorneys, and it often does not have anything to do with the law student’s performance.
A law firm may be hiring a specific number of interns who will receive full-time offers in the future. However, a different group of law firms may be lowering their personnel count in the near future. Both may have working interns, but the summer program doesn’t rely on the interns for its success. Legal internships are an opportunity to build experience and hopefully a path to full-time employment. Not every position develops into a full-time offer. However, that may not be the best fit for the law student or the firm so it’s important to look at long term fit when searching for internships.
Issues Legal Interns Face
While the legal internship experience can be rewarding, it certainly is not without its challenges. Competition for work-life balance. Without a doubt, one of the biggest challenges interns face in the Bay Area is work-life balance. Daily commutes can be an hour or longer in the Bay Area, and when you throw in outside responsibilities like family, classes, or other employment, balancing your time effectively becomes even more difficult. While all employers expect legal interns to take their jobs seriously, they will typically have respect for any outside responsibilities you may need to attend to. Further, there are some employers out there, legal and otherwise, who understand that the cost of living in the Bay Area can cut into wages. Keeping open lines of communication with your employer about balancing your other financial obligations with your work schedule is the best way to improve your situation. Overly competitive atmosphere. There are many law firms and legal-related businesses that hire multiple legal interns each semester. If you are fortunate enough to be hired by one of these firms or businesses, one of the first hurdles you may need to overcome is coexisting with fellow interns. There are often circumstances where legal interns may feel that their colleagues do not have their back, or that they are competing against each other for a permanent position. In such cases, we recommend that you treat your fellow interns with the same level of respect you would treat everyone at the office. If it turns out that there is the rare instance of an intern undermining you, we recommend that you bring the issue to the attention of your supervising attorney. High expectations. Make no mistake: legal internships are not about learning on the job. They are designed to give law students, paralegals, and legal assistants the chance to test the skills they learned in the classroom in a real environment. However, because of this, it is not uncommon for legal interns to feel high levels of pressure during their time at a law firm or related business. If it turns out that you are struggling to meet the high expectations set by your employer, simply being honest with them about your struggles can go a long way. You may also be able to standardize your processes or workflows in a manner that helps you keep up with the demands of your work.
Identifying Places and Means of Finding a Legal Internship
An array of resources exist to aid students and graduates in finding the right legal internship in the Bay Area. Schools often have internal job boards and programs, typically through university career centers, that allow students to find opportunities at their school or in the surrounding area, such as UC Berkeley School of Law and Stanford Law School. Regional non-profits and professional associations are also a valuable source of internship opportunities. One of the most popular online resources, including a job-board function, is Community Resources for Justice, which focuses on criminal justice issues such as mass incarceration and the school-to-prison pipeline. CRJ also has a comprehensive list of law school and bar resources that includes volunteer opportunities, job postings, internships, fellowships, and more . Bay Area Young Professionals is another job board that is popular with local law students and young lawyers. It focuses on general professional opportunities in the Bay Area, including internships, part-time and full-time jobs; many of its users are early in their careers. The California Bar Association, which serves lawyers in the state, has a few hundred internship listings on its website. California Minority Counsel Program is designed to increase diversity in the legal profession, and its job board tends to feature jobs from smaller firms that are committed to increasing diversity. The San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association, a Latino bar association, also posts local job board opportunities, including internships and externships.