Government externship, pros and cons

Last week I discovered one definite perk of government work: our office takes off every other Friday! Thus yesterday was the first glorious day of my glorious three-day weekend. Excellent. 

Besides the surprise three-day weekends, the job is actually going very well. Because I haven't had Evidence yet, I cannot be a certified intern, which means that I can't have any responsibilities in court (bummer: all the cool jobs are only available for certified interns). However, the city attorneys are extremely overworked which means they have plenty of research to pawn off on the interns - I've only been in the office for a week and I've already been given two large research projects and have written my first motion that was submitted to the court on Wednesday!

The work is challenging but I am learning a lot very quickly. This job has confirmed my love of legal research and writing - many of my fellow law students find it tedious and a necessary evil, but I really do enjoy it. I also get lots of on-the-job advice from the attorneys who are usually happy to talk about their jobs, career path, law school stories, etc. Quite a few of the attorneys are alumni of my law school, and almost all of them had started out as interns when they were in law school as well. (one of my goals for the summer is to maintain a good rapport with the attorneys in the event that I decide I want to apply to work for the city some day...).

As far as I can tell, the largest drawback for government law jobs is the money - attorneys make SO much more in private practice, working for the larger law firms. However, most of the attorneys I work with have multiple children, so they enjoy the hours and relative flexibility that the government job affords them (not so with a large law firm that would require 85-95 hour weeks). 

ALSO, I really enjoy the people I've been working with. I'm not sure if it's just this specific office or this combination of people... everyone is so nice and so helpful. By my second day at the office, everyone knew me as the city attorney's intern and greeted me by name. The legal secretaries went out of their way to show me around the building and answer my questions (even the mundane ones I was a little embarrassed to ask, like where the bathrooms were or where people tended to go for lunch).

Sorry, this entry has not been organized well. I should have structured it before I started writing - oh well. Welcome to the inside of my brain...

K