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Put yourself in the position of a law firm. Your primary means of hiring new associates is to take them on for a summer, spend approximately thirty thousand dollars (between salary and perks) on them, and use that as a two-month screening process. Any summer associate who is a bad fit will be taking a spot away from someone who could have been a good fit, which means that you’re scrambling to find a good new hire, without the benefit of the summer-long “interview”. Also, you’ve just dumped tens of thousands of dollars into that person, which might end up being quite the financial loss to your firm.</p>
<p>Do you CARE about “tapping someone’s potential”? How much of a risk will you take on Person A, when Persons B-Z are not a risk? You know that many students will plan their schedules so that they don’t have class until 11 am, but you want them in the office, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 9 am sharp. You’ve got one kid who mowed lawns all summer in college, another who interned, a bunch who were baristas, and one who has never held down a job. Who are you going to risk thirty grand in salary + perks and your limited summer associate slot on?</p>
<p>We’re not saying this to be mean; we’re trying to point out that you’re attempting to get into an insanely competitive field, full of risk-averse people who shell out huge sums of money on their employees, without having demonstrated that you can get up in the morning and be at the office in a punctual manner. And for every good lawyer job, there are dozens of super-smart, high-achieving, qualified law students who will all but commit murder to get it.</p>