DC Associate/OCI Interviewer taking ?s Forum

[Anonymous User]

How do you view 3Ls looking to change firms? What are "good" reasons to change? What are "bad" reasons?

I like my firm, but want a DC office with a larger NY presence and a larger corporate practice than it currently has. Also, I'd like a firm with a bit larger or more diverse practice area. I don't want to slag off on my firm because they're a great place, but they do X in a narrow field and I want the opportunity to do X, Y, or Z in the same field or with a broader client base.

[tengorazon]

How do you view 3Ls looking to change firms? What are "good" reasons to change? What are "bad" reasons?

I like my firm, but want a DC office with a larger NY presence and a larger corporate practice than it currently has. Also, I'd like a firm with a bit larger or more diverse practice area. I don't want to slag off on my firm because they're a great place, but they do X in a narrow field and I want the opportunity to do X, Y, or Z in the same field or with a broader client base.

My firm doesn't hire very many 3Ls, if any at all, so I haven't been involved with that process. That said, I imagine the interviews would be similar to 2L interviews except you've had a summer to experience a few practice areas and should be able to articulate why the new firm appeals to you.

[Anonymous User]

Any tips on how someone with no work experience can speak intelligibly about why they want corporate?

[tengorazon]

Any tips on how someone with no work experience can speak intelligibly about why they want corporate?

The typical stuff is wanting to work on something constructive, thinking creatively to draft documents to prevent future problems, learning how a client operates, the advisory role to corporate America, etc. Plus if you know how to read financial documents and can find a way to convey that. As a non-corporate lawyer, that's good enough for me . No one really expects you to know the nuts and bolts as a 2L.

[risingamerican_2l]

Any tips for choosing which office of a firm to bid on? I am not picky about location, I just want a job. Do you tell the interviewer that you want to be considered for all of the firm's offices? What is the best way to make sure that you get considered for every possible position that the firm might have?

[henry flower]

I asked the same question to the other OCI interviewer taking questions (sorry for any redundancy), and it seems even more appropriate here, since the office in question is a DC office:

Is it okay to ask about face-time requirements? One of my top choices is known (at least on Vault) for not having a face-time requirement, and this is actually a big selling point for me. Would love to be able to do a fair amount of work from home, and would probably be more efficient/productive that way. Should I mention/emphasize this at all?

[tengorazon]

Any tips for choosing which office of a firm to bid on? I am not picky about location, I just want a job. Do you tell the interviewer that you want to be considered for all of the firm's offices? What is the best way to make sure that you get considered for every possible position that the firm might have?

In my experience, most people interview with a single office in a single city, with only a small number of firms doing the nationwide thing. I imagine some of the megafirms do it, and I imagine at those firms, associates are viewed as fungible enough for it to work. Unless an office says that it's interviewing for other offices, I'd probably assume that it is not. If you get an offer, you can explore splitting or transferring to another office. But if you're rejected from one office, I wouldn't put your chances at another office very high.

[tengorazon]

I asked the same question to the other OCI interviewer taking questions (sorry for any redundancy), and it seems even more appropriate here, since the office in question is a DC office:

Is it okay to ask about face-time requirements? One of my top choices is known (at least on Vault) for not having a face-time requirement, and this is actually a big selling point for me. Would love to be able to do a fair amount of work from home, and would probably be more efficient/productive that way. Should I mention/emphasize this at all?

I would save that question until post-offer. It might be viewed as your not wanting to put in the work. I work at a firm with no face-time requirement, and I wouldn't have it any other way. But I know people at other firms who feel like they can't leave until the partners leave, must stay late at the office nearly every day, etc.

That said, even if you ask the question post-offer, I doubt you'll get that many honest answers. The best way to gauge face time is to walk the halls late one night and see how many dark offices there are. Unfortunately, you can't really do that until you're a summer. Until then, your best source will probably be previous summers and Vault.

[tengorazon]

Looking at resumes to decide which candidates to take off of the waitlist. Some advice:

1. Give me some reason to want to interview you. Simply listing your law school with no activities/organizations and a 1L summer spent researching for a prof isn't going to do it for me. If you didn't do any activities, you should quickly join something interesting.

