2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread Forum

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Which market(s) are you bidding?

DC
25
27%
NY
19
21%
SF/LA/Other West
10
11%
ATL
2
2%
TX
9
10%
CHI/Other Midwest
2
2%
BOS/Other Northeast
4
4%
Other South
4
4%
Other Mid Atlantic
6
7%
Anywhere that will take me bro
10
11%
 
Total votes: 91

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cornerstone

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2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by cornerstone » Thu Jun 18, 2015 9:27 am

Webinars are running, grades are out, bids are open... this can only mean one thing: OGI season is upon us. Since I don't see anything on here yet for 2015 UVA OGI I'll get us started. Feel free to post with any advice/questions related to research/bid strategies, interview practice, mass mailing, callbacks/dings (though I'm sure a thread with just this information will spring up at some point), etc.

Thread Rules: (because law, tradition)
1. Please only post here if you are/were a UVA Law student.
2. This thread is for information specific to UVA Law. Keep posts about other schools to their respective OGI threads.
3. The information that Career Services asked us to keep confidential ought to be kept confidential.
4. Shame anyone that calls it "OCI"

Previous Threads:
2014 UVA OGI Thread
2013 UVA OGI Thread
2012 UVA OGI Thread
2011 UVA OGI Thread

Let's start with a poll: which market(s) are you going for?
Last edited by cornerstone on Thu Jun 18, 2015 9:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

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rhododactylos

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by rhododactylos » Thu Jun 18, 2015 9:32 am

Thanks for putting this up. Checking in and wishing everyone good luck! Let's show 'em some of that famous UVA collegiality!

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Yardbird

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by Yardbird » Thu Jun 18, 2015 9:37 am

Not as premature as last year. Well done. I’ll help out once y’all start asking questions. Feel free to ask here or PM.

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by McGruff » Fri Jun 19, 2015 9:49 pm

Checking in, thanks for putting this up.

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First Offense

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by First Offense » Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:52 pm

Btw... You punks better be mass mailing too. I know a few 3.5-3.6 peeps that didn't get offers, and a few 3.0-3.2 that hustled and got jobs. And mock interview with Donovan 2-3 times at least. In person if you can, over Skype if not.

Good luck Hoos.

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Jun 20, 2015 10:09 am

Should someone with a 3.9X care about bid ranking at all or just pick 50 firms and plug em in wherever? If they participated in the lottery at all it would mean that something had already gone horribly wrong (e.g. resume typo), right? Or is there some "didn't get pre-selected by my top firm so I'll only pick 22 just in case" strategy I'm not seeing?

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by First Offense » Sat Jun 20, 2015 10:41 am

Anonymous User wrote:Should someone with a 3.9X care about bid ranking at all or just pick 50 firms and plug em in wherever? If they participated in the lottery at all it would mean that something had already gone horribly wrong (e.g. resume typo), right? Or is there some "didn't get pre-selected by my top firm so I'll only pick 22 just in case" strategy I'm not seeing?
I know a guy that had a 3.8x that didn't get pre-selected for the firm he ended up at - bidding high let him get the interview through lottery and I know he turned down some pre-selects/alternates. There is a possibility, especially if it's a firm with a limited number of slots (as in doesn't have two rooms for two days like Gibson Dunn), they may participate in the equivalent of yield protection. If your top choice is one that may not pre-select or is kind of a black box in the first place (see W&C), bidding them high is smart.

Edit: Also, if your top choice is a Williams and Connolly, Covington, Arnold and Porter-type, only the people with 3.65+ will (or maybe I should say *should*) bid those guys should, so your chances of getting an interview through the lottery if you put them high is pretty good.

Basically, try to rank the ones you know you're interested in, but after awhile it's just dead guy, dead guy, & dead guy LLP and there will be some element of "put them anywhere" involved. Also, unless you've worked in the industry, you probably don't know shit about what each firm does or what it is like beyond Chambers/Vault. Ask career services to put you in touch with some associates at firms you may be interested in that are alums (or you can just find these guys on the firm website). It will hopefully help you start differentiating a bit between the firms, and it could potentially have the added bonus of helping answer the "Why us" question that is undoubtedly going to come up.

