Top Law Schools

Out of curiosity, and just so we know what to advise those who are still looking for a job, can we get a count of how many people actually got a job interview by mailing firms outside of OCI? To get more information, the poll includes separate answers for firms that did visit the interviewee's school and those that didn't. (It would be interesting to know, e.g., whether only firms that don't come to your school are worth considering, or whether all firms are worth a shot.)

I'm a 3L now, but I thought it was sort of interesting that the only firms that actually contacted me as a result of my 2L mailing (and it was only 2 out of maybe 30) only wanted to interview me when I was going to be in town interviewing with other firms. In other words, they didn't want to have to pay for anything.

I got two interviews from firms who came to OCI but I didn't interview with there (I bid on both and didn't get a spot). I got callbacks and offers from both.

Overall I sent letters out to about 30 firms who came to OCI and I didn't get interviews with. I also sent about 10 to firms that didn't come to OCI, but the ones I heard back from said they weren't having summer programs at all this year.

ITE, it's worth sending a letter to every single firm in your target area(s), regardless of whether they come to OCI. I go to a top school that had a pretty robust OCI (relatively), so pretty much every firm that was hiring came to OCI.

Sending letters out was pretty time-consuming, and I didn't start the process until just after OCI. I personalized every letter, which took a while. For the firms I really, really liked (about five) I sent follow-up emails about two weeks after I sent the initial letter, just reiterating my interest (and of course reattaching resume and transcript). Both firms I ended up interviewing with came from follow-up letters.

Btw, one of the partners at one of the non-OCI screening interviews I had said that when a firm elects to interview you outside of OCI, they're much more likely to hire you. Unlike the blind OCI process at my school, non-OCI interviewing allows the firm to choose exactly who they want to interview.

I'm T14, top 5-10%, LR.

Grouping failure in with not trying means this poll reveals exactly nothing about the success rate of mass-mailing.

I mass mailed about 30 firms in a secondary market that didn't come to my OCI. I had 4 callbacks from those (1 has resulted in offer and havent heard from others yet), three of which didn't mind paying to fly me out.

I didn't personalize anything just a quick 3 line email expressing my interest and I attached both my resume and transcript. I did have very strong ties to the area though.

T-14, top quarter

Are emails standard?

I'm a 3L this year. When I mailed about twenty-five NALP firms in August last year, I received two interviews in the city that I was working in over the summer, a secondary market--also the city I grew up in. One was a large firm (~300 lawyers); the other was mega (+1500 lawyers). Tier 2 school, out-of-state, top 15%, law review.

One of the smaller markets I was looking at did not have many firms do OCI at my school. I (snail) mailed about 5 resumes out. I contacted an alum at one of the firms and then followed up (at their suggestion) with a resume. The others were all cold. I got an interview with the direct contact and just recently got a follow up call with one of the other firms. The additional firms all turned out not to have summer programs this year.

Based upon the phone call I just got, I would definitely recommend targeting smaller markets that you have a connection to (or at least a plausible story to tell) and finding out who the best firms are in the area. Chambers is a good resource. It appears that at least some of them are still looking at resumes.

T14, top 40ish%, struck out at OCI, got 2 callbacks via mass-email (around 120 total emails sent out), callbacks are in regional markets where I have connections. turnaround time after i sent out my emails was over a month

Anonymous User wrote:T14, top 40ish%, struck out at OCI, got 2 callbacks via mass-email (around 120 total emails sent out), callbacks are in regional markets where I have connections. turnaround time after i sent out my emails was over a month

personalized or generic cover letters?

those who of you who got interviews: did you send your stuff to the recruiter or to a particular attorney in the firm?

Anonymous User wrote:those who of you who got interviews: did you send your stuff to the recruiter or to a particular attorney in the firm?

Recruiter.

- anon @ 11:45 a.m.

I sent out a ton of mass-mailings, usually through e-mail if that was provided. These were all to firms that didn't come to my school's OCI (pretty small this year, although a handful of V100s resume-collected from us (T50-big city)). I personalized these e-mails and sent them directly to the recruiter provided.

Had one screening interview this way at Steptoe and Johnson (DC). No word back about callback. Nothing but rejects from other mass-mail firms.

As a side-note, I think firms not coming to my school's OCI and resume-collecting was actually a plus for my job search. For several screening interviews I got to have 2 interviews (back-to-back) and for others, the firms just "skipped" right to the callback stage. Both my offers were from these resume-collect firms, none from OCI.

