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[LearnedHand]

Hi,

I am an EE 1L at a top 20 school trying to decide on what I should do during my 1L summer. My current options are:
- Unpaid internship at a small, but reputable, IP firm in Korea (I'm Korean-American). Job responsibilities would be to help file and prosecute U.S. patents for Korean inventors, and help file and prosecute Korean patents for U.S. inventors... or may just involve translating patents from English to Korean, or vice-versa...
- Unpaid internship at a small IP firm (about 3 attorneys) in the U.S., doing prosecution-related work
- Take IP courses in Munich as part of a study-abroad IP program

Which would be the wisest choice, career-wise?
Would working in Korea create an impression that I am likely to bolt from U.S. firms after a couple years of experience?

Thank you in advance.

[bleedingpen]

Hi,

I am an EE 1L at a top 20 school trying to decide on what I should do during my 1L summer. My current options are:
- Unpaid internship at a small, but reputable, IP firm in Korea (I'm Korean-American). Job responsibilities would be to help file and prosecute U.S. patents for Korean inventors, and help file and prosecute Korean patents for U.S. inventors... or may just involve translating patents from English to Korean, or vice-versa...
- Unpaid internship at a small IP firm (about 3 attorneys) in the U.S., doing prosecution-related work
- Take IP courses in Munich as part of a study-abroad IP program

Which would be the wisest choice, career-wise?
Would working in Korea create an impression that I am likely to bolt from U.S. firms after a couple years of experience?

Thank you in advance.

Go with the option #2- unpaid internship at small US boutique. 

[LearnedHand]

Option #2 is also what I am leaning towards.

As for option #1, would any U.S. firms value experience in liaison work (that is essentially what the job entails) with Korean clients / Korean Patent Office?

I know that I will gain the most by working here in the U.S. during the summer, but maybe I am just trying to find any plausible excuse for going overseas because I would probably have more fun.

Do firms frown upon taking IP courses over the summer instead of working?

Thank you for your response.

[bleedingpen]

Option #2 is also what I am leaning towards.

As for option #1, would any U.S. firms value experience in liaison work (that is essentially what the job entails) with Korean clients / Korean Patent Office?

I know that I will gain the most by working here in the U.S. during the summer, but maybe I am just trying to find any plausible excuse for going overseas because I would probably have more fun.

Do firms frown upon taking IP courses over the summer instead of working?

Thank you for your response.

Go with option #2.  Quit making up reasons to go overseas to have more fun.  The Korean contacts probably aren't going to help you any. 

And why would you take IP courses over the summer as opposed to working?  Why not just take those IP courses during your regular school year?

[MLM]

Historically the 1L summer is yours to do with as you please. Maybe in this economy every advantage helps, so I would do one of the internships rather than coursework. My sense is that firms don't care what courses you took in law school. They care about 1) GPA and 2) passing the bar. We all know that law school doesn't teach enough practical lawyer skills, so extra courses aren't going to really help as much as real-world experience. Also, maybe the unpaid internship will lead to a more important 2L summer job.

[LearnedHand]

Thank you for your insights.