Summer Associate Class of 2016 Forum

[Anonymous User]

You also haven't been anywhere else. Definitely, definitely OCI. You will be no worse off for it. Worst case you end up doing what you are planning on doing right now but are more aware of what else is out there. Best case you split next summer with a new employer and your former employer (one of the only real ways to split outside of Texas) and cop that 12 weeks of pay. You should totally do OCI.

Thank you for the advice!

[Bluem_11]

Any other 1L SAs thinking of skipping OCI? Or any 2L SAs have advice on this? I really like my current firm in terms of people/culture, strength in my desired practice group, location. Don't think there's any other place I'd rather be.

In this job market you should never feel comfortable or secure, always be hustling, even if it's subtle. That offer may not come, or they may pull it back. Or you accidentally joke about a partner's ex and that bridge just got burnt. I don't care if you're top 10% at Harvard, I've seen prime time candidates strike out because they pissed people off instinctively.

It's great you found a place you think you like and I hope they give you a offer down the road and you end up happy, rich and famous. Until then do OCI and mass mail a little too.

[TheGoat18]

I'm a little curious as to what you mean by "this" job market. BigLaw hiring is way up, the S&P and DOW are at record highs and law firms just raised salaries lol. I agree with your advice to the other guy, as a 1L SA myself I registered for OCI because I don't technically have an offer yet, even though I've been told by everyone I've come in contact with not to worry, but if this is a bad market for legal hiring, what does a good one look like?

[SplitMyPants]

I'm a little curious as to what you mean by "this" job market. BigLaw hiring is way up, the S&P and DOW are at record highs and law firms just raised salaries lol. I agree with your advice to the other guy, as a 1L SA myself I registered for OCI because I don't technically have an offer yet, even though I've been told by everyone I've come in contact with not to worry, but if this is a bad market for legal hiring, what does a good one look like?

I think it was just more of a pre-ITE / ITE distinction

Things are good but it will always be different compared to pre-recession

[pancakes3]

I'm a little curious as to what you mean by "this" job market. BigLaw hiring is way up, the S&P and DOW are at record highs and law firms just raised salaries lol. I agree with your advice to the other guy, as a 1L SA myself I registered for OCI because I don't technically have an offer yet, even though I've been told by everyone I've come in contact with not to worry, but if this is a bad market for legal hiring, what does a good one look like?

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... =recession

[TheGoat18]

Whatever dude. The eternal pessimism on this site is gross. All I know is that I got scholarships at law schools with stats that would have got me dinged in 2007, i'm going into OCI with legal hiring close to pre-recession levels and an offer under my belt, and my first year pay just got bumped 20k. This is objectively a pretty damn good time to be a law student at a T14.

[pancakes3]

Whatever dude. The eternal pessimism on this site is gross. All I know is that I got scholarships at law schools with stats that would have got me dinged in 2007, i'm going into OCI with legal hiring close to pre-recession levels and an offer under my belt, and my first year pay just got bumped 20k. This is objectively a pretty damn good time to be a law student at a T14.

Sweet, bro. Are you lit or corp?

[PeanutsNJam]

I'm a little curious as to what you mean by "this" job market. BigLaw hiring is way up, the S&P and DOW are at record highs and law firms just raised salaries lol. I agree with your advice to the other guy, as a 1L SA myself I registered for OCI because I don't technically have an offer yet, even though I've been told by everyone I've come in contact with not to worry, but if this is a bad market for legal hiring, what does a good one look like?

You're transferring to Yale, right? Yeah you have nothing to worry about. Other people though do. People strike out with 35+ screeners still. Even Harvard people sometimes strike out.

[Single-Malt-Liquor]

I sort of wish they revoked my lunch privileges. Getting to freakin fat and tired of regurgitating the same conversations and answering the same questions over, and over, and over...

Would love to just have some peace and quiet and eat in my office w/ door closed surfing the web.

I just wanna say that this is a dock post considering that the person who actually had lunch privileges revoked is legitimately scared of being no offered.

[Anonymous User]

I sort of wish they revoked my lunch privileges. Getting to freakin fat and tired of regurgitating the same conversations and answering the same questions over, and over, and over...

Would love to just have some peace and quiet and eat in my office w/ door closed surfing the web.

I just wanna say that this is a dock post considering that the person who actually had lunch privileges revoked is legitimately scared of being no offered.

Also, if this dude is getting fat he could just switch to salad at SA lunches and skip the bakery on the way to work. No afternoon donuts for you, pal.