Also - question. Is Wachtell coming this year? There was some scuttle-butt that UVA has been lobbying hard to get them to come - last year they did a resume collect.

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by rhododactylos » Sat Jun 20, 2015 12:54 pm

First Offense wrote:
Also - question. Is Wachtell coming this year? There was some scuttle-butt that UVA has been lobbying hard to get them to come - last year they did a resume collect.
Per KDon Wachtell is again collecting resumes this year.

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Jun 20, 2015 4:15 pm

First Offense wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Should someone with a 3.9X care about bid ranking at all or just pick 50 firms and plug em in wherever? If they participated in the lottery at all it would mean that something had already gone horribly wrong (e.g. resume typo), right? Or is there some "didn't get pre-selected by my top firm so I'll only pick 22 just in case" strategy I'm not seeing?
I know a guy that had a 3.8x that didn't get pre-selected for the firm he ended up at - bidding high let him get the interview through lottery and I know he turned down some pre-selects/alternates. There is a possibility, especially if it's a firm with a limited number of slots (as in doesn't have two rooms for two days like Gibson Dunn), they may participate in the equivalent of yield protection. If your top choice is one that may not pre-select or is kind of a black box in the first place (see W&C), bidding them high is smart.

Edit: Also, if your top choice is a Williams and Connolly, Covington, Arnold and Porter-type, only the people with 3.65+ will (or maybe I should say *should*) bid those guys should, so your chances of getting an interview through the lottery if you put them high is pretty good.

Basically, try to rank the ones you know you're interested in, but after awhile it's just dead guy, dead guy, & dead guy LLP and there will be some element of "put them anywhere" involved. Also, unless you've worked in the industry, you probably don't know shit about what each firm does or what it is like beyond Chambers/Vault. Ask career services to put you in touch with some associates at firms you may be interested in that are alums (or you can just find these guys on the firm website). It will hopefully help you start differentiating a bit between the firms, and it could potentially have the added bonus of helping answer the "Why us" question that is undoubtedly going to come up.

Also - question. Is Wachtell coming this year? There was some scuttle-butt that UVA has been lobbying hard to get them to come - last year they did a resume collect.
That makes sense and is very helpful, thank you. No Wachtell in the OGI or resume collect yet, but did anyone interview from the resume collect last year? Video screener or straight to callback?

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Jun 20, 2015 4:23 pm

When is a good time to start mass mailing? Really hoping to get an offer out of my home market so I don't have to go through this shit

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cornerstone

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by cornerstone » Sat Jun 20, 2015 4:47 pm

Anonymous User wrote:When is a good time to start mass mailing? Really hoping to get an offer out of my home market so I don't have to go through this shit
CS said July 1st if I recall correctly

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Yardbird

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by Yardbird » Sun Jun 21, 2015 10:42 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
First Offense wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Should someone with a 3.9X care about bid ranking at all or just pick 50 firms and plug em in wherever? If they participated in the lottery at all it would mean that something had already gone horribly wrong (e.g. resume typo), right? Or is there some "didn't get pre-selected by my top firm so I'll only pick 22 just in case" strategy I'm not seeing?
I know a guy that had a 3.8x that didn't get pre-selected for the firm he ended up at - bidding high let him get the interview through lottery and I know he turned down some pre-selects/alternates. There is a possibility, especially if it's a firm with a limited number of slots (as in doesn't have two rooms for two days like Gibson Dunn), they may participate in the equivalent of yield protection. If your top choice is one that may not pre-select or is kind of a black box in the first place (see W&C), bidding them high is smart.

Edit: Also, if your top choice is a Williams and Connolly, Covington, Arnold and Porter-type, only the people with 3.65+ will (or maybe I should say *should*) bid those guys should, so your chances of getting an interview through the lottery if you put them high is pretty good.

Basically, try to rank the ones you know you're interested in, but after awhile it's just dead guy, dead guy, & dead guy LLP and there will be some element of "put them anywhere" involved. Also, unless you've worked in the industry, you probably don't know shit about what each firm does or what it is like beyond Chambers/Vault. Ask career services to put you in touch with some associates at firms you may be interested in that are alums (or you can just find these guys on the firm website). It will hopefully help you start differentiating a bit between the firms, and it could potentially have the added bonus of helping answer the "Why us" question that is undoubtedly going to come up.

