V15 Partner/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions... Forum
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
Two questions from 30 y/o student with work experience before law school. top 5% gpa at a t30:
1. Is being married a net plus, negative or neutral?
2. Does a well trimmed beard fly?
1. Is being married a net plus, negative or neutral?
2. Does a well trimmed beard fly?
- fatduck
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
1. this topic has been beaten into the ground in this threadAnonymous User wrote:Two questions from 30 y/o student with work experience before law school. top 5% gpa at a t30:
1. Is being married a net plus, negative or neutral?
2. Does a well trimmed beard fly?
2. http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... d#p5622512
come on, bro.
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
[pardon the interruption; we had a number of reported posts from this thread, but I received clarification via PM]
Game on.
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
How easy is it for me to start at a firm in one city and move offices to another, if both are relatively large offices (big markets)?
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
varies from firm to firm. if you're well regarded, usually doable.Anonymous User wrote:How easy is it for me to start at a firm in one city and move offices to another, if both are relatively large offices (big markets)?
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
How much substantive stuff would you ask about someone's 1L work? Like (oh you worked on XXX case for professor XX, would you go into the details of the case?)
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
How would you regard a summer internship at a small NY personal injury firm before law school? Does this look terrible, or is any pre-law school legal experience worth putting on your resume?
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
+1Anonymous User wrote:How would you regard a summer internship at a small NY personal injury firm before law school? Does this look terrible, or is any pre-law school legal experience worth putting on your resume?
What about a small firm that just handled small deals like real estate etc.
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
Thanks! Do you know if it's common for junior associates (1-2 years into the job) to pull it off?itbdvorm wrote:varies from firm to firm. if you're well regarded, usually doable.Anonymous User wrote:How easy is it for me to start at a firm in one city and move offices to another, if both are relatively large offices (big markets)?
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
How much does writing samples matter?
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
In my experience, they can only hurt; they can't really help. Hard to imagine a firm hiring someone because they have Pulitzer-quality writing.Anonymous User wrote:How much does writing samples matter?
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
depends. certainly might.Anonymous User wrote:How much substantive stuff would you ask about someone's 1L work? Like (oh you worked on XXX case for professor XX, would you go into the details of the case?)
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
neither good nor badAnonymous User wrote:+1Anonymous User wrote:How would you regard a summer internship at a small NY personal injury firm before law school? Does this look terrible, or is any pre-law school legal experience worth putting on your resume?
What about a small firm that just handled small deals like real estate etc.
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
probably closer to 3rd years, but happens...Anonymous User wrote:Thanks! Do you know if it's common for junior associates (1-2 years into the job) to pull it off?itbdvorm wrote:varies from firm to firm. if you're well regarded, usually doable.Anonymous User wrote:How easy is it for me to start at a firm in one city and move offices to another, if both are relatively large offices (big markets)?
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
depends on the firm. writing ability certainly matters big time. and it's "how much DO writing samples matter"Anonymous User wrote:How much does writing samples matter?
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
How much do interviewers focus on 1L summer positions? Have a 1L summer position at a firm in a secondary market and am just finishing now. Not sure if I'm going to get an offer or not, but I think that there's a good chance that I won't because the firm knows that I'm not interested in returning and they tend to only make offers to people who they know want to come back. I did quality work, but I really disliked the firm overall and wouldn't return even if they made me an offer.
I learned a lot from my experience at the firm and think that it could add a lot to my interview. What's the best way to respond to the "Why don't you want to return to your previous firm?" question? Can I just say that I'm not interested in that secondary market? Also, if I get no-offered later on (I wouldn't find out until around September), will it matter if I'm already (hopefully) going to post-OCI call backs?
Thanks
I learned a lot from my experience at the firm and think that it could add a lot to my interview. What's the best way to respond to the "Why don't you want to return to your previous firm?" question? Can I just say that I'm not interested in that secondary market? Also, if I get no-offered later on (I wouldn't find out until around September), will it matter if I'm already (hopefully) going to post-OCI call backs?
Thanks
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
"I would like to experience a different business model. I've worked at a smaller boutique, and now would like to experience practicing law at much larger firm. While I enjoyed my experience at a smaller firm, I believe working in a larger firm will help me further develop my legal skills and expand my horizons in a way that a more confined firm atmosphere could not."Anonymous User wrote:What's the best way to respond to the "Why don't you want to return to your previous firm?" question? Can I just say that I'm not interested in that secondary market? Also, if I get no-offered later on (I wouldn't find out until around September), will it matter if I'm already (hopefully) going to post-OCI call backs?
Won't really matter. If someone asks if you got an offer from your 1L summer firm, simply say something like the firm generally does not extend offers to their 1L SA, but does welcome them to reapply following graduation for a permanent position. Or something like that.Anonymous User wrote:Also, if I get no-offered later on (I wouldn't find out until around September), will it matter if I'm already (hopefully) going to post-OCI call backs?
Good luck.
