In some programs, internships are not treated as an academic endeavor. Programs following a cooperative education or work-study model, for example, may view student placement in law-related work mereh as an early employment step for which compensation is expected.
Wanting Payment Is Understandable
Being a student and being cash-poor have gone hand in hand for as long as anyone can remember. Today's students are paying the highest tuition rates in education history and often borrow heavily to get through school. Many wonder whether their car will still be roadworthy at the end of their program. Most put off buying things they desperately want. Students wait a long time-perhaps four years-for the chance to earn money as a paralegal. It is no wonder that so many see their internship as "payback" time. Compensation comes in many forms. Do not shortchange yourself of important career paybacks by overemphasizing short-term financial gains.
The "Price" Of Being Paid
Everything has a price. Students who seek only paid internships often encounter problems as a result of that decision. "Employee" status frequently stands in the way of personal, educational, and career goals. Sometimes it defeats the entire purpose of the internship.
The "cost" of being a paid intern can take the following forms:
- Less freedom to request assignments you want
- Greater likelihood of repetitive tasks or clerical work
- Fewer opportunities to experiment
- Less tolerance for mistakes
- Inadequate instruction and feedback
- Greater pressure to produce
- Less freedom to ask questions or seek advice
- Little or no time for career-planning discussions
- Fewer occasions for pure learning
- Restricted professional contacts
- Limited power to shape your own experience
Often, the best internship offices are the ones that can least afford to pay an intern. The small and solo general practice firms-ideal for inexperienced students-usually cannot pay a student the going professional rate, but they need and welcome paralegal support. Nonprofit organizations rarely have money available to pay a trainee, yet the training could be very valuable to a future career. Most governmental offices are restricted in matters of payroll and hiring; if a paid, in-house internship program is not already in place, the chances of being paid as an intern in this setting are very slim. In short, insisting on payment rules out a wealth of internship options.
In the paralegal profession, in which employers increasingly want only "experienced" people, an unpaid internship may be the only entry point. No amount of course work provides equivalent, hands-on experience. For anyone intent on making a career in this field, a good internship should be thought of as the most important educational investment of all. It may be worth almost any sacrifice.
An internship is really an apprenticeship-an exchange of work for knowledge. The more skills you acquire now, the more money you stand to make later. Think twice before reversing those priorities.
Some Strategies to Consider
Financially, interning does not have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. With some creativity, compromises are often possible. Below are eight strategies for easing the hardship of an unpaid internship.
As you read about these strategies, keep in mind two overriding principles. First, check your school's internship policies to be sure you are not acting in conflict with them. Second, remind yourself regularly that you will "profit" greatly from your internship in ways other than immediate payment.
The "Trial Period" Technique
Once you have narrowed your sights to two or three potential offices, propose to each of them a period of unpaid time-perhaps the first one-third of your internship period-after which your performance would be reviewed. If your work has become genuinely productive for the firm, an hourly wage might be implemented at that point. Assure them that it will be entirely their decision.
Some offices will be more receptive to this proposal than others. It is best not to make this arrangement the sole basis for choosing one office over another, or to pursue it too aggressively if a prospective supervisor resists. It might be enough to put the idea in their minds, and let it go. They may remember it on their own after you have proved yourself.
The End-of-Internship Bonus
A gratifying form of compensation in many law offices, bonuses have been reported by numerous paralegal interns-many of whom never asked for one. A bonus might be in your future as well. Here is how to find out whether it is possible.
Toward the end of your meeting with a prospective supervisor, clarify your view of the internship as an extremely valuable educational experience for which payment is not expected. This statement makes it clear that you have the right priorities. Mention that you have heard, however, of paralegals and even interns who sometimes receive bonuses for highly productive work. You can add, without belaboring the point, that attending school does involve financial hardships.
Then ask, might a bonus be contemplated if your internship was productive for the office? Even if the answer is no, at least you have planted the thought. It might resurface on its own at the end of a mutually beneficial experience.
