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1L Summer Employment Sectors
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1L Summer Employment
The summer after the first year of law school provides a wonderful opportunity for our students to explore employment possibilities and gain insight into what characteristics their ideal employer should possess. Many students at Yale spend all or part of their first summer working in the public sector, either with a government agency or public interest organization. The law school provides summer funding for students working in the public interest sector through the Summer Public Interest Fellowship (SPIF) Program. Just over 10% of first-year students spend at least some part of their summer working for a private firm, and a few students conduct research for faculty, work for a corporation, or serve as a judicial extern. The majority of first-year students secure positions for the summer by writing letters and sending resumes to employers. Some students accept jobs from employers participating in the Spring Interview Program at Yale or the NYU Public Interest Career Fair.
Employment Type |
Class of 2018 |
Class of 2019 |
Class of 2020 |
Class of 2021 |
Class of 2022 |
Law Firm |
10% |
12% |
10% |
6% |
14% |
Public Interest |
50% |
45% |
41% |
53% |
45% |
Government |
39% |
39% |
46% |
42% |
39% |
Business |
1% |
3% |
3% |
1% |
2% |
Academia |
1% |
2% |
5% |
2% |
1% |
Percentages based on students reporting their employment to CDO and reflect the percentage of the class spending all or part of their summer in each employment sector (approximately 7% of first year students work in more than one employment sector their first summer).