<p>I'm a sophomore undergrad who plans on going to law school. I know internships don't really play a role in admissions (besides at schools such as Yale or Harvard) but I'm interested in having one just so I can get a taste for different aspects of law and get experience and knowledge in general. I don't have any connections via my family, so how do I go about applying for internships and what not? Thank you!!</p>
<p>Your school may have a pre-law adviser who has connections. That’s a good place to start. You can also check your local DA/PD/Legal aid. They usually take interns. There are also often pre-law organizations on campus that may know who to talk to.</p>
<p>Colleges have job placement offices. Go visit it.</p>
<p>I’d also reach out to alumni in fields/jobs that you’re interested in and just “meet for coffee”, to get ideas. At least some of them should be willing to make introductions to people who can hire, if they can’t themselves. Meet with the pre-law advisor and placement office first, though.</p>
Even though you don’t have family members who are attorneys, you or your parents must know attorneys. Reach out to your family friends, neighbors, and random attorneys who went to your undergrad school. If you can afford to, offer to intern for free and this should improve your options.
Maybe someone else can comment on this, but I don’t feel like law firms have a lot of internships available for undergrads. They have internships for law students who are in law school. Maybe someone else knows differently, but I sort of think this isn’t a thing that happens much. You might want to look for other kinds of internships, like one in a political environment where you can learn more about the process of making laws.
Except for a brief period of time in private practice, I have been a government lawyer most of my career. None of the offices I have worked at has ever had any undergrad interns. We have always been required to supervise any intern/clerk brought into the office, and there were so many law students seeking the positions that over my several decades of practice, we have never had an undergraduate in any capacity. I’ve spoken to my friends in private practice, and it’s the same-since supervision of the intern/clerk is required, only law students are brought in.
So I’d suggest the best bet would be contacting family friends who are attorneys. And this may be different from city to city.
However, many years ago I worked as a messenger at a law firm-it was the closest I ever got to “biglaw” but it was a great job. I was an undergraduate at the time, and I learned a little about the practice of law and a lot of what lawyers are like, especially when they’re under pressure to get pleadings filed. Not sure if such jobs are still available with the advent of electronic filing, but if they are-or any job at a law firm, including in the mail room-I’d say it would be pretty instructive of what the law work environment is like.
Check out your local courthouse, to see if they have any unpaid volunteer positions available.