UChicago OCI 2013 Forum

[Anonymous User]

12 interviews, 175.5, 0CBs, 0 dings. Bid in Chicago and NY (had 3 NY interviews last week). Pretty scared right now.

[Anonymous User]

Saw this in the CLS thread and thought I'd share....

7) if you tell me you are seriously considering an inferior firm because of culture or fit, I will ding you because you are an idiot. For saying it, and for thinking it. I generally won't ask about that, but some partners will. Some interviewees volunteer it, which is insanity. Happened to me twice last week.

Guy sounds like a class-A douchebag automaton frankly. I've done this multiple times and it's all working out swimmingly.

Perhaps he was talking about praising Firm B in front of Firm A, especially when Firm A considers itself to be better than Firm B? Then that would be a poor breach of manners, probably. It'd be the equivalent of an interviewer telling you how great the prior interviewee was.

But if he's saying that under no circumstances should an intelligent person ever take a less prestigious firm over a more prestigious one, then yes, that's pretty toolish.

I also find all this contradictory advice frustrating. Every single firm tries to sell itself on its "culture" and "people", yet when we actually listen to them and use those factors to make our decisions, we're the idiots? Then there are the people who berate interviewees for talking about making partner, but then belittle us anyway if we give any other answer to the "Five Year Plan" question. Or how about the advice to remain open about practice areas, but then the conflicting advice to have some kind of awe-inspiring story about how on your 19th birthday, it dawned upon you that you were born to be an antitrust litigator?

[Anonymous User]

I also find all this contradictory advice frustrating. Every single firm tries to sell itself on its "culture" and "people", yet when we actually listen to them and use those factors to make our decisions, we're the idiots? Then there are the people who berate interviewees for talking about making partner, but then belittle us anyway if we give any other answer to the "Five Year Plan" question. Or how about the advice to remain open about practice areas, but then the conflicting advice to have some kind of awe-inspiring story about how on your 19th birthday, it dawned upon you that you were born to be an antitrust litigator?

Most of this advice is common knowledge on this site and I've implemented most of it with good results.

First of all, saying "I've done X and I got the CB anyway" isn't very helpful. Lots of people do things that aren't good at interviews and end up OK for other reasons. I think this advice is for people who are on the edge--people who aren't the superstar interviewers(most of us) that want to get callbacks by being passable(most interviewers have no way to distinguish people so they use this bullshit to rule people out).

I think you're allowed to use culture to distinguish between peer firms, or even use practice areas to do the same. I think the issue is when you say that you're seriously considering a firm with vastly worse exit options or less interesting work--because the attorneys at the v10 firm likely picked it for that reason and don't like someone suggesting their idea isn't right. It might not be true that interviewees are idiots for saying it, but it might be a way someone rules you out (thinks to himself "this guy doesnt make good business decisions").

As for practice area, I think you should demonstrate that you have thought about it thoroughly-read chambers guides or that book Lisa Abrams gave us, spoken to attorneys, or done a little introspection to see what you like. After you demonstrate you have done those things, you can say that you are up for both litigation/corporate. The problem is, many people just claim that its impossible to have any idea about what interests them without doing basic legwork.

If you say you want to be on your way to partner in 5 years, that's a bad thing. You will look naive. But at the same time you don't want to say I'm going to jump ship in three years after you have trained me. I think the best answer I have given to this is : 1) developed a base of knowledge in my desired practice area, 2) developed a strong mentor (insert story about importance of mentoring), 3) built a network at the firm (made friends, etc)(story about how culture/friends is important), 4) been entrusted with more substantive assignments (match this with knowledge of your desired practice area: like I want to take the lead on a trial/deposition if you want litigation--caveat: not sure if this is correct, but you get the idea).

Finally, firms like pro bono but I see a lot of people screwing themselves because they have a very "save the world" resume and then they mention it. Pro bono is good but you have to show you're interested in firm work. Keep in mind that this is all a 20 minute interview and they are looking for any red flag whether it's actually true or not. This advice is given so you don't piss off some interviewer that cares about this stuff for whatever reason. The people who say "well, I wanna be myself and if they don't like me, fine" are putting themselves in danger. These hot-button topics can be worked around and you can stay true to yourself while avoiding them. Don't risk being no-offered because you're stubborn. This is how the game is played, and there are people out there playing it and taking all the jobs with median grades.

[Anonymous User]

Kirkland DC ding by email

[Anonymous User]

Debevoise CB

[Anonymous User]

Debevoise CB

Congrats! What interviewer and by e-mail or phone? Thanks.

[Anonymous User]

Debevoise CB

Grats!
Room#, grades, LR, WE would also be helpful

[Anonymous User]

Debevoise NY CB. Median, secondary journal.

[Anonymous User]

Debevoise NY CB. Median, secondary journal.

Room number? When did it go out?

[Anonymous User]

Debevoise CB

I had interviewer MS, 214 JJ. Call around 9am. 178-178.5, no journal

[Anonymous User]

Debevoise CB

I had interviewer MS, 214 JJ. Call around 9am. 178-178.5, no journal

Any other interviewers?

[Anonymous User]

Debevoise CB

I had interviewer MS, 214 JJ. Call around 9am. 178-178.5, no journal

Any other interviewers?

NR

[Anonymous User]

Debevoise CB

I had interviewer MS, 214 JJ. Call around 9am. 178-178.5, no journal

Any other interviewers?

NR

+1

[Anonymous User]

Did people from Debevoise NR just get the call? Does anyone know how many CBs they're giving since they interviewed 60+ people?

[Anonymous User]

Debevoise CB

I had interviewer MS, 214 JJ. Call around 9am. 178-178.5, no journal

Any other interviewers?

NR

Room?

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone gotten a Debevoise CB from interviewer EB? Room was 214HH.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone gotten a Debevoise CB from interviewer EB? Room was 214HH.

That was my best interview and I haven't received a callback yet. Here's to hoping.

[Anonymous User]

Any news on Sidley NY?

[Anonymous User]

Any news on Sidley NY?

Nothing so far. Maybe they go just as slow as Chi offices because they're smaller?

[Anonymous User]

W&C cb by phone, VM

[Anonymous User]

Sheppard Mullin Chicago call back.

[Anonymous User]

OMM SV ding via email

[Anonymous User]

STB SV ding by e-mail

[Anonymous User]

Baker Botts dinner invite

[Anonymous User]

Shearman & Sterling NY rejection