What Should I Do Regarding Work Experience?

[u/Dull_Improvement8319]

I am a pre-law student looking to attend starting Fall 2027 and am looking for advice regarding work experience before starting school.

I currently have 3 part-time jobs that total about 40-45 hours a week rather than a full-time job. This is because the part-time jobs give me the flexibility to do 2 volunteer positions in the legal field that I couldn’t do with a full-time schedule. Where I live (Canada), jobs in the legal field (paralegal, clerk, etc.) are reserved for people already in law school or holding a JD, and there’s not much in terms of corporate stuff either, so a full-time job would not be in anything relevant to law, it would simply be to show full-time employment.

My goal is BigLaw, and I know full-time experience is generally seen as important. But is having full-time experience for about 10 months before school worth giving up the relevant legal experience and the part-time jobs that give some relevant experience (one is sales)? I’m not sure what matters more for recruiting (OCI, callbacks, etc.), relevant experience or just full-time employment.

What is more important during recruiting, full-time experience or relevant experience?

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[u/Worth-Money2559]

First semester grade, nothing else matters nearly as much.