Duke Law OCI 2016 (c/o 2018) Forum

[Anonymous User]

Bumping again. So not really OCI related, but...anyone want to estimate how much of our work week DLJ or another journal is going to take up? Accepted and now am worried.

Also, is it weird to have gotten DLJ and none of the non-exclusive journals, even after applying to all of them? Was hoping for Law & Tech

Non-exclusive journals haven't finished extending offers, so...

Would you happen to know how they are contacting people? Phone, email. . . ? When do we start losing hope? Next week?

[Anonymous User]

What journal generally has the least work?

[meat tornado]

Bumping again. So not really OCI related, but...anyone want to estimate how much of our work week DLJ or another journal is going to take up? Accepted and now am worried.

Also, is it weird to have gotten DLJ and none of the non-exclusive journals, even after applying to all of them? Was hoping for Law & Tech

Being on DLJ kind of sucks. It's much more work than the other journals--nothing that you can't handle, but they make people do a lot of grunt work and you'll get journal work before classes start. Don't do a secondary if you're on DLJ. Your resume is good enough to carry you through OCI, and being on Law and Tech doesn't add anything/will just create a headache for you.

[Anonymous User]

Bumping again. So not really OCI related, but...anyone want to estimate how much of our work week DLJ or another journal is going to take up? Accepted and now am worried.

Also, is it weird to have gotten DLJ and none of the non-exclusive journals, even after applying to all of them? Was hoping for Law & Tech

Being on DLJ kind of sucks. It's much more work than the other journals--nothing that you can't handle, but they make people do a lot of grunt work and you'll get journal work before classes start. Don't do a secondary if you're on DLJ. Your resume is good enough to carry you through OCI, and being on Law and Tech doesn't add anything/will just create a headache for you.

3L on DLJ here and I agree with this. DLJ is a time sink. It's hard to totally quantify hours per week because it will matter what assignments you are staffed on. The downside of these is that you don't really get to control this. If it's anything like last year, they will let you preference assignments based on their expected dates... Then they will miss those date targets by two weeks or more. So in September you'll sign up for an assignment for the week after fall break, then when October rolls around they'll tell you that assignment got pushed back to November and now you're spending time on DLJ instead of prepping for exams or writing papers around Thanksgiving.

The one thing you should know now is that DLJ will ask you to sign up for an office hour that you serve at the same time each week, so you can keep that in mind as you plan your schedule. For example last year I took a 9:00-9:55 class and an 11:00-12:20 class on the same day, so that 10:00am window was perfect for my weekly office hour.

And yeah, there is NO REASON to sign up for a non-exclusive if you're on DLJ. Politely decline the invitation (they get that a lot) and move on with your life. You will regret being on multiple journals if one of them is DLJ.

[Anonymous User]

Bumping again. So not really OCI related, but...anyone want to estimate how much of our work week DLJ or another journal is going to take up? Accepted and now am worried.

Also, is it weird to have gotten DLJ and none of the non-exclusive journals, even after applying to all of them? Was hoping for Law & Tech

Non-exclusive journals haven't finished extending offers, so...

Would you happen to know how they are contacting people? Phone, email. . . ? When do we start losing hope? Next week?

From the email extending offers: "Initial invitations to join non-exclusive membership journals will be extended beginning today and will continue over the course of the next two weeks. We will notify students when all of the non-exclusive journal invitations have been extended, and the competition is closed."

I would imagine they're still contacting people through email.

[Anonymous User]

If you are on any of the non-DLJ exclusive journals- international/con law, is there any value to doing a secondary?

[Anonymous User]

If you are on any of the non-DLJ exclusive journals- international/con law, is there any value to doing a secondary?

Any help would be great. I need to respond in the next 2 hours.

[meat tornado]

If you are on any of the non-DLJ exclusive journals- international/con law, is there any value to doing a secondary?

Any help would be great. I need to respond in the next 2 hours.

No. Don't do it

[Anonymous User]

Bumping again. So not really OCI related, but...anyone want to estimate how much of our work week DLJ or another journal is going to take up? Accepted and now am worried.

