Going To A Top-Flight Law School Can Land You A Sweet Babysitting Gig

We reacted with horror when a law firm offered University of Texas law students the opportunity to be a “Legal Assistant/Nanny.” That one was crazy. So was the UCLA Law job posting seeking a chauffeur (to drive in Los Angeles traffic, no less).

But these jobs were proffered during tougher times for the economy. Now things are better. Now, students who go to the best law schools — law schools ranked even higher than UT — don’t have to work on their wet-nursing skills in order to secure gainful employment.

Of course, if they want to take care of somebody else’s kids…

The funniest thing about this babysitting job being offered to students at Columbia Law School is that it actually pays better than what Columbia is paying legal research assistants this summer. Here’s the opportunity that went out to the law students over email:

TO: CURRENT LAW SCHOOL STUDENTS

FROM: [Redacted]

Some of you may be working as research assistants at Columbia this summer, or otherwise planning to be in the neighborhood, perhaps to study for the bar. [Judge X] lives in Morningside Heights and is looking for a student who might be available for the next few weeks to pick her son up from school and to stay with him after school until she gets home. Her son is in sixth grade, so you would be able to do your own work during the time you spend with him at her apartment. The hours are flexible, but are generally something like 3:15 to 6:30-7:00 or 5:15 to 6:30-7:00, depending on the day of the week. He is in school until mid-June. After that point, if you are available, there may be similar hours associated with summer camp.

Could this babysitting gig land the CLS student a clerkship? If a judge can entrust you with her child, surely she can let you do some opinion drafting, right? There is definite networking potential here.

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The pay is $20/hr. If you are interested, you should email [Redacted] with contact information.

Our tipsters report that Columbia is only paying research assistants $12/hour. So this would be more — plus the chance to build a relationship with a judge. Not bad.

Part of me wants to start a reality show: What Would Columbia Law Students Do For $20 Bucks An Hour? Would they clean your house? Wash your clothes? Would they do it with a fox? Would they live in a box?

But this isn’t a story about desperate law students, right? This is just some kids trying to get some pocket money over the summer (and develop a connection with a judge). And sure, that “pocket money” used to be a few thousand dollars every couple of weeks from a large law firm, but this is like just the same.

Earlier: UT Law Has the Most Depressing Job Posting Ever
UCLA Law Offers Most Depressing Job to a Law Student (2010 Edition)

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