1L summer job

[incoming1L]

How important is getting legal experience for the 2L OCI? Do firms prefer those who have had legal experience? If given the opportunity to work in the legal field vs another field which one is preferable?

[Fruitdealer]

9 minutes ago, incoming1L said:

How important is getting legal experience for the 2L OCI? Do firms prefer those who have had legal experience? If given the opportunity to work in the legal field vs another field which one is preferable?

Do firms prefer 1L legal experience? Yes. Do most people that get hired in the 2L OCIs have 1L legal experience? No. 

It also depends what the 1L legal experience is vs the other field. If its from the 1L recruit, you'd automatically get a 2L offer anyway, but I'd think it would be seen as a solid positive experience even if you wanted to go to a diff firm. If its a small firm, it's probably a minor benefit but could be very comparable to interesting non-legal experiences.

Overall your grades are the most important and most 1L summer experience stuff is relevant to the extent that you can spin it in an interview. This is imo and maybe other people have had different experiences.