Also, is it weird to have gotten DLJ and none of the non-exclusive journals, even after applying to all of them? Was hoping for Law & Tech

Being on DLJ kind of sucks. It's much more work than the other journals--nothing that you can't handle, but they make people do a lot of grunt work and you'll get journal work before classes start. Don't do a secondary if you're on DLJ. Your resume is good enough to carry you through OCI, and being on Law and Tech doesn't add anything/will just create a headache for you.

3L on DLJ here and I agree with this. DLJ is a time sink. It's hard to totally quantify hours per week because it will matter what assignments you are staffed on. The downside of these is that you don't really get to control this. If it's anything like last year, they will let you preference assignments based on their expected dates... Then they will miss those date targets by two weeks or more. So in September you'll sign up for an assignment for the week after fall break, then when October rolls around they'll tell you that assignment got pushed back to November and now you're spending time on DLJ instead of prepping for exams or writing papers around Thanksgiving.

The one thing you should know now is that DLJ will ask you to sign up for an office hour that you serve at the same time each week, so you can keep that in mind as you plan your schedule. For example last year I took a 9:00-9:55 class and an 11:00-12:20 class on the same day, so that 10:00am window was perfect for my weekly office hour.

And yeah, there is NO REASON to sign up for a non-exclusive if you're on DLJ. Politely decline the invitation (they get that a lot) and move on with your life. You will regret being on multiple journals if one of them is DLJ.

2016 grad, DLJ also. Totally co-sign this. DLJ is a lot of work. The best way to think about it is as if DLJ is a credit card - you swipe it at OCI and then spend the next year (or two if you are masochistic enough to be on the board) paying it off.

There is no reason to do both DLJ and another journal. There will be no resume boost and it will take what little spare time you have left after DLJ/classes/other school things/life. You can show interest in a substantive area of another journal by doing your note (required for DLJ) on a topic in that area. Two birds, one (very time consuming) stone.

[Anonymous User]

The one thing you should know now is that DLJ will ask you to sign up for an office hour that you serve at the same time each week, so you can keep that in mind as you plan your schedule. For example last year I took a 9:00-9:55 class and an 11:00-12:20 class on the same day, so that 10:00am window was perfect for my weekly office hour.

As someone who must have clearly written on to DLJ (was definitely NOT expecting this, after seeing my grades), I didn’t actually research it at all. So a huge apology for my total and utter ignorance, but I have so many questions.

Do we get our own cubicles in that dark, musty, little closet of a space near the lockers? Will our assignments as 2L purely consist of bluebooking for professors/legal scholars? Or do some people get assigned to different types of jobs (editing for substance, grammar, etc) which we carry out over the course of the year? And what exactly does it mean to have an office hour every week? Like, act as a receptionist?

Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous User]

The best way to think about it is as if DLJ is a credit card - you swipe it at OCI and then spend the next year (or two if you are masochistic enough to be on the board) paying it off.

LOL love this metaphor.

[Anonymous User]

Do we get our own cubicles in that dark, musty, little closet of a space near the lockers? Will our assignments as 2L purely consist of bluebooking for professors/legal scholars? Or do some people get assigned to different types of jobs (editing for substance, grammar, etc) which we carry out over the course of the year? And what exactly does it mean to have an office hour every week? Like, act as a receptionist?

Thanks in advance!

2Ls (and 3Ls who aren't something other than Editorial Board) share one room in the DLJ office at a big table surrounded by everyone's cubbies where they keep textbooks, the small fridge where people keep Indian food for months, and the two desktop computers from which DLJ members have to do part of their work. But there's also a Keurig in there.

There is a little bit of diversity in assignments, but 95%+ of 2L assignments are one of two things: "team leading" (TL) which is going through an article, finding every source that has been cited, downloading all of those sources and organizing them in a folder, and creating an Excel spreadsheet of each source, where you saved it, etc., and "cite checking" (CCing) which is basically checking bluebooking of those articles relying upon the sources that the TL pulled. It is not interesting work. You will, at least once, have a discussion in a "galley session" (you'll learn what this means soon enough) where some of the brightest people at one of the best law schools in the country will spend far too long discussing whether an en dash or an em dash should be used, or whether a certain period should be italicized, or whether there is an extra space on the page that shouldn't be there.