I only mailed firms that didn't do OCI at my school (mainly because the area isn't in my state). I got three interviews from those, and one offer which I'm going to accept. I definitely thinks it works, if you try and your letter doesn't sound like a mass letter

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:T14, top 40ish%, struck out at OCI, got 2 callbacks via mass-email (around 120 total emails sent out), callbacks are in regional markets where I have connections. turnaround time after i sent out my emails was over a month

personalized or generic cover letters?

I made a template cover letter for each city that I applied to, and had a section where I would just rattle off a couple facts about the firm from their NALP page or their website, to show that I at least looked at them; this was in the form of "I am particularly interested in Bad Ass & Whooper LLP because ____, ____, and ___." Most of the material in the cover letter talked about why I wanted to live in those particular cities, rather than talking about why I wanted those particular firms.

Mailed out targetted cover letters to 28 firms (17 in school's primary city, 11 to other cities).

5/17 resulted in screening or cb interview in school's city
0/11 in other cities

Went on 2 interviews, offered and accepted at one of them.

'm a 3L now, but I thought it was sort of interesting that the only firms that actually contacted me as a result of my 2L mailing (and it was only 2 out of maybe 30) only wanted to interview me when I was going to be in town interviewing with other firms. In other words, they didn't want to have to pay for anything.

You should ALWAYS say something like "I will be in city XYZ during the week of ABC, and I was wondering if you would be interested in meeting with me during that time."

You can't really expect firms who have never met you to fly you across the cuuntry ITE, but you can schedule one trip for yourself and try to get multiple interviews in.

.

TTT-LS wrote:1L year, I got several biglaw SA interviews and eventually my SA job through a mass mail. Obviously, that was 2007 and things are very different now...

When did you send out the mass mailing?

.

The preliminary result of this poll appears to be that there is a much better chance of getting an interview when you approach firms who didn't interview people at your school than writing to firms that did. (16 vs. 1.)

It's not unexplainable, I guess. Perhaps if I were a firm I would also think "We came to your school. If you were so interested in us, why didn't you put us high on your bid list?" (or in the case of schools where OCI is not by lottery, "We chose not to interview you then, because you didn't make our grade cutoff/didn't fit our profile. Why are you applying a second time?")

NewHere wrote:The preliminary result of this poll appears to be that there is a much better chance of getting an interview when you approach firms who didn't interview people at your school than writing to firms that did. (16 vs. 1.)

To make this prediction, you'd have to assume that everyone who chose the first option sent letters (and maybe an equal number of letters) to both OCI and non-OCI firms.

I voted in the first category, but I did not send any letters to OCI firms. Thus, my vote doesn't say anything about the likelihood of getting an interview with a non-OCI employer compared to an OCI employer by way of a letter.

NewHere wrote:The preliminary result of this poll appears to be that there is a much better chance of getting an interview when you approach firms who didn't interview people at your school than writing to firms that did. (16 vs. 1.)

It's not unexplainable, I guess. Perhaps if I were a firm I would also think "We came to your school. If you were so interested in us, why didn't you put us high on your bid list?" (or in the case of schools where OCI is not by lottery, "We chose not to interview you then, because you didn't make our grade cutoff/didn't fit our profile. Why are you applying a second time?")

4/5 firms that got back to me about interviews were firms that did OCI at my school. If they did do OCI, you need to make sure to tell the firm why you did not interview with them and the cover letter better be good enough to show that you are still very interested in the firm.

TTT-LS wrote:

pithypike wrote:

TTT-LS wrote:1L year, I got several biglaw SA interviews and eventually my SA job through a mass mail. Obviously, that was 2007 and things are very different now...

When did you send out the mass mailing?

December 2

If you want to apply to firms that are not a member of NALP, then the December 1 deadline doesn't apply. You can talk to you career service people about that as well.

BradyToMoss wrote:

NewHere wrote:The preliminary result of this poll appears to be that there is a much better chance of getting an interview when you approach firms who didn't interview people at your school than writing to firms that did. (16 vs. 1.)

It's not unexplainable, I guess. Perhaps if I were a firm I would also think "We came to your school. If you were so interested in us, why didn't you put us high on your bid list?" (or in the case of schools where OCI is not by lottery, "We chose not to interview you then, because you didn't make our grade cutoff/didn't fit our profile. Why are you applying a second time?")

4/5 firms that got back to me about interviews were firms that did OCI at my school. If they did do OCI, you need to make sure to tell the firm why you did not interview with them and the cover letter better be good enough to show that you are still very interested in the firm.

So, generally of course, what did you say to those firms?