Final OCI results: 2011 Version Forum

[Anonymous User]

School: GULC

Market(s): DC / NYC
Approximate class rank: Top 2%
Law review: Secondary
Work experience: None
IP background: None
Anything else that might have an impact? (diversity, etc. or whatever, really): White / Male
Screening Interviews: 12 (7 from lottery, 5 on shadow schedules)
Mass mails: 0
Callbacks received: 7 (5 DC / 2 NY)
Callbacks accepted: 5 (Cancelled V5 and V10 in NY after receiving DC offer)
Offers w/vault ranges: 2 V10
How many firms just didn't get back with you with a rejection/callback? None

[Anonymous User]

School: Yale

Market(s): mostly DC
Approximate class rank: probably bottom 50%
Law review: Secondary
Work experience: nothing really
Anything else that might have an impact? (diversity, etc. or whatever, really): specialized interest; only interviewed w/ one V10 and three V11-V20 firms
Screening Interviews: 15
Mass mails: 0
Callbacks received: 5 (4 DC, 1 NYC)
Callbacks accepted: 4
Offers w/vault ranges: 1 V5, 1 V15, 1 V30, 1 V50
How many firms just didn't get back with you with a rejection/callback? 3

[Anonymous User]

Hastings

Market(s): SF/SV
Approximate class rank: 5%-10%
Law review: Yes
Work experience: 3yrs+
IP background: No
Anything else that might have an impact?: No
Screening Interviews: 26
Mass mails: ~3 (all dings)
Callbacks received: 15
Callbacks accepted: 13
Offers w/vault ranges: 4 — V10, V20 (x2) & non-Vault
How many firms just didn't get back with you with a rejection/callback: 1

Also: 4 post-CB rejections, 5 post-CB withdrawals, status unknown.

[Anonymous User]

Market(s): NYC
School: HYS
Approximate class rank: Top 25%ish
Law review: nope
Work experience: yep
IP background: none
Anything else that might have an impact? (diversity, etc. or whatever, really): urm probably didn't hurt
Screening Interviews: 21
Mass mails: nah
Callbacks received: 15
Callbacks accepted: 7
Offers w/vault ranges: NYC - 2 v5, 3 v10

[Anonymous User]

School: Lower T1

Market(s): Secondary, home market
Approximate class rank: Top 1%
Law review: Yes
Work experience: N/A
IP background: N/A
Anything else that might have an impact? (diversity, etc. or whatever, really): Only applied to home market firms
Screening Interviews: 12 (All OCI)
Mass mails: 0
Callbacks received: 2
Callbacks accepted: 2
Offers w/vault ranges: 1. Market MidLaw.
How many firms just didn't get back with you with a rejection/callback? Quick reject letter from all other firms

My results have been more than a little disappointing. I've been told that I'm a decent interviewee, although based on my results thus far, something is off. Perhaps I was naive going into the screeners, but you really need to SELL yourself HARD to that particular firm. Tell them why their firm above all others is the right place for you (even if all the bigger firms are relatively fungible). It's not enough to say, "I'm at the top of my class, I grew up and want to practice in this market, you have a fantastic firm that I'd like to work for." I certainly conveyed my interest to every firm, but it really is a buyer's market, especially in secondary markets. They want someone that's gonna brown nose the hell out of 'em.

EDIT: Thought I'd update with good news. Received and accepted an offer from the firm I wanted .

[Anonymous User]

School: Lower T1

Market(s): Secondary, home market
Approximate class rank: Top 1%
Law review: Yes
Work experience: N/A
IP background: N/A
Anything else that might have an impact? (diversity, etc. or whatever, really): Only applied to home market firms
Screening Interviews: 12 (All OCI)
Mass mails: 0
Callbacks received: 2
Callbacks accepted: 2
Offers w/vault ranges: 0 so far. Desperately hoping to get an offer from either of the 2 CBs (CBs were recent, so there is still hope)
How many firms just didn't get back with you with a rejection/callback? Quick reject letter from all other firms

My results have been more than a little disappointing. I've been told that I'm a decent interviewee, although based on my results thus far, something is off. Perhaps I was naive going into the screeners, but you really need to SELL yourself HARD to that particular firm. Tell them why their firm above all others is the right place for you (even if all the bigger firms are relatively fungible). It's not enough to say, "I'm at the top of my class, I grew up and want to practice in this market, you have a fantastic firm that I'd like to work for." I certainly conveyed my interest to every firm, but it really is a buyer's market, especially in secondary markets. They want someone that's gonna brown nose the hell out of 'em.

This story's pretty similar to mine. I'm top 20% at a t10 school, went all OCI, had 3 callbacks 1 of which has come up bust. I don't think I sold myself hard enough in the screeners, and that fucked me hard. I've got a buddy with identical grades who has only 1 callback.