[WeeBey]

Whatever dude. The eternal pessimism on this site is gross. All I know is that I got scholarships at law schools with stats that would have got me dinged in 2007, i'm going into OCI with legal hiring close to pre-recession levels and an offer under my belt, and my first year pay just got bumped 20k. This is objectively a pretty damn good time to be a law student at a T14.

This. What a time to be a T14 law student.

[Anonymous User]

Whatever dude. The eternal pessimism on this site is gross. All I know is that I got scholarships at law schools with stats that would have got me dinged in 2007, i'm going into OCI with legal hiring close to pre-recession levels and an offer under my belt, and my first year pay just got bumped 20k. This is objectively a pretty damn good time to be a law student at a T14.

Bolded piece of whether or not it's a good time to be in law school is too often overlooked. I'm on a half ride to a mid-T14 right now. Pre-recession my stats would have probably gotten me a half ride to my home state T30 instead. Look around at how lucky we are to be alive (in law school) right now.

[lowdmouse]

Any other 1L SAs thinking of skipping OCI? Or any 2L SAs have advice on this?

The less pessimistic version of what others have said is that it never hurts to have options, so you might as well shop around. If you go into OCI with an offer from a place you know you like, you're going to have an immediate leg up by being the one person not constantly freaking out about every screener or every time a phone goes off. And in my experience (rising 3L), most people who I knew who went into OCI with 1L SAs got "better" offers. ("better" as in higher ranked, not necessarily better by their subjective feel of the firm--though most of them did take the higher ranked offer.) You really don't have anything to lose. Fill out half a bidlist of firms there's a chance you'd like, talk to them for 20 minutes, and see what happens.

[barkschool]

The job market is pretty sweet if u got a job

[El Pollito]

Presuming you have an offer, skipping OCI is a bad idea even if you like your firm. It's good to know what's out there, even if just to confirm that your firm is the right fit.

And if you don't have an offer yet, lol.

[jrc223]

Presuming you have an offer, skipping OCI is a bad idea even if you like your firm. It's good to know what's out there, even if just to confirm that your firm is the right fit.

And if you don't have an offer yet, lol.

If you feel like your firm is the right fit, how are screeners and callbacks at different firms going to convince you otherwise? Spending two to three months at a firm is a lot better gauge of fit than spending a few hours with only some of a different firm's attorneys, and I would rather go with a known quantity than an unknown one. This, of course, assumes other aspects (type and quality of work, pay, location) are held constant/also desirable

[El Pollito]

Presuming you have an offer, skipping OCI is a bad idea even if you like your firm. It's good to know what's out there, even if just to confirm that your firm is the right fit.

And if you don't have an offer yet, lol.

If you feel like your firm is the right fit, how are screeners and callbacks at different firms going to convince you otherwise? Spending two to three months at a firm is a lot better gauge of fit than spending a few hours with only some of a different firm's attorneys, and I would rather go with a known quantity than an unknown one. This, of course, assumes other aspects (type and quality of work, pay, location) are held constant/also desirable

It's dumb to forgo the opportunity to see what else is out there, no matter how good a fit you think your firm is (which you won't really know from being a 1L SA in any event).

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

Whatever dude. The eternal pessimism on this site is gross. All I know is that I got scholarships at law schools with stats that would have got me dinged in 2007, i'm going into OCI with legal hiring close to pre-recession levels and an offer under my belt, and my first year pay just got bumped 20k. This is objectively a pretty damn good time to be a law student at a T14.

LOL, I can already tell you fuckers are about to encourage a fresh new generations of dipshits to go to mediocre schools at absurd prices. I look forward to reading the same NYT articles five years from now with the debt numbers all doubled.

[pancakes3]

is "i copped a scholly" going to be the new "i worked my way through law school" line that milleni-boomers tell?

[jrc223]

Presuming you have an offer, skipping OCI is a bad idea even if you like your firm. It's good to know what's out there, even if just to confirm that your firm is the right fit.

And if you don't have an offer yet, lol.

If you feel like your firm is the right fit, how are screeners and callbacks at different firms going to convince you otherwise? Spending two to three months at a firm is a lot better gauge of fit than spending a few hours with only some of a different firm's attorneys, and I would rather go with a known quantity than an unknown one. This, of course, assumes other aspects (type and quality of work, pay, location) are held constant/also desirable

It's dumb to forgo the opportunity to see what else is out there, no matter how good a fit you think your firm is (which you won't really know from being a 1L SA in any event).