2. If you have a master's/PHD, you don't have to list all of your publications, classes, etc. Just makes me think you want to be an academic. Know your audience.

3. Ditto people who spent 3 years after law school working for a nonprofit, summered at a nonprofit 1L year, and are in the nonprofit clinic. I'm not going to call you back if I think you're just there to collect a pay check for the summer before you go work for a nonprofit.

4. If you're diverse, make sure that's clear.

5. Proofread. You'd think that would go without saying, yet I've seen several with typos (and one transfer student who said on her resume that she was transferring to a different school from the one where she ended up...).

[Anonymous User]

Looking at resumes to decide which candidates to take off of the waitlist. Some advice:

1. Give me some reason to want to interview you. Simply listing your law school with no activities/organizations and a 1L summer spent researching for a prof isn't going to do it for me. If you didn't do any activities, you should quickly join something interesting.

2. If you have a master's/PHD, you don't have to list all of your publications, classes, etc. Just makes me think you want to be an academic. Know your audience.

3. Ditto people who spent 3 years after law school working for a nonprofit, summered at a nonprofit 1L year, and are in the nonprofit clinic. I'm not going to call you back if I think you're just there to collect a pay check for the summer before you go work for a nonprofit.

4. If you're diverse, make sure that's clear.

5. Proofread. You'd think that would go without saying, yet I've seen several with typos (and one transfer student who said on her resume that she was transferring to a different school from the one where she ended up...).

How do you make it clear you are diverse? If you are lgbt, putting your school's lgbt organization, would that be enough? If you are a minority from another country, would putting that language down as a native speaker be enough?

[Anonymous User]

How useful of a tie is a summer spent in DC 3 years ago? I really loved the city, but I'm worried i don't have strong enough ties to logistically secure an interview with many DC firms.

[tengorazon]

Looking at resumes to decide which candidates to take off of the waitlist. Some advice:

1. Give me some reason to want to interview you. Simply listing your law school with no activities/organizations and a 1L summer spent researching for a prof isn't going to do it for me. If you didn't do any activities, you should quickly join something interesting.

2. If you have a master's/PHD, you don't have to list all of your publications, classes, etc. Just makes me think you want to be an academic. Know your audience.

3. Ditto people who spent 3 years after law school working for a nonprofit, summered at a nonprofit 1L year, and are in the nonprofit clinic. I'm not going to call you back if I think you're just there to collect a pay check for the summer before you go work for a nonprofit.

4. If you're diverse, make sure that's clear.

5. Proofread. You'd think that would go without saying, yet I've seen several with typos (and one transfer student who said on her resume that she was transferring to a different school from the one where she ended up...).

How do you make it clear you are diverse? If you are lgbt, putting your school's lgbt organization, would that be enough? If you are a minority from another country, would putting that language down as a native speaker be enough?

Yes, both of those are good (as well as affinity groups for minorities from another country). That said, LGBT is harder these days because lots of non-LGBT people are joining LGBT groups as a sign of solidarity. If you've done something that more clearly indicates your status (perhaps activism or a substantive project), that would be good to know.

[tengorazon]

How useful of a tie is a summer spent in DC 3 years ago? I really loved the city, but I'm worried i don't have strong enough ties to logistically secure an interview with many DC firms.

I think that's fine. You've spent time in the city and can talk about what you like. There aren't that many people who have "strong" ties to DC.

[damno vitando]

Deleted

[Anonymous User]

I guess my question for you is a fundamental one--how low in a DCN class are the top DC firms (Covington, Sidley...to Hogan) willing to go? I'm top 20% and have three years' worth of DC ties, but I've received conflicting advice as to whether I have a chance at a firm like, e.g., Sidley or Alston & Bird.

[Anonymous User]

I guess my question for you is a fundamental one--how low in a DCN class are the top DC firms (Covington, Sidley...to Hogan) willing to go? I'm top 20% and have three years' worth of DC ties, but I've received conflicting advice as to whether I have a chance at a firm like, e.g., Sidley or Alston & Bird.

I'm not from DCN or even T-14 and can tell you that at least Sidley and Venable were willing to stoop down to unranked at a T30. I have decent ties and WE in DC (during undergrad, though) and am above median, but I was shocked. I'm sure you definitely have a chance at those firms.

