1L Summer Job Search C/O 2017 Forum

[runthetrap1990]

So I have my grades and have gone through a few CB interviews. If they have not asked for the grades, should I send them in unsolicited? This is probably a stupid question but I don't know what the correct move is here.

what percentile r u?

.

[BizBro]

Got back all my grades and ended up bottom 10% at CCN (got a little under a 3.0). Any strategies for applying to 1L jobs that are not grade selective? Feel like I won't realistically be getting a 1L SA. Should I mass mail for in house positions? I haven't applied to anything PI yet because of lack of interest, but starting to feel pretty screwed at this point.

[runinthefront]

Got back all my grades and ended up bottom 10% at CCN (got a little under a 3.0). Any strategies for applying to 1L jobs that are not grade selective? Feel like I won't realistically be getting a 1L SA. Should I mass mail for in house positions? I haven't applied to anything PI yet because of lack of interest, but starting to feel pretty screwed at this point.

you need to start mass-mailing for PI gigs unless you want to be an RA this summer

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone heard anything from GDC?

[Anonymous User]

Got back all my grades and ended up bottom 10% at CCN (got a little under a 3.0). Any strategies for applying to 1L jobs that are not grade selective? Feel like I won't realistically be getting a 1L SA. Should I mass mail for in house positions? I haven't applied to anything PI yet because of lack of interest, but starting to feel pretty screwed at this point.

you need to start mass-mailing for PI gigs unless you want to be an RA this summer

Not entirely in agreement with this suggestion. Bizbro, you obviously need to pull those grades up for spring semester but you should heavily start looking at in-house summer positions and secondary markets firm jobs. Also, are you a diversity student? Any major WE prior to law school? These things can help, even if at the bottom. All hope is not lost. Good luck to you!

[Anonymous User]

Anyone else get a jones day rejected/ we're full email?

Yep

Got offer call two days after interview before Christmas from Dallas office. 1L, strong ties.

[Anonymous User]

How the heck are some of you guys getting interviews already without grades?

Generally school+URM and/or IP

School T5, very strong ties

[georgej]

Got my mail merge thing ready to go and I'm sending out TWENTY applications tomorrow. How some of you guys get in the hundreds is beyond me.

Any advice on a GREAT cover letter. My mail merge handles practice area stuff pretty well, and I included a field for "Why Firm?" thats going in each letter. Despite this, I feel the rest of the letter is kind of blah. Is blah good? Or should I go for wow? How much? How much is too much?

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone heard anything from GDC?

Just got a grade request

[fred013]

Got my mail merge thing ready to go and I'm sending out TWENTY applications tomorrow. How some of you guys get in the hundreds is beyond me.

Any advice on a GREAT cover letter. My mail merge handles practice area stuff pretty well, and I included a field for "Why Firm?" thats going in each letter. Despite this, I feel the rest of the letter is kind of blah. Is blah good? Or should I go for wow? How much? How much is too much?

cover letters don't matter.

[BaberhamLincoln]

Can you explain mail merge? I applied to 32 places without using any program...just wrote a shit ton of cover letters.

[Anonymous User]

just got a callback for a firm in Chicago after applying very near the deadline and thinking that all hope was lost. is there any collected wisdom that says that a callback is a good indication of my chances? like is there a general callback to offer ratio?

[runinthefront]

Got back all my grades and ended up bottom 10% at CCN (got a little under a 3.0). Any strategies for applying to 1L jobs that are not grade selective? Feel like I won't realistically be getting a 1L SA. Should I mass mail for in house positions? I haven't applied to anything PI yet because of lack of interest, but starting to feel pretty screwed at this point.

you need to start mass-mailing for PI gigs unless you want to be an RA this summer

Not entirely in agreement with this suggestion. Bizbro, you obviously need to pull those grades up for spring semester but you should heavily start looking at in-house summer positions and secondary markets firm jobs. Also, are you a diversity student? Any major WE prior to law school? These things can help, even if at the bottom. All hope is not lost. Good luck to you!

I'm pretty sure anything under a 3.0 is basically a scarlet letter to legal firms from Columbia Law to Cooley Law.

to say that OP shouldn't start looking for alternatives to private firms for a 1L summer gig is pretty ridiculous

[chuckbass]

Sure, all hope is not lost because you don't need to work at a firm 1L summer and he/she can hopefully bring it above a 3.0 next semester. But yes, all hope is lost for a firm job and any time spent applying for jobs now would be best spent applying for PI gigs.

[BVest]

Can you explain mail merge? I applied to 32 places without using any program...just wrote a shit ton of cover letters.

http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 5#p8049641

Here's a post I did about doing mail merge for mass mail a little while back, which I thought might be helpful here. It's some overlap, but also a good bit that doesn't appear ITT.

First, learn to do mail merges. You may want to do this for hard copy letters (or pdfs of same) or for email cover letters. Here's how to do an email merge with excel and outlook. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word- ... 09678.aspx

Next, create your excel spreadsheet of firms you want to apply to. It should look like this:

Code: Select all

Law Firm                            Law Firm Short Name  Address             City  State  Zip    Contact Full    Contact Last  Contact Title
Smith Barney Angelo & Thompson LLP  Smith Barney         600 Sampson Ave.    Waco  TX     76111  Stephanie Sams  Ms. Sams      Recruiting Coord.
Jones Jones & Jones PC              JJJ                  1201 Rainyday Drive Paris TX     75555  Tom Babbo       Mr. Babbo
Blowhard Happy & Douglass, LLP      BHD                  3600 S. I-40 Expy.  Tulsa OK     72222  Kristine Smythe Ms. Smythe

It also needs a column for email which I didn't have room to show you above.

