Rising 2Ls, what are you doing to end up employed? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I have my spring grades (I dropped almost .2 from first semester ) but I am taking summer courses that will likely raise my GPA at least .05 to .1. The grades will be in by the end of the month so I assume I should wait to start mailing correct?

You shouldn't be massmailing in June anyway.

When should I be then? Zero employers are coming to my OCI from my target market. I am going to try to get stuff at a few fairs in that market but with my grades I doubt I will even get interviews.

More like July. How small is your target market? Sounds like you need to add a backup market.

My back up will be my schools market. My target market is large. I am not biglaw or bust, I have low debt. Went to law school for more PI reasons and just have found private law type classes to be those most interesting/where I have been most successful. In fact mid sized firms are more appealing to me.

[BPLawl]

You absolutely have to be careful about seeming too narrow.

But if you don't know ANYTHING about ANY of their groups and what the work actually involves, how the fuck will you pitch yourself? Now you're just saying "yeah, I would be chill with like, lit. Or whatever." Compare to your classmate who said, "this summer I worked on X, and I talked to Alum at your firm, who mentioned working on Y has a lot in common with X, and I really thrived doing that work for [reasons]."

For purposes of cover letters is it OK to telegraph interests in radically different areas to different firms if you're radically unsure? TYIA TLS

Lawl

[DELG]

You absolutely have to be careful about seeming too narrow.

But if you don't know ANYTHING about ANY of their groups and what the work actually involves, how the fuck will you pitch yourself? Now you're just saying "yeah, I would be chill with like, lit. Or whatever." Compare to your classmate who said, "this summer I worked on X, and I talked to Alum at your firm, who mentioned working on Y has a lot in common with X, and I really thrived doing that work for [reasons]."

For purposes of cover letters is it OK to telegraph interests in radically different areas to different firms if you're radically unsure? TYIA TLS

Lawl

Do you have any reasons for your interests in these "radically different" practices? Have you talked to people who do them? Have you read the thread where lawyers describe what they actually do to inform your cover letter? Have you done enough research into the firm to see if they're interested in staffing first years in those areas?

[notgreat]

I have my spring grades (I dropped almost .2 from first semester ) but I am taking summer courses that will likely raise my GPA at least .05 to .1. The grades will be in by the end of the month so I assume I should wait to start mailing correct?

You shouldn't be massmailing in June anyway.

Is the idea to start networking now and start mass mailing July 7th? Thanks!

[BPLawl]

You absolutely have to be careful about seeming too narrow.

But if you don't know ANYTHING about ANY of their groups and what the work actually involves, how the fuck will you pitch yourself? Now you're just saying "yeah, I would be chill with like, lit. Or whatever." Compare to your classmate who said, "this summer I worked on X, and I talked to Alum at your firm, who mentioned working on Y has a lot in common with X, and I really thrived doing that work for [reasons]."

For purposes of cover letters is it OK to telegraph interests in radically different areas to different firms if you're radically unsure? TYIA TLS

Lawl

Do you have any reasons for your interests in these "radically different" practices? Have you talked to people who do them?

Pre-law school I was all about real estate/banking/fin services because that's where I'd worked with lawyers before. 1L summer job 1 (not SA) is very litigation focused; I enjoy it. 1L summer part-time research job is very statutory/regulation focused; I sort of enjoy it. I've spoken with big lawl litigators and RE-attys who said good and bad things about their experience and I'm not sure I mind which side of the trade-offs I'm on.
tl;dr: Tried getting work experience related to different practice areas. Didn't dislike anything. Am confused.

Have you read the thread where lawyers describe what they actually do to inform your cover letter?

Read that thread repeatedly hoping for a tie-breaker.

Have you done enough research into the firm to see if they're interested in staffing first years in those areas?

Working on this part.

[DELG]

You absolutely have to be careful about seeming too narrow.

But if you don't know ANYTHING about ANY of their groups and what the work actually involves, how the fuck will you pitch yourself? Now you're just saying "yeah, I would be chill with like, lit. Or whatever." Compare to your classmate who said, "this summer I worked on X, and I talked to Alum at your firm, who mentioned working on Y has a lot in common with X, and I really thrived doing that work for [reasons]."

For purposes of cover letters is it OK to telegraph interests in radically different areas to different firms if you're radically unsure? TYIA TLS

Lawl

Do you have any reasons for your interests in these "radically different" practices? Have you talked to people who do them?

Pre-law school I was all about real estate/banking/fin services because that's where I'd worked with lawyers before. 1L summer job 1 (not SA) is very litigation focused; I enjoy it. 1L summer part-time research job is very statutory/regulation focused; I sort of enjoy it. I've spoken with big lawl litigators and RE-attys who said good and bad things about their experience and I'm not sure I mind which side of the trade-offs I'm on.
tl;dr: Tried getting work experience related to different practice areas. Didn't dislike anything. Am confused.

Have you read the thread where lawyers describe what they actually do to inform your cover letter?

Read that thread repeatedly hoping for a tie-breaker.

Have you done enough research into the firm to see if they're interested in staffing first years in those areas?

Working on this part.

Without question the BEST thing to do in preparation for both OCI and mass mailing is talking to as many lawyers as you can at as many firms as you can

If an alum of my law school emailed me I would ALWAYS give them min an hour of my time to tell them about my practice and market. I know not everyone would do this but if you made contact with even 2-3 people who would you're in much better shape for interviews.

You don't have to stick to one pitch, either. It's absolutely okay to pitch for 2 things in a cover letter or interview. But if you were applying to my firm there are areas I would tell you not to even try to pitch for so the more info you can gather the better

[Danger Zone]

Good thread. DELG, you're the CSO these rising 2Ls will never have.