V15 Partner/OCI Interviewer Answering Questions... Forum

[Anonymous User]

Thanks a lot for answering all the questions. I took two years off between college and law school. During the two years I mostly traveled, lived abroad, took language classes and volunteered/did extensive research for a nonprofit abroad. I wanted to do this because I figured it was the only time in my life before I settled down where I could really "see the world" (or something that doesn't sound as corny). I have things on my resume that reflect this, and so far it hasn't been viewed negatively. In my interviews for my 1L summer it seemed positive that I had something interesting on my resume that was easy for people to talk about, but I was mostly interviewing with judges, not firms. I was wondering though if it would be viewed negatively by firms, and by how I might overcome it. Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

As an incoming 1L to a T50 with a finance undergrad who is interested in IP litigation, what would you say are the best things I can do from this point onward to make myself competitive in the IP practice area?

[itbdvorm]

Do you recommend having an interests section on a resume? Thanks

maybe. brief though, and nothing too weird.

[itbdvorm]

Thanks a lot for answering all the questions. I took two years off between college and law school. During the two years I mostly traveled, lived abroad, took language classes and volunteered/did extensive research for a nonprofit abroad. I wanted to do this because I figured it was the only time in my life before I settled down where I could really "see the world" (or something that doesn't sound as corny). I have things on my resume that reflect this, and so far it hasn't been viewed negatively. In my interviews for my 1L summer it seemed positive that I had something interesting on my resume that was easy for people to talk about, but I was mostly interviewing with judges, not firms. I was wondering though if it would be viewed negatively by firms, and by how I might overcome it. Thanks!

totally fine.

[itbdvorm]

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

As an incoming 1L to a T50 with a finance undergrad who is interested in IP litigation, what would you say are the best things I can do from this point onward to make myself competitive in the IP practice area?

buy time machine, get a degree in hard sciences.

or, more seriously, somehow figure out a way to get a dual-degree in something IP related.

(to be fair, i know very little about this particular practice)

[Anonymous User]

What do you think about putting the federalist society on your resume if you are an officer? Is the potential for ideological discrimination too high?

[Anonymous User]

(1) How do you define "ties," and what would you consider compelling ties? For example, would wanting to be near family or my hometown hold any sort of weight? Would wanting to be near my partner hold any sort of weight?

(2) I am currently in the middle of OCI bidding and am kind of lost. I am transferring from a TTT, top 1%, to GULC. At my TTT, I have law review, 3 book awards, best brief, scholarship, on-campus leadership positions, and moot court and TA invitations. I also have a federal judicial internship, a part-time job with a smaller firm (4 offices), and about 3 years of full-time work experience under my belt (in marketing, though). GULC of course advertises GPA cut-offs for its own students, but I have no idea how to translate that to my TTT GPA. I also don't know which range in the V100 I should target or avoid. I know you said at some point in this thread that your firm doesn't like TTT/TTTT transfers. However, do you have any idea which range in the V100 I should target? Do you have any idea what GULC GPA would be comparable to top 1% at a TTT (like maybe top 10% or top 15% at GULC)? Would I fare better targeting the region I grew up in (FL) than targeting regions with more jobs (NY)?

Thanks! (Sorry if my questions are repeats.)

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

As an incoming 1L to a T50 with a finance undergrad who is interested in IP litigation, what would you say are the best things I can do from this point onward to make myself competitive in the IP practice area?

buy time machine, get a degree in hard sciences.

or, more seriously, somehow figure out a way to get a dual-degree in something IP related.

(to be fair, i know very little about this particular practice)

Usually spot on advice. This advice is not good. You don't need a patent bar degree or WE for IP lit. You need to gun for firms with good IP lit practices like Quinn, Irell, Munger, WSGR, OMM, Cooley, basically any of the elite CA lit or tech practices. The primary lit firms will be more difficult to get. The primarily corporate with lit support firms will be easier, but hold great practices, especially if their tech, biotech, or life science corporate practices are great.

[itbdvorm]

What do you think about putting the federalist society on your resume if you are an officer? Is the potential for ideological discrimination too high?

