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I would like to get your advice from my current situation as I appreciate how honest and straightforward you are in your articles. When I began law school, I struggled my first semester, but since I recovered making it to around the top 20% of my class in scoring in the top 5% last semester. However, I want to work in a law firm and I washed out of on-campus interviews since they only saw one bad semester and one good semester. I made some strong connections with the managing partners and larger firms in Nashville, Atlanta, Charlotte, et cetera, but with no luck yet in finding a position for this summer. Is it still possible at this point in time to find summer associate positions in large firms, a hundred plus attorneys for the summer? If so, how can I access them?
That's a good point. There's nothing wrong with having a bad first semester and the last semester. But what I would recommend is that it's not too late to find summer associates spots, but you should apply in lots of different markets. It would be my biggest piece of advice. After once the new year starts, if you still don't have a summer associates position, say, I would send my letters to firms, if you don't have any summer associate positions available, I would love to have the experience to come in and work for you, to see how things work out. Then go there and just blow their socks off. That would be my recommendation. As a second year attorney associate it is very important if you do want to work in a law firm to do whatever you can, get a position in a law firm in your second summer. It shows other law firms that you want to work with them. It's very difficult to get a first-year associate job if you don't have experience in the summer. Whatever you can do, I would try to get a position in a law firm. It doesn't matter where they are, where it is. And remember again, a career in a law firm can be 50 plus years. Just because you started in a small law firm is completely meaningless and go someplace bigger later.
