0 CBs Club Forum

[Anonymous User]

Last year, I was where you were. My 2L summer, I worked in-house. Here are some tips:
-This seems obvious, but USE SYMPLICITY/WHATEVER YOUR SCHOOL WEBSITE USES. Random stuff pops up into December or even January.
-Follow up EVERYWHERE that hasn't rejected you.
-When you mass mail, try to follow it up with a phone call to the head/managing partner. Also, focus on firms and offices that DON'T attend OCI, as the firms that do attend OCI likely invested too many resources to take mass mails seriously.
-If there is a legal staffing agency in your area, connect with them. I've found that staffing agencies, reputable ones at least, have better connections to corporations and in house work than schools do. Note: they may not have much to offer NOW, but keep following up in to next semester.
-Here is something no one told me last year: Even if a location is not hosting a formal summer associate program, they may still take on summer law clerks as needed. Hit up partners/shareholders at satellite offices of larger firms now and stay in contact. These decisions often aren't made until Spring, but you want to remain on the partners radar, especially if you go to school in a different geographic area.
-This might sound strange. But, right now, only apply to jobs you REALLY want. Time is too precious to waste applying to jobs you are going to turn down. For instance, if you know you don't want to do PI, don't spend time filling out 50 applications for Nature Conservancy, ACLU, etc.
-Lastly, don't lose hope. Miracles DO happen. People were getting cbs well into the second week of September last year.

[Anonymous User]

Last year, I was where you were. My 2L summer, I worked in-house. Here are some tips:
-This seems obvious, but USE SYMPLICITY/WHATEVER YOUR SCHOOL WEBSITE USES. Random stuff pops up into December or even January.
-Follow up EVERYWHERE that hasn't rejected you.
-When you mass mail, try to follow it up with a phone call to the head/managing partner. Also, focus on firms and offices that DON'T attend OCI, as the firms that do attend OCI likely invested too many resources to take mass mails seriously.
-If there is a legal staffing agency in your area, connect with them. I've found that staffing agencies, reputable ones at least, have better connections to corporations and in house work than schools do. Note: they may not have much to offer NOW, but keep following up in to next semester.
-Here is something no one told me last year: Even if a location is not hosting a formal summer associate program, they may still take on summer law clerks as needed. Hit up partners/shareholders at satellite offices of larger firms now and stay in contact. These decisions often aren't made until Spring, but you want to remain on the partners radar, especially if you go to school in a different geographic area.
-This might sound strange. But, right now, only apply to jobs you REALLY want. Time is too precious to waste applying to jobs you are going to turn down. For instance, if you know you don't want to do PI, don't spend time filling out 50 applications for Nature Conservancy, ACLU, etc.
-Lastly, don't lose hope. Miracles DO happen. People were getting cbs well into the second week of September last year.

Thank you for this. Seriously.

[Anonymous User]

Last year, I was where you were. My 2L summer, I worked in-house. Here are some tips:
-This seems obvious, but USE SYMPLICITY/WHATEVER YOUR SCHOOL WEBSITE USES. Random stuff pops up into December or even January.
-Follow up EVERYWHERE that hasn't rejected you.
-When you mass mail, try to follow it up with a phone call to the head/managing partner. Also, focus on firms and offices that DON'T attend OCI, as the firms that do attend OCI likely invested too many resources to take mass mails seriously.
-If there is a legal staffing agency in your area, connect with them. I've found that staffing agencies, reputable ones at least, have better connections to corporations and in house work than schools do. Note: they may not have much to offer NOW, but keep following up in to next semester.
-Here is something no one told me last year: Even if a location is not hosting a formal summer associate program, they may still take on summer law clerks as needed. Hit up partners/shareholders at satellite offices of larger firms now and stay in contact. These decisions often aren't made until Spring, but you want to remain on the partners radar, especially if you go to school in a different geographic area.
-This might sound strange. But, right now, only apply to jobs you REALLY want. Time is too precious to waste applying to jobs you are going to turn down. For instance, if you know you don't want to do PI, don't spend time filling out 50 applications for Nature Conservancy, ACLU, etc.
-Lastly, don't lose hope. Miracles DO happen. People were getting cbs well into the second week of September last year.

