Law firm recruiter answering questions for a bit Forum

[Anonymous User]

(1) If I was no-offered from my SA firm, how should I approach the inevitable interview question? Firms always ask about the no-offer and I can see doubt in their eyes when I try to explain that it was based on the economy.

(2) I am doing a 7th Circuit clerkship, and I will be finished in Fall 2012. When should I apply to firms? This summer? This fall? In spring?

(3) Is it a problem if the school I went to isn't one you normally hire from?

[risktaker]

A lot of people on here seem to say that it's better to go to a t14 than a lower t2 school any day. What is your opinion on this? If you were deciding between a student who went to a t14 but was around top 50 percentile and a student who went to a low T2 but was in the top 10 percentile, which one would you pick? Would you say class rank matters more than the school rank?

[lawfirmrecruiter]

Thank you for taking the time to answer questions.

1) How much does Law Review or a secondary journal make up for being outside the preferred percentile, if any? For instance, if someone was in the top half of the class and on Law Review, would that perhaps get them past the "top 33%" preference? Or does it simply not matter that much?

2) If you are open to working in different parts of the country but have no ties to those parts, what is the best way to get that across in interviews? If you're willing and wanting to work in the firm's office in XYZ, Random State, but have no real reason to want to be there other than you would like a change of scenery.

3) Building off the last question, what's the best way to make an impression if you are mass mailing and have no personal ties to the area? Is there something that would make a candidate stand out and be considered? Or do you need some sort of connection to the area to be successful?

1. Could make a little bit of difference
2. Know about my city and my firm and give concrete reasons why you like it here and want to build a practice here
3. You don't have to have a direct connection but you should be able to explain why you really want to be in X city

[lawfirmrecruiter]

Do you have a school ranking cut-off that you won't accept any students from below this threshold?

Generally won't go past top 1/3.

Does this apply to URMs also?

Yes

[timbs4339]

For schools without GPAs or class rank, how does your firm determine where a candidate is ranked or how good their grades are? Do you just look at the transcript and try to get a sense of how many Hs/Ps or As/Bs or whatever? Or do you actually sit down and calculate out a GPA for everyone in the class?

I have an honor designation that roughly reflects a certain %tile in the class and I was wondering if your firm looks out for those signals when you are hiring from my school or you just look go to the transcript.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the outreach.

How are Asians generally viewed by firms? Are they considered diverse or are they over-represented? Or is it neutral, not a negative and not a positive.

[lawfirmrecruiter]

(1) If I was no-offered from my SA firm, how should I approach the inevitable interview question? Firms always ask about the no-offer and I can see doubt in their eyes when I try to explain that it was based on the economy.

(2) I am doing a 7th Circuit clerkship, and I will be finished in Fall 2012. When should I apply to firms? This summer? This fall? In spring?

(3) Is it a problem if the school I went to isn't one you normally hire from?

1. Just be honest. If they don't believe you, there is nothing else you can do short of having a recommendation letter from your SA firm.
2. Start sending out applications in January
3. Nope. Not for us.

[lawfirmrecruiter]

A lot of people on here seem to say that it's better to go to a t14 than a lower t2 school any day. What is your opinion on this? If you were deciding between a student who went to a t14 but was around top 50 percentile and a student who went to a low T2 but was in the top 10 percentile, which one would you pick? Would you say class rank matters more than the school rank?

Would probably depend on the T2 school. First thought on this though is that we would look harder at the higher class rank.

[lawfirmrecruiter]

For schools without GPAs or class rank, how does your firm determine where a candidate is ranked or how good their grades are? Do you just look at the transcript and try to get a sense of how many Hs/Ps or As/Bs or whatever? Or do you actually sit down and calculate out a GPA for everyone in the class?

I have an honor designation that roughly reflects a certain %tile in the class and I was wondering if your firm looks out for those signals when you are hiring from my school or you just look go to the transcript.

Generally look through the transcripts to get an idea of how well the student has been doing. Honor designations on resumes also help.

[lawfirmrecruiter]

Thanks for the outreach.

How are Asians generally viewed by firms? Are they considered diverse or are they over-represented? Or is it neutral, not a negative and not a positive.

Can't speak for all firms but we consider Asians diverse. Not a negative at all.

[lawfirmrecruiter]

Okay guys and gals, I'm signing off. Thanks for your great questions and best of luck to you all in your future legal careers. I'll check back from time to time to answer more questions later so feel free to keep posting.

Have a great weekend!

[Anonymous User]

1. How much difference can an internal reference make? How much weight depending on if it's from a partner or an associate?

2. How much does a demonstrated interest/experience in one of your firm's practice areas help? (i.e. any/all of: pre-law school experience in that field; 1L summer experience in that field; LS student group leadership in that field)

3. What happens if a client recommends a law student? Are they given a courtesy callback, but are never really in contention, or are they treated the same as other candidates who are interviewing purely through OCI?

[lawfirmrecruiter]

1. How much difference can an internal reference make? How much weight depending on if it's from a partner or an associate?

