Employment law question

[Lori Sue Ratliff <lsr5t@cms.mail.virginia.edu>]

Hi guys,

Here's a question I've been wondering about.  What do you 
all think?

Very early in the class Rip asked whether a law clerk hired
"for the summer" would have any protection when the law
firm rescinded the original offer.  In that case, couldn't
the law clerk argue that he/she had a contract for a 
definite term, that is "for the summer?"  Then the jilted 
clerk would either introduce evidence that "for
the summer" typically means X number of weeks, or introduce 
evidence that he/she accepted the offer of employment for Y 
number of weeks.  Thus, the clerk's damages would be 
his/her expected summer salary (mitigated of course by
other wages earned).

Or do you think that courts require definite term contracts 
to be more specific in terms of days, weeks, months, etc...?

Lori