The Hourly Billing Approach
Introduce this suggestion by emphasizing your desire to start producing income for the office as soon as you can. Producing income, of course, is the objective of everyone there. Showing that you understand this reality makes you even more desirable as a candidate.
Then ask if your work might become billable. If the answer is that it will not, then you need to consider some other approach. But if your work might be billed hourly to clients at some point, then you would not be out of line in arguing that increased profits justifies some level of compensation in return.2 Know that you are not likely to receive more than one-third of the amount of revenue generated by your work. This is partly due to overhead or the cost of having you aboard (space, equipment, and training time).
Hourly billing also brings tangible proof of your value to the office. You will be gently, but inexorably easing your way into employee status. Even if a permanent job cannot be created for you, you will still be working toward an eye-catching addition to your resume. "Billed fifty hours in a two-week period" gets employers' attention faster than any course title in existence!
The Long-Term "Proposal" Approach
Rather than seeking "front-end" financial rewards, you might forgo immediate compensation and work toward developing a long-term job proposal. This attitude frees you to accept the best internship opportunity available, regardless of its financial pluses or minuses. This approach postpones the financial discussion to a later stage in your internship-often with better results.
Students who choose this approach go through their internships constantly looking and listening for the office's most pressing needs. They will spot gaps that could be filled by an eager, entry-level paralegal like themselves.
They also try to get a sense of what similarly situated paralegals are paid. They ask questions of other paralegals, without prying for personal data, about prevailing salary ranges and usual hiring practices for the kind of work they have in mind. After weeks or even months of gathering information, they put their most relevant skills on paper and propose at least a part-time position.
Combining Other On-Premises Work
This approach involves seeking nonparalegal work in an office where paralegal assignments are also possible. It works best where substantial lead time is available, allowing you to plan several months in advance.
Adding Off-Premises Work
The age-old method of taking a job-any job-to pay the bills while interning without pay strikes some students as downright demeaning. Nevertheless, this strategy has helped newcomers break into the profession of their choice since the days of Benjamin Franklin.
Modifying Present Employment
Students who insist that current employment rules out unpaid internships probably have not checked all the possibilities. Assuming a student only has evening classes (or no classes at all) during the internship, a 200-hour internship can be completed in five weeks, or a 160-hour internship in four. By combining vacation time, unused sick days, and other time-off opportunities, working students can sometimes take the needed time off without jeopardizing their regular jobs. Alternatively, some companies even allow a leave of absence for educational pursuits. Leave may be unpaid but it provides the needed time off while insuring job security-a luxury most students lack. Another alternative is to temporarily switch from full-time to part-time work, as employees commonly do in response to new family demands, illness, approaching retirement, or simply personal preference. Why not do as much to launch a new career? Careful planning and getting your family's cooperation to cope with reduced income helps make the temporary change less traumatic.
Finding an Off-Hours Internship
Career changers with competing employment obligations are sometimes able to find an internship office that operates during evening and weekend hours when they are free to do internship work. Although most law offices operate mainly during daytime hours, legal clinics and offices catering to middle-class clients, are sometimes more flexible.
Nonprofit associations sometimes operate during off-hours. The offices of elected officials may need an intern for an evening and weekend schedule. Or, a student may find research work that can be done at the school's law library during evenings and weekends.
Off-hours internships are limited in number. Sometimes, they are also limited in the experience they can offer. They may also raise questions about adequate supervision and training. This option is not strongly recommended unless the student's professional focus is very specific, the off-hours internship matches that focus closely, and adequate supervision is insured.
Unfortunately, many students face financial hardships just as their education reaches its most crucial turning point. In a more perfect world, we would find a way to pay all interns a genuine, living wage. But so far, no one has found a way to achieve that noble ideal. Interning almost always involves sacrifices-sometimes major ones.
The financial sacrifices that your internship requires are as worthwhile as the career change you are making. If this is the career you truly want to pursue, then this is the time when all students must make sacrifices. Successful paralegal graduates across the nation will tell you: Yes, it is worth the hardships!
