Undergraduate Law Firm Internship

[Harvey Spectacles]

So I applied to an undergraduate law internship program that’s scheduled to happen from may to august and was wondering is I could get some opinions. At this moment, I have and interview with Torys and BLG and was wondering which firm would be “better” for me. For context I hope to eventually go to law school and practice corporate law, so which firm would better help me accomplish that.

[CleanHands]

All of these full-service BigLaw firms are completely interchangeable.

[123]

9 minutes ago, CleanHands said:

All of these full-service BigLaw firms are completely interchangeable.

There probably are differences in practice groups or something. But for the purposes of this question it’s like asking “I want to be a banker. Should I work at TD or CIBC?” The answer is yes, because it doesn’t matter. 

Edited January 5, 2022 by realpseudonym

[easttowest]

13 minutes ago, CleanHands said:

All of these full-service BigLaw firms are completely interchangeable.

This is not true.

However, for the purposes of an undergraduate internship, it doesn’t matter.

To the OP, what law firm you intern at will have no bearing on whether you get into law school or whether you’ll get a job at that kind of firm down the line. That comes down, mostly, to your grades along the line. 

I would ask about the kind of tasks you will be responsible for and make your decision based on that. 

 

Edited January 5, 2022 by easttowest

[Harvey Spectacles]

“you could be doing legal-related work like assisting with closing of transactions, organizing electronic deal rooms and assembling record books for completed transactions. You could also be involved in proof reading documents, factual research projects and preparing materials as part of document management. Depending on where you are placed, you could also be working on projects with different teams, including marketing and business development, knowledge management and library services.” 

I’m not sure if that helps 

[GGrievous]

As the other more qualified people have already said, choosing one over the other won't put you in any particular advantage when you apply for jobs later. You haven't even interviewed with them yet, correct? I would do that first, ask a lot of questions about what you'll be doing beyond the generic description they provided you. If you're interviewing with the person that will be supervising you, I personally would choose based on who I liked better. I'd also probably go with the office that provided the best perks (like free snacks if in person). 

[easttowest]

1 hour ago, Harvey Spectacles said:

“you could be doing legal-related work like assisting with closing of transactions, organizing electronic deal rooms and assembling record books for completed transactions. You could also be involved in proof reading documents, factual research projects and preparing materials as part of document management. Depending on where you are placed, you could also be working on projects with different teams, including marketing and business development, knowledge management and library services.” 

I’m not sure if that helps 

Oh it’s like one central posting for all the firms? Lot of “coulds” in there. Take Barry’s advice and use the interviews to probe for more information. Ask what interns in the past have done, etc. You could also use LinkedIn to see if you can find past interns and try to arrange a phone call to ask about their experience. 

At the end of the day though, I don’t think it will matter where you go. 

[Rashabon]

We ended up hiring one of our interns 5 years later after they finished a legal degree but I think those were pretty unique circumstances.

Ultimately it is not going to matter a ton, but if you build a good relationship with the people that work there, come application time you'll have a leg up.