Also - question. Is Wachtell coming this year? There was some scuttle-butt that UVA has been lobbying hard to get them to come - last year they did a resume collect.
That makes sense and is very helpful, thank you. No Wachtell in the OGI or resume collect yet, but did anyone interview from the resume collect last year? Video screener or straight to callback?
The WLRK resume collect won’t be through symplicity. It will likely be an “email us if you think you’re a good candidate and we will forward along” thing like last year, which translates into Career Services essentially filtering out the top candidates (likely read: 3.90+) for WLRK. You can always mass mail if you so desire. I know 2 UVA kids who had callbacks with WLRK, and at least one of them had an offer and chose not to go.

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 22, 2015 11:32 am

3.7X here checking in. Does anyone know a) what kind of grades you need to be competitive for Williams and Connolly and Munger, Tolles & Olson? And b) when law review notifies people? I know I'm on the cusp.

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First Offense

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by First Offense » Mon Jun 22, 2015 3:27 pm

Anonymous User wrote:3.7X here checking in. Does anyone know a) what kind of grades you need to be competitive for Williams and Connolly and Munger, Tolles & Olson? And b) when law review notifies people? I know I'm on the cusp.
Define competitive. You're on the edge - what the x is will be relevant. Not impossible to get an offer but maybe not likely.

Still plenty of great firms on the table though.

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 22, 2015 4:49 pm

First Offense wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:3.7X here checking in. Does anyone know a) what kind of grades you need to be competitive for Williams and Connolly and Munger, Tolles & Olson? And b) when law review notifies people? I know I'm on the cusp.
Define competitive. You're on the edge - what the x is will be relevant. Not impossible to get an offer but maybe not likely.

Still plenty of great firms on the table though.
3.75. When you say not likely to get an offer, does that me they'll probably preselect me unless they think I'm terrible and ding me later? Or does it totally depend?

Also, how does URM status factor in?

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by Yardbird » Tue Jun 23, 2015 1:05 am

Anonymous User wrote:
First Offense wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:3.7X here checking in. Does anyone know a) what kind of grades you need to be competitive for Williams and Connolly and Munger, Tolles & Olson? And b) when law review notifies people? I know I'm on the cusp.
Define competitive. You're on the edge - what the x is will be relevant. Not impossible to get an offer but maybe not likely.

Still plenty of great firms on the table though.
3.75. When you say not likely to get an offer, does that me they'll probably preselect me unless they think I'm terrible and ding me later? Or does it totally depend?

Also, how does URM status factor in?
Unless your URM status is apparent from your resume (e.g. you have BALSA or APALSA or VLW or you worked for GLAD or a similar organization), it will be very difficult for a firm to figure out you are an URM. If it's not apparent, it likely won't factor into getting screeners you otherwise wouldn't. If it is apparent, then you'll get screeners. You'll get a bigger boost in the actual interviews when they see you are an URM. Lastly, with a 3.75, the "URM" boost is likely negligible; you're likely a grade on to law review and as long as you're not super weird you should get plenty of interviews and callbacks.

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by rhododactylos » Wed Jun 24, 2015 9:40 am

Anonymous User wrote:3.7X here checking in. Does anyone know a) what kind of grades you need to be competitive for Williams and Connolly and Munger, Tolles & Olson? And b) when law review notifies people? I know I'm on the cusp.
Last year they started making calls on July 2nd but they didn't post the list of new members to their website until July 27th.

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Jun 28, 2015 10:03 pm

I'll work on the ordering and I'll look into hedging my DC bids by bidding NY more effectively. Thanks.
Last edited by Anonymous User on Mon Jun 29, 2015 9:38 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by First Offense » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:20 pm

Why would you put Skadden that high? Also what type of Lit and why K&E at the top for a DC shop? I mean, their DC office is respected, but I can think of a few lit firms that would probably come above it on the prestige scale.