Thank you for this. Seriously.

Yes. Super helpful. Thank you.

[oblig.lawl.ref]

Just came in here to echo what others have said--it's not over. Keep mass mailing. I had 0 CBs before striking out at OCI and mass mailing. Ultimately ended up accepting a V20ish NYC offer deep in October. I had a couple other V100 offers coming in October. I had a friend get an offer in early November. I think I was pretty fortunate and I don't think these results are necessarily typical but it definitely happens.

[Anonymous User]

I had one mid-October last year with a market-paying firm in a major market, and one in December with a boutique firm in my school's market (secondary midwest) that payed 6 figures. Ended up striking out, doing JD/MBA and getting an offer this year (not all schools allow this, and it may not be advisable if you don't get a solid scholarship and/or if you don't really have strong enough credentials for big law). 2L is easier than 1L, and if you play your cards right you can absolutely feast on upper level classes and bring your GPA up significantly.

That said, it's still not too late to give up hope for this year; callbacks are still coming. Just make sure you keep your chin up and keep plugging away.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone make it out of the club yet? Sadly I'm still a member.

[Anonymous User]

don't give up; go get another degree that will push you back a year if you need to. last year i struck out (bottom 20% @ cn, k-jd) and mass-mailed my way to 1 cb before striking out again. i then signed up for a joint masters degree, worked every internship i could find in and out of school. this year, 6 cbs so far and still waiting on more than a dozen screeners.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone make it out of the club yet? Sadly I'm still a member.

Just got out of the club this week, and got a V30 offer out of it. Don't give up hope! (I know it's easier said than done; I was pretty hopeless). Keep mailing, follow up with anyone you haven't heard from, and know that hope is not lost!

[Anonymous User]

Just came to re: the scaring but potentially extremely helpful path of strikeout --> add degree --> OCI Take Two --> offer. I was on the bottom end of median (3.2) at CCN last year, had 2 callbacks from OCI and 3 from Massmail/networking. I struck out, added an MBA, bumped my grades to the top end of median (3.3) and redid OCI. I have 11 callbacks plus 2 from outside and just got my first offer. So although it's risky and scary, adding a degree is very possibly worthwhile.

[Anonymous User]

to above who had success with OCI round 2, how did you guys answer the question "so..why did you get another degree?"

[ymmv]

to above who had success with OCI round 2, how did you guys answer the question "so..why did you get another degree?"

Not one of the above posters, but wouldn't you just answer it the same way people who started in dual degree would answer it? "Thought the insight of an MBA would improve my abilities as an attorney interacting with corporate clients and financial transactions," etc.?

[Anonymous User]

Multiple friends on FB obnoxiously posting stuff like, "any of my friends going to be in Manhattan next week, I'll be on a tight schedule but would like to meet up."

[FSK]

Multiple friends on FB obnoxiously posting stuff like, "any of my friends going to be in Manhattan next week, I'll be on a tight schedule but would like to meet up."

.

Law students like this have no tact, no respect for their less fortunate peers, and are ungrateful and clueless shits. I can't stand to be in the building right now.

[Anonymous User]

Multiple friends on FB obnoxiously posting stuff like, "any of my friends going to be in Manhattan next week, I'll be on a tight schedule but would like to meet up."

.

Law students like this have no tact, no respect for their less fortunate peers, and are ungrateful and clueless shits. I can't stand to be in the building right now.

Yep. Really starting to dislike law students and law school more and more.

[Rahviveh]

Multiple friends on FB obnoxiously posting stuff like, "any of my friends going to be in Manhattan next week, I'll be on a tight schedule but would like to meet up."

subpar premeditated humble bragging.

should be mentioning what building/address you want to meet people near

[FSK]

Multiple friends on FB obnoxiously posting stuff like, "any of my friends going to be in Manhattan next week, I'll be on a tight schedule but would like to meet up."

.