Creating the spreadsheet is what takes time, but you do it as you're researching what firms you might like to apply to.

(You will note that not everyone has a title. If the person is a partner, don't put "Partner" as their title. As long as <<title>> appears on its own separate line below, the line will be omitted if the title field is blank.)

Next, draft a cover letter that's so general it could go to any firm, but using the mail merge function and inserting your field placeholders as you go:

August 7, 2014 [BE SURE TO UPDATE THIS, or use Word's "Insert > Date and Time..." and check "update field automatically" so that the date will be current to the day you do your merge]

«Contact_Full»
«Contact_Title»
«Law_Firm»
«Address»
«City», «State» «Zip»

Dear «Contact_Last»:

I am a second-year law student at _______________________ and I am writing to apply for a summer associate position at «Law_Firm_Short_Name» for 2015. Enclosed are my résumé, transcript, and references.

I am especially interested in ______________________ law as well as __________________________ because of my experience with ________________. It is this interest that has led me to inquire about opportunities at «Law_Firm_Short_Name».

[Paragraph about me].

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Next choose "complete the merge" and then choose to review the merge results before sending them individually. Then review (and customize any you want to customize at this point) and send.

That [paragraph about me] above can be another merge field and you can type the entire paragraph into the field in excel. In doing this you can have one paragraph about how much you want to be in NYC that you put for NYC firms, one about DC, one about Chicago, etc. Then when you do the merge you don't have to do any additional customizing.

One more thing about mail merging, especially email merging: Don't forget to add the actual attachments at the appropriate point in the merge process. Not including attachments to a single email is embarrassing; not including attachments to 40 emails that you send out simultaneously will make you want to curl up under a rock.

[03152016]

oh leigh is back?

[georgej]

Got my mail merge thing ready to go and I'm sending out TWENTY applications tomorrow. How some of you guys get in the hundreds is beyond me.

Any advice on a GREAT cover letter. My mail merge handles practice area stuff pretty well, and I included a field for "Why Firm?" thats going in each letter. Despite this, I feel the rest of the letter is kind of blah. Is blah good? Or should I go for wow? How much? How much is too much?

cover letters don't matter.

Thanks

[BizBro]

Got back all my grades and ended up bottom 10% at CCN (got a little under a 3.0). Any strategies for applying to 1L jobs that are not grade selective? Feel like I won't realistically be getting a 1L SA. Should I mass mail for in house positions? I haven't applied to anything PI yet because of lack of interest, but starting to feel pretty screwed at this point.

you need to start mass-mailing for PI gigs unless you want to be an RA this summer

Not entirely in agreement with this suggestion. Bizbro, you obviously need to pull those grades up for spring semester but you should heavily start looking at in-house summer positions and secondary markets firm jobs. Also, are you a diversity student? Any major WE prior to law school? These things can help, even if at the bottom. All hope is not lost. Good luck to you!

I'm pretty sure anything under a 3.0 is basically a scarlet letter to legal firms from Columbia Law to Cooley Law.

to say that OP shouldn't start looking for alternatives to private firms for a 1L summer gig is pretty ridiculous

Got B- (in a 5 credit course, totally blew this one which killed me), B, and a B+ giving me a 2.98. Really nervous for next semester. I have solid WE but not much else going on for me. I'll mass mail PI stuff so thanks for the advice. I want to know if inhouse positions are as grade selective as firms and if I should still hustle on that front? I don't think my unofficial transcript explicitly states out my gpa also?

[Anonymous User]

Any specific etiquette in letting other firms know that you already have an offer and have 2 weeks to make a decision?

Especially when the said firms want your grades and you don't have them yet?

[Anonymous User]

Any specific etiquette in letting other firms know that you already have an offer and have 2 weeks to make a decision?

Especially when the said firms want your grades and you don't have them yet?

I emailed the ones I am still interested in saying that I have a deadline upcoming and would appreciate if you could make the decision sooner, because you are my top choice.

[Anonymous User]

Any specific etiquette in letting other firms know that you already have an offer and have 2 weeks to make a decision?

Especially when the said firms want your grades and you don't have them yet?

I emailed the ones I am still interested in saying that I have a deadline upcoming and would appreciate if you could make the decision sooner, because you are my top choice.

Ok. Will do that. Do you think it will matter much since they haven't received my grades yet?

[Anonymous User]

Any specific etiquette in letting other firms know that you already have an offer and have 2 weeks to make a decision?

Especially when the said firms want your grades and you don't have them yet?

I emailed the ones I am still interested in saying that I have a deadline upcoming and would appreciate if you could make the decision sooner, because you are my top choice.

I did this (pre-grades) and got rejection emails from both firms.
Don't know if it made a difference one way or the other.

[JustHawkin]

A lot of emails requesting grades going out today. No pressure, guys

[Kratos]

just got a callback for a firm in Chicago after applying very near the deadline and thinking that all hope was lost. is there any collected wisdom that says that a callback is a good indication of my chances? like is there a general callback to offer ratio?

well it indicates that you have a chance, which is better than the vast majority of people who just get dinged. that's about all you can read into it, so just try to crush it. good luck.

[TxAgs182]

Just secured my second internship today. Split my summer with two Fed. District Court Judges. I'm really excited about it. Will answer any questions about how I went about it.