And the office hour is basically just to sit in the office; there's a rumor that it only exists because DLJ needs to justify the amount of space that it has in the building and the way it does so is by claiming a certain number of man-hours are spent there by students. You'll sit at that table I mentioned near the Indian food and the Keurig, and you are supposed to check the DLJ email twice during the hour, answer the phone if it rings (it did once all year during my office hour), and do some other simple task like checking the mail or wiping down the table. The other 58 minutes of the office hour are spent by most people either doing class work or DLJ work.

Happy to answer more questions but a lot of this is stuff you're just gonna have to learn yourself. I do like to talk down DLJ but it's definitely worth the bump you get at OCI, so don't get jaded about it just yet. There's plenty of time for that later

[Anonymous User]

Do we get our own cubicles in that dark, musty, little closet of a space near the lockers? Will our assignments as 2L purely consist of bluebooking for professors/legal scholars? Or do some people get assigned to different types of jobs (editing for substance, grammar, etc) which we carry out over the course of the year? And what exactly does it mean to have an office hour every week? Like, act as a receptionist?

Thanks in advance!

2Ls (and 3Ls who aren't something other than Editorial Board) share one room in the DLJ office at a big table surrounded by everyone's cubbies where they keep textbooks, the small fridge where people keep Indian food for months, and the two desktop computers from which DLJ members have to do part of their work. But there's also a Keurig in there.

There is a little bit of diversity in assignments, but 95%+ of 2L assignments are one of two things: "team leading" (TL) which is going through an article, finding every source that has been cited, downloading all of those sources and organizing them in a folder, and creating an Excel spreadsheet of each source, where you saved it, etc., and "cite checking" (CCing) which is basically checking bluebooking of those articles relying upon the sources that the TL pulled. It is not interesting work. You will, at least once, have a discussion in a "galley session" (you'll learn what this means soon enough) where some of the brightest people at one of the best law schools in the country will spend far too long discussing whether an en dash or an em dash should be used, or whether a certain period should be italicized, or whether there is an extra space on the page that shouldn't be there.

And the office hour is basically just to sit in the office; there's a rumor that it only exists because DLJ needs to justify the amount of space that it has in the building and the way it does so is by claiming a certain number of man-hours are spent there by students. You'll sit at that table I mentioned near the Indian food and the Keurig, and you are supposed to check the DLJ email twice during the hour, answer the phone if it rings (it did once all year during my office hour), and do some other simple task like checking the mail or wiping down the table. The other 58 minutes of the office hour are spent by most people either doing class work or DLJ work.

Happy to answer more questions but a lot of this is stuff you're just gonna have to learn yourself. I do like to talk down DLJ but it's definitely worth the bump you get at OCI, so don't get jaded about it just yet. There's plenty of time for that later

This was exactly the information I was looking for. Thanks for the detailed response!!

[Anonymous User]

Bumping because this thread has been so helpful!

If any 3Ls are willing to post their bidlists, gpa range, and where they got callbacks, that would be AMAZING. We'll be sure to return the favor next year =)

2L, interested as well.

x3

[Anonymous User]

Just thought of my biggest regret from OCI last year and wanted to share it now so that you can avoid making the same mistake - I wish I would have enrolled in TSA PreCheck before callback season. Especially if you're casting your net wide and targeting multiple markets (and even if you're not - I didn't), it will be a load of stress off your mind as you might be spending a ton of time at RDU and other airports in August and into September.

[Anonymous User]

Just thought of my biggest regret from OCI last year and wanted to share it now so that you can avoid making the same mistake - I wish I would have enrolled in TSA PreCheck before callback season. Especially if you're casting your net wide and targeting multiple markets (and even if you're not - I didn't), it will be a load of stress off your mind as you might be spending a ton of time at RDU and other airports in August and into September.

Great! Thanks for the suggestion. Anything else you wish you had known before OCI?

[Anonymous User]

How many interviews is everyone looking at? I'm at 22 so far before opt-ins

[Anonymous User]

How many interviews is everyone looking at? I'm at 22 so far before opt-ins

19 (I'm bidding non-NY firms) and I didn't a half of my top 10 That includes #2,#3 and #4.