Law students like this have no tact, no respect for their less fortunate peers, and are ungrateful and clueless shits. I can't stand to be in the building right now.

Yep. Really starting to dislike law students and law school more and more.

This week in a full class room, and loudly: "I only did my Kirkland CB for the free brownies. I'll take the [other very prestigious] offer."

What the damn hell.

[Anonymous User]

Multiple friends on FB obnoxiously posting stuff like, "any of my friends going to be in Manhattan next week, I'll be on a tight schedule but would like to meet up."

.

Law students like this have no tact, no respect for their less fortunate peers, and are ungrateful and clueless shits. I can't stand to be in the building right now.

Yep. Really starting to dislike law students and law school more and more.

One of the many reasons my goal is to attend a solid 10% of class this semester.

[notgreat]

Multiple friends on FB obnoxiously posting stuff like, "any of my friends going to be in Manhattan next week, I'll be on a tight schedule but would like to meet up."

.

Law students like this have no tact, no respect for their less fortunate peers, and are ungrateful and clueless shits. I can't stand to be in the building right now.

Yep. Really starting to dislike law students and law school more and more.

This week in a full class room, and loudly: "I only did my Kirkland CB for the free brownies. I'll take the [other very prestigious] offer."

What the damn hell.

Really looking forward to school starting.

[Anonymous User]

Hi all,

I was the second lower T-14er who really got crushed here, but I've just left the club thanks to a meet-up with a very nice person who offered to send my resume to her hiring partner. Dunno if it'll work out, but at least I now have a grin on my face.

We still have hope, and I will be pulling for all of you. Fix that smile on your face, mass-mail, and meet people!

Lastly - don't ever, ever give up.

[Anonymous User]

to above who had success with OCI round 2, how did you guys answer the question "so..why did you get another degree?"

Not one of the above posters, but wouldn't you just answer it the same way people who started in dual degree would answer it? "Thought the insight of an MBA would improve my abilities as an attorney interacting with corporate clients and financial transactions," etc.?

That was me and yeah, I said this basically.

[Anonymous User]

I guess it's time for me to officially join the club.

Does anyone have any insight on mass mailing a market that came to your OCI but that you didn't bid on (but to which you have ties)? I only didn't bid it because I focused on NY for safety reasons but I'd actually prefer to live there over NY.

[Anonymous User]

to above who had success with OCI round 2, how did you guys answer the question "so..why did you get another degree?"

Not one of the above posters, but wouldn't you just answer it the same way people who started in dual degree would answer it? "Thought the insight of an MBA would improve my abilities as an attorney interacting with corporate clients and financial transactions," etc.?

That was me and yeah, I said this basically.

Another above poster who did it successfully:

This question can be tricky. I would generally avoid acknowledging the strike out. I don't think I ever admitted that in a single interview, but it's annoying because I felt a lot of skepticism in the form of "do you really want to be a lawyer?" Obviously I could put that to bed so easily by admitting the real reason, but I stuck to the script every time. I want to do transactional (I actually prefer lit). I wanted to understand business clients, learn the lingo, etc. It wasn't about expanding my career options, but about making me a better lawyer and adviser.

To avoid them thinking I struck out, I mentioned that I wanted to spend a summer in-house to get an idea of how things worked from the client side. I had a few interviewers twice (last year and this year) so that was a bit tricky since I couldn't act like I didn't even interview for firms last year, but it still never came up that I struck out even though they may have guessed at it. At least one of those interviewers gave me a callback in large part because he was so impressed with what I did between our first interview and the second.

[notgreat]

I guess it's time for me to officially join the club.

Does anyone have any insight on mass mailing a market that came to your OCI but that you didn't bid on (but to which you have ties)? I only didn't bid it because I focused on NY for safety reasons but I'd actually prefer to live there over NY.

Start mass mailing your home market yesterday. There are a few threads in the legal employment forum devoted to mass mailing. Probably would be helpful to check those out. Good luck!

[Anonymous User]

Checking in. Still a member. When are you all planning to follow up on massmails?

[Anonymous User]

Anyone else make it out? Are we all fucked at this point?