2. How much does a demonstrated interest/experience in one of your firm's practice areas help? (i.e. any/all of: pre-law school experience in that field; 1L summer experience in that field; LS student group leadership in that field)

3. What happens if a client recommends a law student? Are they given a courtesy callback, but are never really in contention, or are they treated the same as other candidates who are interviewing purely through OCI?

1. Internal references can be extremely helpful. We see so many candidates that having a contact can make you stand out. However, it is still up to you to make a good impression.

2. Our program requires interest in a specific area.

3. I hate courtesy interviews and try to avoid at all cost. Never turns out well to get anyone's hopes up if we are not serious about hiring.

[adonai]

What is the best type of pre-law school work experience when it comes to hiring? Would it look bad to have a work history of pro-bono and public volunteer work as opposed to a business background?

[lawfirmrecruiter]

What is the best type of pre-law school work experience when it comes to hiring? Would it look bad to have a work history of pro-bono and public volunteer work as opposed to a business background?

Depends on the type of practice you want to pursue but it shouldn't look bad. Especially pre-law.

[adonai]

What is the best type of pre-law school work experience when it comes to hiring? Would it look bad to have a work history of pro-bono and public volunteer work as opposed to a business background?

Depends on the type of practice you want to pursue but it shouldn't look bad. Especially pre-law.

What practices would a person without a business background be excluded from? Thank you again for answering questions.

[lawfirmrecruiter]

What is the best type of pre-law school work experience when it comes to hiring? Would it look bad to have a work history of pro-bono and public volunteer work as opposed to a business background?

Depends on the type of practice you want to pursue but it shouldn't look bad. Especially pre-law.

What practices would a person without a business background be excluded from? Thank you again for answering questions.

It's not that the lack of a business background would lead to exclusion, just that it can be helpful. We have plenty of lawyers that really had no experience in business but are excellent lawyers. Remember, you will be serving clients in business so it helps to understand their point of view.

[NarwhalPunter]

I am applying to a large number of firms in a market that does not participate in our OCI. I will be visiting that particular market at the very beginning of August (before OCI season) and am hoping to line up some interviews while I am in town.

Is it better to follow up and inquire about setting up an interview via email or over the phone?

Is one week after sending my materials (late June/early July) an appropriate time frame to follow up?

[kalvano]

How much does work experience in a field not directly related to law (but easily relatable to law) help?

[Julio_El_Chavo]

Do firms have lower GPA requirements for people with experience in certain backgrounds like IP Lit?

[MC Southstar]

Does it matter if I did a ton of extracurriculars 1L year? Say for example, some guy has the same exact grades as me but did nothing. Would that reflect somewhat positively on me? slightly? significantly? not at all? What if my grades were slightly below the distribution you usually want, but I did a lot of other things during the year? Would there be any offset?

In other words, do you look at grades as a fixed GPA requirement (my school doesn't have rank statistics) or do you get a feel of the applicant through the whole picture?

[Anonymous User]

I hope you're still around. Thanks for this awesome post!

I'm spending my post-1L summer as a summer associate at a top firm. The firm I'm working at doesn't usually (or never) recruit 1Ls for their summer associate class but I have gotten this job through family connections to one of the partners at the firm. I like this firm a lot and would love to come back here for at least some part of their normal (i.e. post-2L) summer associate class. However I just found out this week that my grades slipped by a fairly large extent and I am nowhere close to their general GPA cutoff. The firm normally only recruits people who are on law review, top 10% of the class, etc, and I'm just a little above the median. Would the firm still look at me as a candidate who is worth their time after seeing my "low" GPA? A lot of my friends who have just graduated and are starting their first year as an associate this fall or are summer associates right now are telling me that because I have already established this "tie" to the firm I am on a totally different playing field compared to the people who have no connections to this firm. Is this true? I don't want to make a fool out of myself by asking them to consider me even though I am nowhere near their selectivity in terms of students' grades. If yes (i.e. I should still talk to this firm about coming back next year with some measure of confidence?) how should I proceed in doing that? Talk about this mid-summer? Or at the end of the summer?

Just to give a little more background facts, I have a couple years of solid work experience in the business field. I also know a 5th year associate at this firm (in another office though, different from where I am working right now - but she does work at the office where I would like to spend some part of my summer next year if I do get offered for next year's stint and also if I get permission to split the summer between the two offices) who is willing to refer me to her department. She said she is more than glad to talk to the hiring partner for her department.

Your response would be greatly appreciated! Thanks again for taking time to answer questions on TLS.

[AP-375]

How important is Linkedin? Do you view profiles for any candidates, and what do you look for that might not be on the resume?
Thanks for the great info!

[choochoo]

Any boost for graduating from a top 20 undergraduate school? What about for being a teaching assistant for legal research & writing? Thanks!

[applejacks]

1) What if you don't land a 1l summer job? Will having good 1st year grades make up for not doing any legal work over the summer?

2) If you strike out at 2l OCI, does it make sense to switch to part-time to get another shot at OCI as a 3rd year evening student? Or will employers remember that you applied to them last year and hold it against you?