Summer Job
In “Letters to a Yong Lawyer,” Alan Dershowitz tells the story of how Satan offers a law student a free look at hell:
“The associate sees beautiful, happy people, eating well and having fun, and so he becomes a sinner. When he finally dies and goes to Hell permanently, it’s a very different place with fire and misery. He complains to the Devil reminding him of what he had previously been shown. The Devil replies, “That was our summer associates program.”
This summer, some of my classmates will head to New York, where hundred-lawyer law firms will pay them $2,000/week to eat fancy dinners and attend Yankees games.
Also this summer, the great state of Illinois will pay me exactly no dollars to work at the Cook County Traffic Court.
I actually couldn’t be more excited about it, and here is why:
My classmates who, after graduation, go on to work at big law firms will spend six hours a day on westlaw.com doing legal research, and another eight hours a day writing memorandums on what they just researched. They’ll be paid heavily to do so, but won’t have any time to spend or enjoy their money. They’ll never meet with a client, never have a case to call their own, and never actually go to court. They won’t be lawyers so much as professional legal research bitches.
I, on the other hand, will not only get to go to court this summer, I’ll be trying cases. Myself. The great State of Illinois has a system whereby second year law students can try cases—no diploma or bar exam necessary!—with what’s called a “7-11 License.” I’m hoping the experience I get with my 7-11 License will be worth twice as much as whatever my highest-paid classmate will get this summer. In other words, I’m hoping it will be worth fifty thousand bucks. Is that realistic?
Technorati Tags: Summer Job, Summer Associate, Summer Associate Position, Traffic Court, Big Law Firm, westlaw.com
Posted in Law School Life | 
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April 13th, 2007 at 7:16 am
You’re better off than your classmates with the BIGLaw summer associate positions. The Yankees SUCK… who’d want to be forced to head up to the Bronx for all those games?
Seriously though, I think actually being in a courtroom and trying cases sounds a hell of a lot better than being a ‘research bitch’.
Good Luck,
Rob
PS: Does the 7-11 license come with a summer’s worth of free Slurpees?
April 13th, 2007 at 10:44 am
no, unfortunately. sorry, ricky.
April 16th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Your job actually sounds more like a lawyer’s job, even without the big bucks.
April 17th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
The best part about having rich parents like us is that money means less than nothing. We’ll actually go out of our way to avoid making money. Cheers to you and me and a moneyless future.
Toodles!
April 17th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
Don’t we all wish. In the meantime the Frugal Law Student blog is essential reading for the rest of us.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Ryan
You should only speak for you and your parents. As one of Ricky’s parents, I can assure that money means something and that Ricky will be responsible for supporting himself very shortly. It will be his decision is he chooses to do government service or make a living as a “starving author” as opposed to finding a “high paying” job with some law firm that requires 3000 bilable hours each year.
Ricky’s Dad