It's possible. Though I suspect that someone who would want to be an officer of the federalist society wouldn't want to work someplace where that would be held against them.

[itbdvorm]

(1) How do you define "ties," and what would you consider compelling ties? For example, would wanting to be near family or my hometown hold any sort of weight? Would wanting to be near my partner hold any sort of weight?

(2) I am currently in the middle of OCI bidding and am kind of lost. I am transferring from a TTT, top 1%, to GULC. At my TTT, I have law review, 3 book awards, best brief, scholarship, on-campus leadership positions, and moot court and TA invitations. I also have a federal judicial internship, a part-time job with a smaller firm (4 offices), and about 3 years of full-time work experience under my belt (in marketing, though). GULC of course advertises GPA cut-offs for its own students, but I have no idea how to translate that to my TTT GPA. I also don't know which range in the V100 I should target or avoid. I know you said at some point in this thread that your firm doesn't like TTT/TTTT transfers. However, do you have any idea which range in the V100 I should target? Do you have any idea what GULC GPA would be comparable to top 1% at a TTT (like maybe top 10% or top 15% at GULC)? Would I fare better targeting the region I grew up in (FL) than targeting regions with more jobs (NY)?

Thanks! (Sorry if my questions are repeats.)

"hometown" ties always are stronger than "partner" ties. goes to both likelihood of staying and possible future business development skills.

"TTT" can mean just about anything. for example, there are some schools out there where we'll look at the top 10%, some the top 5%, some the top 1%, some the top 1-2 people. i would see if any of your friends who didn't transfer can get info from the career services office or look for firms with people from your old school on there.

[itbdvorm]

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

As an incoming 1L to a T50 with a finance undergrad who is interested in IP litigation, what would you say are the best things I can do from this point onward to make myself competitive in the IP practice area?

buy time machine, get a degree in hard sciences.

or, more seriously, somehow figure out a way to get a dual-degree in something IP related.

(to be fair, i know very little about this particular practice)

Usually spot on advice. This advice is not good. You don't need a patent bar degree or WE for IP lit. You need to gun for firms with good IP lit practices like Quinn, Irell, Munger, WSGR, OMM, Cooley, basically any of the elite CA lit or tech practices. The primary lit firms will be more difficult to get. The primarily corporate with lit support firms will be easier, but hold great practices, especially if their tech, biotech, or life science corporate practices are great.

ouch. to be fair, i don't really know what else he has going on. the obvious answer of "get awesome grades" seemed to obvious. i thought this candidate was looking for something distinguishing he could do to help himself. the advice you give is great for where he'd want to go, but doesn't give him much advice in terms of how to get there...

[Anonymous User]

The 2011 numbers have made us all suicidal. Give us the bottom line. Is OCI back to levels can can bring us back to c/o 2010 employment stats?

edit: and don't say I don't know. Give us your best guess.

[itbdvorm]

The 2011 numbers have made us all suicidal. Give us the bottom line. Is OCI back to levels can can bring us back to c/o 2010 employment stats?

edit: and don't say I don't know. Give us your best guess.

Wish I could tell you. A lot depends on what happens over the next few months.

By OCI the Euro Zone could crater, recover, or continue to wobble between the two.

If it picks one way or another answer's obvious...if it continues to wobble it's just too hard to tell

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

As an incoming 1L to a T50 with a finance undergrad who is interested in IP litigation, what would you say are the best things I can do from this point onward to make myself competitive in the IP practice area?

buy time machine, get a degree in hard sciences.

or, more seriously, somehow figure out a way to get a dual-degree in something IP related.

(to be fair, i know very little about this particular practice)

Usually spot on advice. This advice is not good. You don't need a patent bar degree or WE for IP lit. You need to gun for firms with good IP lit practices like Quinn, Irell, Munger, WSGR, OMM, Cooley, basically any of the elite CA lit or tech practices. The primary lit firms will be more difficult to get. The primarily corporate with lit support firms will be easier, but hold great practices, especially if their tech, biotech, or life science corporate practices are great.

ouch. to be fair, i don't really know what else he has going on. the obvious answer of "get awesome grades" seemed to obvious. i thought this candidate was looking for something distinguishing he could do to help himself. the advice you give is great for where he'd want to go, but doesn't give him much advice in terms of how to get there...

