SA-ing.....starting tomorrow Forum

[Sup Kid]

Question for other summers.

At orientation, my (non-NYC) firm told all of the SAs that they will not be making any decisions on offers until after labor day. My school's 3L OCI is before that date.

So, I'm guessing that means I should plan on participating in 3L OCI no matter what, right? Anyone else who's not expecting to receive an offer until after their school's job fair? I need to put a bid list together again ... blech.

yup

My firm gives 95-100% offers, but we won't know until September either whether we officially received one. How exactly do you write a cover letter as a 3L who is applying only because you don't know if you'll get an offer from your 2L firm? It seems pretty clear that the firms will see through what you're doing, i.e. using them as a back-up...

[IzziesGal]

Shame on firms who wait to give decisions until after OCI. Most firms know when OCI happens for each school (considering they participate in OCI), and they know the position we are all in. It just adds unnecessary stress.

[Big Shrimpin]

Shame on firms who wait to give decisions until after OCI. Most firms know when OCI happens for each school (considering they participate in OCI), and they know the position we are all in. It just adds unnecessary stress.

Agreed. I'm thankful for how my firm does offers, .

Edit: love my firm and wishhopeprayetc...that I get a full-time offer!

[Anonymous User]

Shame on firms who wait to give decisions until after OCI. Most firms know when OCI happens for each school (considering they participate in OCI), and they know the position we are all in. It just adds unnecessary stress.

My summer runs until the Friday before OCI. They expect to make offers the following week, but that won't be early enough for 3L OCI. Can't blame them for that.

Considering my firm typically has to have a good reason not to invite you back, and my odds of getting a job through OCI after a no-offer are practically nil, I'm letting it ride on where I am at the moment. Besides, I love it here.

[Stanford4Me]

If you decided you don't want to work for a firm you probably shouldn't post that information on facebook. You probably also shouldn't talk about how you don't hang out with any of the other SAs, especially if you facebook friended them...

[Anonymous User]

If you decided you don't want to work for a firm you probably shouldn't post that information on facebook. You probably also shouldn't talk about how you don't hang out with any of the other SAs, especially if you facebook friended them...

I have to ask for the story behind this. You're completely inviting further inquiries by your use of the ominous ellipses....

[Anonymous User]

Had to take a sick day today. Everyone was so surprisingly cool about it, that I am not worried. I realize I shouldn't be worried, considering another summer took a sick day like 2 weeks in. Stuff happens. It's nice to not be panicked about this!!

[IzziesGal]

mid-summer reviews coming up...gulp...

Ahhhh! Same here. Although I have been getting feedback from my partner along the way, the idea of the "mid-summer review" is just extremely menacing.

Everyone I have worked for has asked me to conduct repeat work for them (although one of them took about 4 weeks to ask...so naturally, I thought I failed at life until I got the email today), and I am taking that as a fairly good sign. Still, sitting down and being evaluated by a big law firm is just so . . . scary.

I'm with Amy on the whole "why am I retarded here and nowhere else" thing. I've had jobs, I've functioned in an office, I've done well. What is it about law firms that intimidate the crap outta me (us)? Good thing we have 5 more weeks to get over this!!!

[Anonymous User]

Mid-summer eval coming up too. I've received basically zero feedback yet, so I'm a bit concerned, but I suppose that if I were royally screwing things up someone would have told me by now. But who knows...

[BunkMoreland]

Question for other summers.

At orientation, my (non-NYC) firm told all of the SAs that they will not be making any decisions on offers until after labor day. My school's 3L OCI is before that date.

So, I'm guessing that means I should plan on participating in 3L OCI no matter what, right? Anyone else who's not expecting to receive an offer until after their school's job fair? I need to put a bid list together again ... blech.

yup

My firm gives 95-100% offers, but we won't know until September either whether we officially received one. How exactly do you write a cover letter as a 3L who is applying only because you don't know if you'll get an offer from your 2L firm? It seems pretty clear that the firms will see through what you're doing, i.e. using them as a back-up...

My firm doesn't offer till end of August/September either. We need a plan - what's our line for "I'm only doing this because I haven't heard back from my summer program yet and I'm a risk-averse law student"?

[blurbz]

I hope you don't mind me crashing your thread briefly, but I'm hoping a few of you will offer some insight now that you've been SAing for 5 weeks.

I had a few callbacks for a 1L SA this spring and did not get an offer. This summer I'm working for a government agency and my resume is incredibly gov/PI heavy. How do I handle the inevitable "Why do you want to work for a large firm?" question when I have no experience in such an environment. I think one of my problems in my callbacks was that my answer to that question stressed a desire for varied experiences instead of something more concrete or something that would make me attractive to the firm.

Thanks!

[DoubleChecks]

I hope you don't mind me crashing your thread briefly, but I'm hoping a few of you will offer some insight now that you've been SAing for 5 weeks.

I had a few callbacks for a 1L SA this spring and did not get an offer. This summer I'm working for a government agency and my resume is incredibly gov/PI heavy. How do I handle the inevitable "Why do you want to work for a large firm?" question when I have no experience in such an environment. I think one of my problems in my callbacks was that my answer to that question stressed a desire for varied experiences instead of something more concrete or something that would make me attractive to the firm.

Thanks!

um curious, so why DO you want to work in a large law firm? and do you want to do lit or corp?

[vamedic03]

I hope you don't mind me crashing your thread briefly, but I'm hoping a few of you will offer some insight now that you've been SAing for 5 weeks.

I had a few callbacks for a 1L SA this spring and did not get an offer. This summer I'm working for a government agency and my resume is incredibly gov/PI heavy. How do I handle the inevitable "Why do you want to work for a large firm?" question when I have no experience in such an environment. I think one of my problems in my callbacks was that my answer to that question stressed a desire for varied experiences instead of something more concrete or something that would make me attractive to the firm.