[Anonymous User]

School: Lower T1

Market(s): Secondary, home market
Approximate class rank: Top 1%
Law review: Yes
Work experience: N/A
IP background: N/A
Anything else that might have an impact? (diversity, etc. or whatever, really): Only applied to home market firms
Screening Interviews: 12 (All OCI)
Mass mails: 0
Callbacks received: 2
Callbacks accepted: 2
Offers w/vault ranges: 0 so far. Desperately hoping to get an offer from either of the 2 CBs (CBs were recent, so there is still hope)
How many firms just didn't get back with you with a rejection/callback? Quick reject letter from all other firms

My results have been more than a little disappointing. I've been told that I'm a decent interviewee, although based on my results thus far, something is off. Perhaps I was naive going into the screeners, but you really need to SELL yourself HARD to that particular firm. Tell them why their firm above all others is the right place for you (even if all the bigger firms are relatively fungible). It's not enough to say, "I'm at the top of my class, I grew up and want to practice in this market, you have a fantastic firm that I'd like to work for." I certainly conveyed my interest to every firm, but it really is a buyer's market, especially in secondary markets. They want someone that's gonna brown nose the hell out of 'em.

I think you need to mass mail to get better results. With your grades you should hit up the NY market. It s late now but as drake said... better late than never.

I think in cases where people at t50s are in the top 5% or better, the correct answer is to transfer to a t10 or t14.

[keg411]

Yes, but I don't think that really did it. I'm not sure it was anything other than luck to get a few screeners. The real packaging came into play for screeners and callbacks. I had unique strategies for each interviewer and prepared for them as if they were a final. Even when the interviews became conversational (they were much of the time), I was always trying to convey my "message" about my fit for the particular firm. It was nerve-wracking and I had almost no margin for error, but it worked out. My advice is to spend 10-15 hours preparing for each firm. I don't just mean do mock interviews (I did 0), but I mean prepare substantively.

Can you PM me on where to get this type of information or how to do this? I've gone through Vault, Chambers (both of them), NALP and the firm's websites and I can't figure out how to do 10-15 hours of research on each firm and then remember enough to convey an individual message to each firm (at least, it was hard during OCI; it's probably easier with CB's). I would seriously appreciate because I need all of the interviewing help I can get!

[Anonymous User]

Yes, but I don't think that really did it. I'm not sure it was anything other than luck to get a few screeners. The real packaging came into play for screeners and callbacks. I had unique strategies for each interviewer and prepared for them as if they were a final. Even when the interviews became conversational (they were much of the time), I was always trying to convey my "message" about my fit for the particular firm. It was nerve-wracking and I had almost no margin for error, but it worked out. My advice is to spend 10-15 hours preparing for each firm. I don't just mean do mock interviews (I did 0), but I mean prepare substantively.

Can you PM me on where to get this type of information or how to do this? I've gone through Vault, Chambers (both of them), NALP and the firm's websites and I can't figure out how to do 10-15 hours of research on each firm and then remember enough to convey an individual message to each firm (at least, it was hard during OCI; it's probably easier with CB's). I would seriously appreciate because I need all of the interviewing help I can get!

Happy to post public. Here is what I did:

1 - Focus on the particular office of the firm rather than the firm itself. Try to figure out when the office opened, how it evolved, etc. Did that office come from buying another firm? What was that previous firm like?

2 - Look at the Bios of every attorney in the office you are interviewing at and practice areas you are interested in, to really get a feel for everything they do.

3 - Find the firm's twitter account. See who follows them and who they follow. Try to learn from this.

4 - Look the firm up on LinkedIn. See what firms people come from, what firms they go to. See if you have any shared connections with attorneys at the firm.

5 - Do news, lexis, blog searches on the firm and try to read all their press releases.

6 - Identify the core areas of practice for the firm and, more importantly, each individual call back interviewer that you have. Then, research the industries and markets in these areas and know 1-2 very recent important developments in the industry. This was by far the most effective thing I did. Don't worry as much about the legal aspects --- even if there is a tangential legal connection, this is something you can bring up and be almost sure that the attorney will have recently thought about and want to talk about in your callback.

7 - Research the companies that the firm represents.

8 - Read as many of the cases or deals every callback interviewer was involved in, try to remember something important or come up with a good question about the motion practice, deal structure, challenges, or substantive arguments in the case.

This all takes about 2-3 days per callback. As you do your research, make a list of 3-5 general strategies/avenues of conversation for each interviewer. In some interviews, I barely used any of my research. In others, it was the only thing that kept the conversation going. One indisputable benefit of this is that it cures the nerves. If you really do this, you will be able to handle a 10 hour callback, let alone 4-6 30 minute interviews.

Will edit if I remember more...

[Anonymous User]

This thread confirms that I suck at this process, but here we go. I'm kind of surprised by my (lack of) results. Appreciate any of your thoughts on what might be going on.