[Anonymous User]

Is it possible to lateral from NY to DC for IP work? I'm also interested in gov work and have policy experience in DC but will not be doing any of this at my firm.

[tengorazon]

Is it possible to lateral from NY to DC for IP work? I'm also interested in gov work and have policy experience in DC but will not be doing any of this at my firm.

My impression is that people with IP experience remain in demand, so I wouldn't imagine it would be terribly difficult to lateral from NYC. Am I reading your question properly, or will you not be doing IP work either? Regardless, I know several people who have lateraled from NYC for general corporate and litigation as well.

[Anonymous User]

I did a federal clerkship in DC and just started my second fed clerkship in a flyover. I'm interested in government contracts and/or tax controversy. Pre-law school work experience in government contracts and good credentials for tax. What firms should I apply to and when? T30 magna cum grad, do the clerkships and work experience make me a strong enough candidate for DC big law?

[tengorazon]

I did a federal clerkship in DC and just started my second fed clerkship in a flyover. I'm interested in government contracts and/or tax controversy. Pre-law school work experience in government contracts and good credentials for tax. What firms should I apply to and when? T30 magna cum grad, do the clerkships and work experience make me a strong enough candidate for DC big law?

The clerkships should help, especially if one of your judges has connections. I'm not sure which firms have the best practices in gov't contracts. I've had a couple of cases that are somewhat related to gov't contracts, but it's not our bread and butter. Wilmer and Akin have also been involved in such cases, so I imagine they have stronger practices.

[Anonymous User]

Is it possible to lateral from NY to DC for IP work? I'm also interested in gov work and have policy experience in DC but will not be doing any of this at my firm.

My impression is that people with IP experience remain in demand, so I wouldn't imagine it would be terribly difficult to lateral from NYC. Am I reading your question properly, or will you not be doing IP work either? Regardless, I know several people who have lateraled from NYC for general corporate and litigation as well.

Best firms in dc for general corporate?

[Anonymous User]

Do you have any sense of how the the V50ish DC firms are doing? Someone on here keeps rumbling about Pillsbury. King & Spalding?

[tengorazon]

Is it possible to lateral from NY to DC for IP work? I'm also interested in gov work and have policy experience in DC but will not be doing any of this at my firm.

My impression is that people with IP experience remain in demand, so I wouldn't imagine it would be terribly difficult to lateral from NYC. Am I reading your question properly, or will you not be doing IP work either? Regardless, I know several people who have lateraled from NYC for general corporate and litigation as well.

Best firms in dc for general corporate?

Hogan, A&P, Wilmer + whatever Chambers & Partners says. Probably some NYC firms' branch offices, though you might be competing with the NYC office for that.

Do you have any sense of how the the V50ish DC firms are doing? Someone on here keeps rumbling about Pillsbury. King & Spalding?

There are always rumblings about Pillsbury, but it's still standing AFAIK. Not sure about K&S. The DC office had a high profile back when they had Paul Clement. Unclear how they're doing today.

[Anonymous User]

You touched on people moving from NY to DC briefly, but any more specific thoughts about how feasible it is? At your firm, any sense of how hard it would be for, say, a junior litigation associate to transfer offices for personal (significant other's job, etc.) reasons?

I'm at a NY office and potentially in this position, FWIW. I can see why it would be difficult to do since almost universally, any firm with a DC office and a NY office will have tighter hiring standards for the DC office.

[Anonymous User]

Is it possible to lateral from NY to DC for IP work? I'm also interested in gov work and have policy experience in DC but will not be doing any of this at my firm.

My impression is that people with IP experience remain in demand, so I wouldn't imagine it would be terribly difficult to lateral from NYC. Am I reading your question properly, or will you not be doing IP work either? Regardless, I know several people who have lateraled from NYC for general corporate and litigation as well.

Anon who asked this question. Thanks, I will be doing IP work--mostly patent lit and some trademark. It seems that people with patent prosecution experience are in high demand but I'm not so sure about lit. Since NoVa offices seem to do most of the prosecution hopefully I'll have a chance at DC offices? After how many years do litigation associates usually lateral to DC?