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 29, 2015 1:11 am

Thanks for the comment. As to the type of Lit, I would prefer to join a firm that is engineered for trial (e.g. Quinn) or one that offers appellate work. But neither is necessary. If you were referring to subgroups within Litigation, then I don't have a great answer for you. I know that I am interested in general commercial lit, mass tort, and products liability work. But that's all I know for certain. To a large extent, I would prefer to join a firm that offers multiple areas within litigation generally so that I can narrow things down over the next few years. Does that change things?

I don't have a good reason for listing Skadden as my number two. I was concerned more with which firms were in my top ten than the order of those ten firms. I'll make sure to think about that when I'm ordering them. Which lit firms were you referring to specifically?

I listed K&E first because it looks like a great fit and I want to maximize my chances of getting a screener. True, W&C and Jenner may be more prestigious. But I doubt that I would be competitive for W&C. I suppose that I'm probably not very competitive for Jenner either. But that raises a different question.

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by First Offense » Mon Jun 29, 2015 6:57 am

Oh I get leaving W&C off, but I would have put firms like A&P, Covington, or Wilmer who have their big offices in DC (although is Wilmer's home office in Boston?) over some of the satellites. Also K&E has a particular ... reputation that will really suit some and really not suit others. The only thing that really stood out to me was the big DC firms (that call DC home) were a little further on the list and Skadden was kind of really high.

Also - if DC is your target, your NYC selections should probably be a bit more of a hedging variety (as in huge summer classes). Some of those - like Boies - just don't really fit if NY isn't your target.

Also, "firms to mass mail" should be pretty much every damn firm there is. Your GPA is good, but not so good that you can coast.

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 29, 2015 8:32 am

First Offense wrote: Also, "firms to mass mail" should be pretty much every damn firm there is. Your GPA is good, but not so good that you can coast.
Ehh, from my conversations with KD it's entirely possible to strike out with that GPA, but if you do your problem is probably not one that can be solved by mass mailing. IE interview prep and mock interviews are a much better use of your time than mass mailing.

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by UVAIce » Mon Jun 29, 2015 9:07 am

A lot of people really underestimate how tough some of the DC offices are to get. Firms like Gibson Dunn, Latham DC, Arnold & Porter, etc. are not impossible to get with your GPA, but it's also not likely. You might be better off throwing in some slightly less selective DC offices in your list if you're just worried about DC or bust. I think it's important for someone with your GPA range as it's completely reasonable to have a interview list full of pre-selects. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be aiming for some of those firms, but if your goal is just to work in DC lit and you don't have a particularly good reason to shoot for a particular firm other than that it's prestigious then you might want to diversify.

I'm not going to comment on every facet of OGI here, but I think that a lot of people forget to take a look at how many interview slots a firm or particular office of a firm has at OGI. For example, if things have not changed from my year then MoFo DC will only have 20 interview slots. It's just going to be tough to get into the room to talk with those guys. Other firms will have a lot of interview slots but not a lot of positions for summer associates, which means you're in a race with god knows how many other law students for 1 or 2 positions.

Your NY list seems a little backwards to me. You're interviewing with Boies and Cravath, but you think that S&C is a long shot? If I were you I would flip Skadden and Latham from DC bids to NY bids. I'm sure someone would disagree with me, but those offices would be close to locks for you in NY, unless you're a really terrible interviewer or have some particular characteristic that dings you for them.

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by First Offense » Mon Jun 29, 2015 3:22 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
First Offense wrote: Also, "firms to mass mail" should be pretty much every damn firm there is. Your GPA is good, but not so good that you can coast.
Ehh, from my conversations with KD it's entirely possible to strike out with that GPA, but if you do your problem is probably not one that can be solved by mass mailing. IE interview prep and mock interviews are a much better use of your time than mass mailing.
You have enough time to do both. Don't be stupid.

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Re: 2015 University of Virginia OGI Thread

Post by whats an updog » Mon Jun 29, 2015 4:27 pm

My writing sample from my summer job probably won't be ready until after the initial submission of bids. Should I put something in there (I guess my 1L brief) and just update it later?

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

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