Thanks!

Short version - tell them you want to do top notch, complex legal work.

[thesealocust]

Short version - tell them you want to do top notch, complex legal work.

+1. Some variation of training / complex issues / noteworthy cases or deals or clients is always a good call. There's also a reputable presumption of wanting to work for a big firm: it's socially unacceptable to tell them you need some scratch to keep the feds at bay while still servicing your alcoholism, but your interviewers know MUCH better than you how shitty their job is, so it's not like you need to pretend to have developed an indentured servitude fetish.

Almost nobody works for big firms 1L year, and big firms are festooned (that's right, festooned) with people whose backgrounds don't have the slightest connection to corporate law or high-stakes litigation. Don't assume you're at any disadvantage, prepare your platitudes, and all should be well.

[Stanford4Me]

If you decided you don't want to work for a firm you probably shouldn't post that information on facebook. You probably also shouldn't talk about how you don't hang out with any of the other SAs, especially if you facebook friended them...

I have to ask for the story behind this. You're completely inviting further inquiries by your use of the ominous ellipses....

One of the Summers has been pretty distant from the rest of us. That's cool, I don't really care. I just think it's dumb when you post all your business on facebook that could potentially get back to the hiring committee (especially considering that the recruiting director is friends with a few of us --not me) I also think it's a little childish/rude considering how much money they're paying us/spending on us for events (and this summer rarely comes to any of the events). Even if I knew I didn't want to work at a firm I would try my best to get an offer JUST IN CASE. I don't think this summer is really thinking things through...but whatever.

[swc65]

If you decided you don't want to work for a firm you probably shouldn't post that information on facebook. You probably also shouldn't talk about how you don't hang out with any of the other SAs, especially if you facebook friended them...

I have to ask for the story behind this. You're completely inviting further inquiries by your use of the ominous ellipses....

One of the Summers has been pretty distant from the rest of us. That's cool, I don't really care. I just think it's dumb when you post all your business on facebook that could potentially get back to the hiring committee (especially considering that the recruiting director is friends with a few of us --not me) I also think it's a little childish/rude considering how much money they're paying us/spending on us for events (and this summer rarely comes to any of the events). Even if I knew I didn't want to work at a firm I would try my best to get an offer JUST IN CASE. I don't think this summer is really thinking things through...but whatever.

Is this summer a 1L/rising 2L? Or just someone who does not want to work in BigLaw?

[Ersatz Haderach]

If you decided you don't want to work for a firm you probably shouldn't post that information on facebook. You probably also shouldn't talk about how you don't hang out with any of the other SAs, especially if you facebook friended them...

I have to ask for the story behind this. You're completely inviting further inquiries by your use of the ominous ellipses....

One of the Summers has been pretty distant from the rest of us. That's cool, I don't really care. I just think it's dumb when you post all your business on facebook that could potentially get back to the hiring committee (especially considering that the recruiting director is friends with a few of us --not me) I also think it's a little childish/rude considering how much money they're paying us/spending on us for events (and this summer rarely comes to any of the events). Even if I knew I didn't want to work at a firm I would try my best to get an offer JUST IN CASE. I don't think this summer is really thinking things through...but whatever.

Is this summer a 1L/rising 2L? Or just someone who does not want to work in BigLaw?

Even if you don't want to work in BigLaw, why wouldn't you bother to interact with the other people? The law world is too small to be aloof from everything. And I'm hardly a social butterfly...it just makes sense to be kind and engaging, as much as is practical. There's a big difference between "The workload/compensation seems like a fair deal" and "I enjoy interacting with my colleagues, making it 200% less painful to bill 2000 hours." The guy who hides in his office is always the first one to burn out or get s-canned.

[cornellbeez]

We're halfway through! The summer is flying by.

[What the f.supp?]

Yes I can't believe how fast the summer is going...mid-summer reviews coming up soon! Yikes!

[98234872348]

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[IzziesGal]

Had mine yesterday. Went really well. I am surprisingly more relaxed and confident today. In fact, everyone seems to be. People seem to be just normal employees again instead of crazy, neurotic, panicked law students.....it's really nice, actually.

[98234872348]

.

[Stanford4Me]

We have a really calm class overall, and the partners/associates do a great job of keeping us calm. It's great that I can come into work and just enjoy working without stressing about whether a partner is going to call me and rip me a new one because I sucked at an assignment (that's not to say I won't get told my assignment sucked), but they've emphasized many times that they're looking to give 100% offers and we have to do some pretty stupid things to get no-offered.

Or maybe I'm just drinking the kool aid. Either way, being calm results in me creating a better work product.

[Rotor]

We have a really calm class overall, and the partners/associates do a great job of keeping us calm. It's great that I can come into work and just enjoy working without stressing about whether a partner is going to call me and rip me a new one because I sucked at an assignment (that's not to say I won't get told my assignment sucked), but they've emphasized many times that they're looking to give 100% offers and we have to do some pretty stupid things to get no-offered.

Or maybe I'm just drinking the kool aid. Either way, being calm results in me creating a better work product.

MMMMMmmmm Kool Aid......tasty....I think I've had about a gallon of the stuff by this point.

[Anonymous User]

Had mine yesterday. Went really well. I am surprisingly more relaxed and confident today. In fact, everyone seems to be. People seem to be just normal employees again instead of crazy, neurotic, panicked law students.....it's really nice, actually.

It turns out that giving crazy, neurotic, panicked law students feedback is the cruelest thing ever. What does "quite satisfied" even mean? Sounds like "fired" to me.