Law firm recruiter answering questions for a bit Forum

[What the f.supp?]

Can you shed some light on how offers for 2L SAs are generated and disseminated? I.e. is there a hiring committee and the SA needs a majority vote? Unanimous vote? Does the recruiter have a say? When do you tell the SAs if they got an offer? It seems like all firms may do this differently, but your insight would be appreciated.

[lawfirmrecruiter]

Has your firm acknowledged sputtering economic indicators that point to a decline in revenue for Q1 and Q2 and point to further declines in Q3 and Q4. How will latest economic slowdown affect hiring at your firm?

Okay, this question got a bit hijacked but I will try to address the OP ...

Speaking only for my firm and in the broadest generalities, we always try to develop a conservative budget that buffers against economic swings. We have altered our student recruiting to focus later in the cycle so we can more accurately predict our hiring needs. Example, our focus on 3L hiring as opposed to traditional 2Ls. This gives more stability to the students we hire and our firm long-term as opposed to a knee-jerk reaction to short term swings in the economy.

[lawfirmrecruiter]

When 3Ls apply for jobs, how significant are 1L grades? What if the student showed tremendous improvement in 2L and 3L?

Good to see tremendous improvement. Show that you learned a lot and hit your stride.

[lawfirmrecruiter]

Can you shed some light on how offers for 2L SAs are generated and disseminated? I.e. is there a hiring committee and the SA needs a majority vote? Unanimous vote? Does the recruiter have a say? When do you tell the SAs if they got an offer? It seems like all firms may do this differently, but your insight would be appreciated.

Completely depends on the firm. At my firm, I do not have a hiring committee but work closely with management to identify the right candidates. I have an equal say in the decision and interview everyone that comes in.

[Anonymous User]

How do firms look at Indians (as in from Asia)? Is it a positive for diversity hiring? What if an individual was born there and moved here as a teenager?

Thanks

[MrAnon]

Thanks. Has there actually been an acknowledgment that this particular upcoming year may have a downturn or is this a precaution you have taken to since '08 or is this something you always have adhered to. Have you heard anything unusual about this upcoming season, say that you didn't hear last year?

[Danteshek]

How do firms look at Indians (as in from Asia)? Is it a positive for diversity hiring? What if an individual was born there and moved here as a teenager?

Thanks

^
Identity politics

[lawfirmrecruiter]

How do firms look at Indians (as in from Asia)? Is it a positive for diversity hiring? What if an individual was born there and moved here as a teenager?

Thanks

Positive for diversity.

[lawfirmrecruiter]

Thanks. Has there actually been an acknowledgment that this particular upcoming year may have a downturn or is this a precaution you have taken to since '08 or is this something you always have adhered to. Have you heard anything unusual about this upcoming season, say that you didn't hear last year?

It is a new program for us but more from the perspective of trying to fix a ridiculously broken system. A system of recruiting that was broken way before the Great Recession. From a business perspective it is impossible to predict client need 2 years in advance. This 2 year cycle of speculative hiring is what has led to the uncertainty students face today.

[Anonymous User]

Cover letters are always tricky and can actually cause more troubles for a candidate. Keep it short and concise. Tell me you want to be in X city and come to my firm because of 1-2 reasons. Surely there are two sentences you can come up with to cover that. Any longer and it sounds like you are justifying your application.

Thank you very much, that's the kind of guidance I was looking for.

[Danteshek]

Is it inappropriate for a cover letter to mention that I am moving to this part of the country (DC metro) because my fiancee is a student there? Should I be more specific (i.e. undergrad at Georgetown). Is that weird to mention if I am almost 10 years older?

[Anonymous User]

What if you go to a t10 and are at the bottom of your class, but made it onto law review? Does that make a big difference (I know not for your firm... b/c you have a GPA cut off).... but for other firms?

[lawfirmrecruiter]

Is it inappropriate for a cover letter to mention that I am moving to this part of the country (DC metro) because my fiancee is a student there? Should I be more specific (i.e. undergrad at Georgetown). Is that weird to mention if I am almost 10 years older?

Not inappropriate to mention fiancee connection to DC market. 10 years older than what? Your fiancee? Yes. That would be weird.

[Anonymous User]

Is it really true that the type of 1L legal employment doesn't matter? I'm a PT student that works FT during the day. This summer, I am also working for a small firm that is allowing me to work about twenty hours a week on nights and weekends. I go into their office about three times a week to meet with the attorneys for about an hour and a half each meeting. They assign me work that ranges from transactional to an occasional MSJ.

My other factors will be competitive at OCI; will this type of employment be good enough on my resume? Do I leave it off the resume if it would be a hindrance?

[Danteshek]

Is it inappropriate for a cover letter to mention that I am moving to this part of the country (DC metro) because my fiancee is a student there? Should I be more specific (i.e. undergrad at Georgetown). Is that weird to mention if I am almost 10 years older?

Not inappropriate to mention fiancee connection to DC market. 10 years older than what? Your fiancee? Yes. That would be weird.

Haha okay. Yes. I will keep those sensibilities in mind. (I am 29, she is 20).

[Anonymous User]

How do firms look at Indians (as in from Asia)? Is it a positive for diversity hiring? What if an individual was born there and moved here as a teenager?

Thanks

Positive for diversity.

Is it a bump for the individual? Compared to a URM?

[Danteshek]

.

[Anonymous User]

You keep mentioning that your firm is focusing on 3L employment - do you know if other firms are doing that as well? Also, how would you look at a transfer student (T30 to T15) who didn't land an SA (but had a solid govt summer job) and after the 2L year ended up in the top 1/3rd? Is the lack of an SA a huge blackmark?

[Anonymous User]

should I explain my outlier grade?
I was in the top 10% and dropped 10% to top 20% my 2L year due to one grade.

I am a transfer student, should I include my grades from my previous school for 3L recruiting?

Thanks

[japes]

Cover letters are always tricky and can actually cause more troubles for a candidate. Keep it short and concise. Tell me you want to be in X city and come to my firm because of 1-2 reasons. Surely there are two sentences you can come up with to cover that. Any longer and it sounds like you are justifying your application.

Care to elaborate on this a little more? What are the things you like to see / don't want to see in a cover letter? As a 0L prepping cover letters for the 1L job search, any advice? I'm interested in PI but currently working a non-PI civil litigation lawjob.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks a lot for taking questions. So, say I got a really bad grade in one of my classes, C-, which destroyed my GPA and brought it below a 3. When emailing firms before OCI should I include my transcript? I feel like if I include my transcript it will bring attention to it but if I don't include my transcript combined with the fact that my resume won't have my gpa on it firms might assume I did poorly in all of my classes as opposed to just doing really horribly in one. Also, are resumes without GPAs on them automatically thrown in the trash? Also, I'm a URM if that effects things in any way. Thanks.

[kalvano]

Not to be presumptuous, but why wouldn't your resume have your GPA on it? All resumes should.

[beach_terror]

Not to be presumptuous, but why wouldn't your resume have your GPA on it? All resumes should.

Not if you don't do well. You don't want to call attention to bad grades, even though leaving the GPA off will imply it. You want them to focus on your good qualities, leave the bad stuff on the transcript.

[newyorker88]

Not to be presumptuous, but why wouldn't your resume have your GPA on it? All resumes should.

If your GPA is below a 3 it should not be on your resume. I've heard that from firms and career services.

[kalvano]

Really? I've been told the opposite...always put your GPA on there. Huh. Shows what I know.