[Anonymous User]

I didn't get #2 or #3 either. 20/30, had to cancel 1 due to already having a callback with them. Hoping for a few more on the waitlists.

IF YOU ALREADY HAVE AN OFFER YOU WOULD TAKE: PLEASE CANCEL A FEW INTERVIEWS- sincerely, me

[Anonymous User]

3L here. The last thing you all need is another thing to stress about, so do NOT take this as an excuse to stress over too many interviews. But some advice:

I knew a good number of people who had 20+ interviews last year who felt that they were so exhausted on their 8th interview of the day that they thought it affected how they interviewed. I'm not saying there's some magic number out there. But particularly if one of your top 3 firms is scheduled at the end of a day of 4+ interviews, I would consider dropping some interviews. Obviously keep a few "safety" firms that you would still be happy with, and if you bid all DC be VERY cautious about dropping interviews. But if you bid all NYC and have decent grades, consider not overdoing it on OCI screeners. It's an exhausting week with the stress, all the interviews, firm dinners, etc. Don't make it harder on yourself than is necessary.

[Anonymous User]

3L here. The last thing you all need is another thing to stress about, so do NOT take this as an excuse to stress over too many interviews. But some advice:

I knew a good number of people who had 20+ interviews last year who felt that they were so exhausted on their 8th interview of the day that they thought it affected how they interviewed. I'm not saying there's some magic number out there. But particularly if one of your top 3 firms is scheduled at the end of a day of 4+ interviews, I would consider dropping some interviews. Obviously keep a few "safety" firms that you would still be happy with, and if you bid all DC be VERY cautious about dropping interviews. But if you bid all NYC and have decent grades, consider not overdoing it on OCI screeners. It's an exhausting week with the stress, all the interviews, firm dinners, etc. Don't make it harder on yourself than is necessary.

I disagree with this advice unless you have a high gpa. If you are below median to like top 1/3 (maybe a little worse), I don't think it's possible to have enough interviews. At median, I did about 27-28 and would have done more if i could have. I didn't think it was that exhausting, you'll be running on adrenaline all week and will get into a groove once you do a few interviews. Fwiw, my worst/longest day was 10 or 11, and I got 4 callbacks that day and 2 offers, including the one I accepted.

[Anonymous User]

3L here. The last thing you all need is another thing to stress about, so do NOT take this as an excuse to stress over too many interviews. But some advice:

I knew a good number of people who had 20+ interviews last year who felt that they were so exhausted on their 8th interview of the day that they thought it affected how they interviewed. I'm not saying there's some magic number out there. But particularly if one of your top 3 firms is scheduled at the end of a day of 4+ interviews, I would consider dropping some interviews. Obviously keep a few "safety" firms that you would still be happy with, and if you bid all DC be VERY cautious about dropping interviews. But if you bid all NYC and have decent grades, consider not overdoing it on OCI screeners. It's an exhausting week with the stress, all the interviews, firm dinners, etc. Don't make it harder on yourself than is necessary.

I disagree with this advice unless you have a high gpa. If you are below median to like top 1/3 (maybe a little worse), I don't think it's possible to have enough interviews. At median, I did about 27-28 and would have done more if i could have. I didn't think it was that exhausting, you'll be running on adrenaline all week and will get into a groove once you do a few interviews. Fwiw, my worst/longest day was 10 or 11, and I got 4 callbacks that day and 2 offers, including the one I accepted.

I had a stupid question, thought about it, then deleted it. Soooo nevermind....and thanks for the advice 3Ls.

[Anonymous User]

Went from 19 to 29 with opt in, extra bids and 3 open sign ups. Gonna suck but gotta try to get a job.

[Anonymous User]

Went from 19 to 29 with opt in, extra bids and 3 open sign ups. Gonna suck but gotta try to get a job.

Dang isn't recommended amount like 15?

[Anonymous User]

Went from 19 to 29 with opt in, extra bids and 3 open sign ups. Gonna suck but gotta try to get a job.

Dang isn't recommended amount like 15?

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