School: CLS
Market(s): NYC
Approximate class rank: About median.
Law review: Secondary
Work experience: one year, nothing impressive
IP background: None
Anything else that might have an impact? (diversity, etc. or whatever, really): Elite undergrad, strong 1L summer experience. Maybe my resume screams lit and I was going for corp. Noticeable drop between first semester and second semester grades. Have been told I'm a good interviewer.
Screening Interviews: 20
Mass mails: 0
Callbacks received: 7
Callbacks accepted: 6
Offers w/vault ranges: 1 v50
How many firms just didn't get back with you with a rejection/callback? Haven't heard back from 4 cbs

[DallasCowboy]

these aren't final results if you haven't heard back from callbacks

[crm]

.

[Anonymous User]

these aren't final results if you haven't heard back from callbacks

They are if it's been a while since the interviews. (I'm the above anon).

[Anonymous User]

School: DNCG

Market(s): NYC
Approximate class rank: Above median
Law review: Secondary
Work experience: Significant - several partners were very familiar with my previous employer, despite being a company with <200 employees.
IP background: None
Anything else that might have an impact? (diversity, etc. or whatever, really): Language skills. Also a summer internship that opened a lot of doors.
Screening Interviews: 17
Mass mails: None
Callbacks received: 7
Callbacks accepted: 6
Offers w/vault ranges: 3 offers: V5, V10, V30 (Edit: Accepted an offer before hearing from my last callback, so it's possible I could have gotten another one.)
How many firms just didn't get back with you with a rejection/callback? None.

[Anonymous User]

School: T20

Market(s): TX
Approximate class rank: Top third
Law review: Secondary
Work experience: Significant - 2 years
IP background: None
Anything else that might have an impact? (diversity, etc. or whatever, really): Language skills. Extensive experience in editing. Also worked at a very prestigious local private school that was brought up in almost every interview. Also 1L firm internship. Not URM.
Screening Interviews: 1!
Mass mails: About 40-50.
Callbacks received: 2
Callbacks accepted: 2
Offers w/vault ranges: 1 offer: V50.
How many firms just didn't get back with you with a rejection/callback? Other callback reject. About 4 mass mail rejects. Silence from every other mass mail and screener.

[Anonymous User]

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[Anonymous User]

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[dailygrind]

Please don't try to identify anonymous posters in this thread. People are posting stuff which may be valuable for future generations, and any attempts to link identifiable information to them discourages that.

[Anonymous User]

School: T20

Market(s): Major East Coast Cities - all of them
Approximate class rank: Top 1/3
Law review: Secondary
Work experience: Yes, financial services (not banking).
IP background: No
Anything else that might have an impact? (diversity, etc. or whatever, really): Undergraduate B-school
Screening Interviews: 19
Mass mails: ~10
Callbacks received: 6
Callbacks accepted: 4
Offers w/vault ranges: 1 offer V30
How many firms just didn't get back with you with a rejection/callback? Have not heard from 3 completed CBs; accepted offer and pulled out of 2 scheduled CBs

[Anonymous User]

School: Boalt

Market(s): DC
Approximate class rank: bottom 1/3
Law review: Secondary
Work experience: Significant - 3 years
IP background: None
Anything else that might have an impact?: relevant WE, nice suit, and supreme confidence/positive attitude
Screening Interviews: 20
Mass mails: About 15
Callbacks received: 5 (V5, V10, V25, 2 V50)
Callbacks accepted: 4
Offers w/vault ranges: V5, V25, V50
How many firms just didn't get back with you with a rejection/callback? 0
Thank-you notes: I did not write a single ty-letter. Don't believe it makes a material difference. (edit)

edit: updated with add'l offers

[Anonymous User]

Can we please add whether you wrote a thank you note or not? Or are there other threads that give us that valuable information?

[Bronte]

Can we please add whether you wrote a thank you note or not? Or are there other threads that give us that valuable information?

Whether or not you wrote a thank you note is not material.

[ResIpsa21]

Can we please add whether you wrote a thank you note or not? Or are there other threads that give us that valuable information?

Whether or not you wrote a thank you note is not material.

This.

Practically all advice, intelligence and information on TLS says that thank you notes are completely irrelevant, unless you misspell or screw up something and get dinged for it.

[Helmholtz]

Can we please add whether you wrote a thank you note or not? Or are there other threads that give us that valuable information?

Whether or not you wrote a thank you note is not material.

No, but it will be funny to see people crediting their success to thank-you notes, the weight of paper the note was on, and the cursive penmanship in the note that was specifically tailored to each individual interviewer's personality.

[Anonymous User]

Can we please add whether you wrote a thank you note or not? Or are there other threads that give us that valuable information?

Whether or not you wrote a thank you note is not material.

It was sort of odd that the first 3 OCI interviewers to actually respond to my thank you notes all granted me CB interviews. I was silly enough to at first assume that the thank you notes helped tip the scales. And then I realized that I had won the CB's during my interviews, and they only responded because they already knew that they were extending me a CB. Serves me right for looking for causation when there was only correlation.