What Does it Mean to Have a 1L Clerk for the Summer?

Part of what Diversity in Practice does is bring 1L’s to the Twin Cities to participate in our Summer Rotation Clerkship.  While there are no guarantees of a job offer, we want to make sure that their experience during the summer resonates with them and they become an ambassador to the Twin Cities for their peers!  The organizations that I have seen do well in this endeavor have successfully included the following four components:

1) Be intentional.  I cannot say this enough.  Make sure that your 1L is placed with someone who has a good track record of mentoring and sponsoring.  Be intentional about their time at the firm or corporate law department by ensuring that someone is checking in, that they are place, if at all possible, by people who will actually talk to them!  I can tell you from my own experience this matters a lot and leaves a lasting impression.

2) Get them connected and not just during the week!  Often times if you are not from here and you come for the summer, outside of working every weekend, what else are your 1L’s doing?  Who do they spend their down time with?  Do they have a car, where are they staying?  All these things matter in getting them connected.  While they do not need be scheduled every minute, just checking in to see what is going on is important.  Would you want to eat dinner every night alone?  Maybe…but that is not the point. Minnesotans invite everyone everywhere…but to their homes!  For some cultures this is opposite then what they are used to. Consider this and connect.

3) Teach them the unwritten rules.  Again, I hear so often about how difficult it is to read Minnesotans.  We will smile and say everything is all right when it is not.  What are some of your firm or law departments unwritten rules that you wish you knew when you were first hired.  What are the make or break issues or behaviors that can sour the relationship unknowingly.  We all have them. Share them.

4) Give Real FEEDBACK!  The worst thing you can do to a summer 1L is not give them real feedback.  This is an issue not just with summers but it can impact whether a top candidate chooses the Twin Cities or another market.  If you give real feedback and an opportunity to fix their mistakes with genuine effort, they will forever be in your debt.  Often times clerks feel blindsided when they end their summer and they thought they did great, to find out they did not and no one told them what they did wrong.

While these are behaviors we should be doing all we can for all our summer 1L’s, for Diverse summers there is an added layer of insecurity.  For some, this will be the first time they are in an all White work environment.  What can you do to make them feel truly welcome?