Right but my question is how screeners and callbacks at other firms are the same as "seeing what's out there"? Just from my experiences interviewing for 1L SA jobs (which was admittedly limited), screeners and callbacks seem to give you little actual insight into what those firms are like. I think your point is valid if you are curious about practice areas not offered at your current firm, or if you like the idea of another firm's free market system, assignment system, etc., better than your own, but if these sorts of considerations aren't applicable, OCI seems like a huge waste of time and effort

[cron1834]

Whatever dude. The eternal pessimism on this site is gross. All I know is that I got scholarships at law schools with stats that would have got me dinged in 2007, i'm going into OCI with legal hiring close to pre-recession levels and an offer under my belt, and my first year pay just got bumped 20k. This is objectively a pretty damn good time to be a law student at a T14.

LOL, I can already tell you fuckers are about to encourage a fresh new generations of dipshits to go to mediocre schools at absurd prices. I look forward to reading the same NYT articles five years from now with the debt numbers all doubled.

Yeah, Goatfucker is way off base. The reason your LSAT score is worth more is that more people have caught on to the devastation associated with law school not working out. Hiring is better than 2009, sure, but don't kid yourself that we're in some sort of robust economy...

[SplitMyPants]

Presuming you have an offer, skipping OCI is a bad idea even if you like your firm. It's good to know what's out there, even if just to confirm that your firm is the right fit.

And if you don't have an offer yet, lol.

If you feel like your firm is the right fit, how are screeners and callbacks at different firms going to convince you otherwise? Spending two to three months at a firm is a lot better gauge of fit than spending a few hours with only some of a different firm's attorneys, and I would rather go with a known quantity than an unknown one. This, of course, assumes other aspects (type and quality of work, pay, location) are held constant/also desirable

Bc kool aid

Not saying the grass-is-greener complex isn't a concern. But I mean, come on. How can you truly know "this is it" based on your couple 1L screeners and a few "chill bros" giving you work all summer?

[jrc223]

Presuming you have an offer, skipping OCI is a bad idea even if you like your firm. It's good to know what's out there, even if just to confirm that your firm is the right fit.

And if you don't have an offer yet, lol.

If you feel like your firm is the right fit, how are screeners and callbacks at different firms going to convince you otherwise? Spending two to three months at a firm is a lot better gauge of fit than spending a few hours with only some of a different firm's attorneys, and I would rather go with a known quantity than an unknown one. This, of course, assumes other aspects (type and quality of work, pay, location) are held constant/also desirable

Bc kool aid

Not saying the grass-is-greener complex isn't a concern. But I mean, come on. How can you truly know "this is it" based on your couple 1L screeners and a few "chill bros" giving you work all summer?

I totally understand what you mean. I guess where I'm still confused is how screeners and callbacks are any more illuminating. Most rising 2Ls have to decide "this is it" on much less information than 1L SAs with offers

[SplitMyPants]

Presuming you have an offer, skipping OCI is a bad idea even if you like your firm. It's good to know what's out there, even if just to confirm that your firm is the right fit.

And if you don't have an offer yet, lol.

If you feel like your firm is the right fit, how are screeners and callbacks at different firms going to convince you otherwise? Spending two to three months at a firm is a lot better gauge of fit than spending a few hours with only some of a different firm's attorneys, and I would rather go with a known quantity than an unknown one. This, of course, assumes other aspects (type and quality of work, pay, location) are held constant/also desirable

Bc kool aid

Not saying the grass-is-greener complex isn't a concern. But I mean, come on. How can you truly know "this is it" based on your couple 1L screeners and a few "chill bros" giving you work all summer?

I totally understand what you mean. I guess where I'm still confused is how screeners and callbacks are any more illuminating. Most rising 2Ls have to decide "this is it" on much less information than 1L SAs with offers

Very true but still not a reason to not do OCI.

[jrc223]

Presuming you have an offer, skipping OCI is a bad idea even if you like your firm. It's good to know what's out there, even if just to confirm that your firm is the right fit.

And if you don't have an offer yet, lol.

If you feel like your firm is the right fit, how are screeners and callbacks at different firms going to convince you otherwise? Spending two to three months at a firm is a lot better gauge of fit than spending a few hours with only some of a different firm's attorneys, and I would rather go with a known quantity than an unknown one. This, of course, assumes other aspects (type and quality of work, pay, location) are held constant/also desirable

Bc kool aid

Not saying the grass-is-greener complex isn't a concern. But I mean, come on. How can you truly know "this is it" based on your couple 1L screeners and a few "chill bros" giving you work all summer?

I totally understand what you mean. I guess where I'm still confused is how screeners and callbacks are any more illuminating. Most rising 2Ls have to decide "this is it" on much less information than 1L SAs with offers

Very true but still not a reason to not do OCI.

What is a reason to do OCI?