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 legal practice areas and work settings.
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.
Some first-year students spend at least some part of their summer working for a private firm, others serve as a judicial extern, and a few students conduct research for faculty or work for a corporation. The majority of first-year students secure positions for the summer through direct application to employers. Some students accept 1L summer jobs from employers participating in Yale’s January On Camera Interview Program (OCI) or the Yale Cosponsored Public Interest Legal Career Fair.