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
i agreeanon168 wrote:"I would like to experience a different business model. I've worked at a smaller boutique, and now would like to experience practicing law at much larger firm. While I enjoyed my experience at a smaller firm, I believe working in a larger firm will help me further develop my legal skills and expand my horizons in a way that a more confined firm atmosphere could not."Anonymous User wrote:What's the best way to respond to the "Why don't you want to return to your previous firm?" question? Can I just say that I'm not interested in that secondary market? Also, if I get no-offered later on (I wouldn't find out until around September), will it matter if I'm already (hopefully) going to post-OCI call backs?
Won't really matter. If someone asks if you got an offer from your 1L summer firm, simply say something like the firm generally does not extend offers to their 1L SA, but does welcome them to reapply following graduation for a permanent position. Or something like that.Anonymous User wrote:Also, if I get no-offered later on (I wouldn't find out until around September), will it matter if I'm already (hopefully) going to post-OCI call backs?
Good luck.
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
Hope you can give me some advice because I am confused here. I go to a T2. Top 33% of class (roughly), but not higher. Member of a clinic. Judicial internship with a state judge and worked at a small firm that does veryhigh level work in a specialized area this summer. I got pre-selected by a V15 firm for an OCI interview. What could they possibly have seen in my resume that would make them pick me? I also submitted a writing sample. How should I approach the interview? I just want to get experience at doing these interviews more than anything because I know I have no chance. I'm just curious as to what you could see that would make you give someone like me a shot.
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
I'm not the OP, but my guess is that the V15 firm has in interest in the area and/or skills you acquired working as a 1L in the small firm. Have you checked whether the V15 firm does work in the "specialized area" you speak of? Unless it is something like maritime law, I'd imagine it probably does.Anonymous User wrote:Hope you can give me some advice because I am confused here. I go to a T2. Top 33% of class (roughly), but not higher. Member of a clinic. Judicial internship with a state judge and worked at a small firm that does veryhigh level work in a specialized area this summer. I got pre-selected by a V15 firm for an OCI interview. What could they possibly have seen in my resume that would make them pick me? I also submitted a writing sample. How should I approach the interview? I just want to get experience at doing these interviews more than anything because I know I have no chance. I'm just curious as to what you could see that would make you give someone like me a shot.
The other possibility is that there is an alum from your school who is a hiring partner at the V15 firm and wants to maintain some connection to the law school.
And never self-select by thinking you have "no chance". Everyone has a chance, it just depends on how great that chance is.
Good luck.
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
Other possibilities - impressive performance at an impressive undergrad school?Anonymous User wrote:Hope you can give me some advice because I am confused here. I go to a T2. Top 33% of class (roughly), but not higher. Member of a clinic. Judicial internship with a state judge and worked at a small firm that does veryhigh level work in a specialized area this summer. I got pre-selected by a V15 firm for an OCI interview. What could they possibly have seen in my resume that would make them pick me? I also submitted a writing sample. How should I approach the interview? I just want to get experience at doing these interviews more than anything because I know I have no chance. I'm just curious as to what you could see that would make you give someone like me a shot.
Are you at a school that's generall a pretty good feeder to the firm?
Otherwise...dunno. Good luck.
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
When asked what department you would like to work for within a firm, is it OK to just say corporate or litigation or should you have a more specific answer? I am finding it difficult to come up with a real concrete answer to which specific departments may interests me the most because as a law student I have not been exposed to the different areas (I probably cannot articulate a good reason for choosing a specific practice area because I do not know very much about them yet).
Is this something I should put a lot more research time into or do interviewers expect you not to know yet?
Is this something I should put a lot more research time into or do interviewers expect you not to know yet?
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
Perfectly fine to say either litigation or corporate, or to say you are not sure and want to try out all areas of law.Anonymous User wrote:When asked what department you would like to work for within a firm, is it OK to just say corporate or litigation or should you have a more specific answer? I am finding it difficult to come up with a real concrete answer to which specific departments may interests me the most because as a law student I have not been exposed to the different areas (I probably cannot articulate a good reason for choosing a specific practice area because I do not know very much about them yet).
Is this something I should put a lot more research time into or do interviewers expect you not to know yet?
As an interviewer I was always more leery of those that knew for sure what they wanted to do. If someone was K-JD, how the hell would they know?
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
Interviewing for firm that I am not qualified for, grades-wise. Not far off though, and there are other "pluses" to my candidacy (E.g., explanation of grades, very strong specific ties to far-off office). Should I say "I know my grades could have been higher, but here's the explanation, and BTW, I know that it must be hard to find your usual target applicants who have such close ties and are committed to the area", or should I just see if it comes up and let them do the math?
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Re: V15 Senior Associate/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions...
everyone's got stories about grades. i have no idea whether it's hard to find people who are looking for a particular office. if you've got a REAL explanation for grades i'd drop it in as a small letter/paragraph supplement to your transcript. i'd focus on your ties to the office rather than it being so hard to find people...Anonymous User wrote:Interviewing for firm that I am not qualified for, grades-wise. Not far off though, and there are other "pluses" to my candidacy (E.g., explanation of grades, very strong specific ties to far-off office). Should I say "I know my grades could have been higher, but here's the explanation, and BTW, I know that it must be hard to find your usual target applicants who have such close ties and are committed to the area", or should I just see if it comes up and let them do the math?
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