OP for this post here. I appreciate both responses. I know that candidates that are patent bar eligible will hold an edge because patent prosecution helps in effective advocacy when it comes to litigation. I've also heard that this is more of the cherry on top as apposed to a deal breaker (particularly with PATENT litigation). Is that a fair assessment?

However, is there anything that makes one more attractive when it comes to other IP areas (trademark, trade secret, copyright, etc.)? For example, I'm currently working in business development for a major California-based technology company. Does experience like this make a difference? Or are grades/journal really just the deciding factors here?

[vegeta]

Would you say it's easier to lateral from a fed. government position to a V50 law firm one, or vice versa?

[Anonymous User]

Hope this isn't a repeat question. How do you deal with rising 3Ls as opposed to 2Ls? Do 3Ls need to be more impressive, since they didn't summer with the firm? I did PI/gov my 2L summer, and I'm wondering how I'll be viewed by firms if I try to go into firm practice after law school and my clerkship.

[manofjustice]

The 2011 numbers have made us all suicidal. Give us the bottom line. Is OCI back to levels can can bring us back to c/o 2010 employment stats?

edit: and don't say I don't know. Give us your best guess.

Wish I could tell you. A lot depends on what happens over the next few months.

By OCI the Euro Zone could crater, recover, or continue to wobble between the two.

If it picks one way or another answer's obvious...if it continues to wobble it's just too hard to tell

Makes perfect sense. Why I check the WSJ every day...

[itbdvorm]

OP for this post here. I appreciate both responses. I know that candidates that are patent bar eligible will hold an edge because patent prosecution helps in effective advocacy when it comes to litigation. I've also heard that this is more of the cherry on top as apposed to a deal breaker (particularly with PATENT litigation). Is that a fair assessment?

However, is there anything that makes one more attractive when it comes to other IP areas (trademark, trade secret, copyright, etc.)? For example, I'm currently working in business development for a major California-based technology company. Does experience like this make a difference? Or are grades/journal really just the deciding factors here?

Well, sure, that helps too (sorry, the post made me think you were coming straight from undergrad). Though frankly, depending on what that job is, I'd say "stay in it, why are you leaving." But hey, that's just one man's opinion.

[itbdvorm]

Would you say it's easier to lateral from a fed. government position to a V50 law firm one, or vice versa?

Depends entirely on the position

[itbdvorm]

Hope this isn't a repeat question. How do you deal with rising 3Ls as opposed to 2Ls? Do 3Ls need to be more impressive, since they didn't summer with the firm? I did PI/gov my 2L summer, and I'm wondering how I'll be viewed by firms if I try to go into firm practice after law school and my clerkship.

3L hiring is still pretty sporadic. If we're hiring, we generally would have similar criteria, but we are usually much more selective (since we don't have a summer to judge you). But you mention a clerkship here, so I really don't know what you're asking

[Anonymous User]

OP for this post here. I appreciate both responses. I know that candidates that are patent bar eligible will hold an edge because patent prosecution helps in effective advocacy when it comes to litigation. I've also heard that this is more of the cherry on top as apposed to a deal breaker (particularly with PATENT litigation). Is that a fair assessment?

However, is there anything that makes one more attractive when it comes to other IP areas (trademark, trade secret, copyright, etc.)? For example, I'm currently working in business development for a major California-based technology company. Does experience like this make a difference? Or are grades/journal really just the deciding factors here?

Previous abrasive responder. You are right where you need to be. If you want the elite lit firms, get a high GPA and LR-- unless you bid Quinn, then you need to be compelling and have a pretty good GPA.

The best path for you if you don't get the lit firms off the bat is to bid for the best corporate-strong private company tech firms like WSGR, Cooley, Latham, etc. and even GP, Shepperd, etc.. Your work experience and demonstrated interest in their client base will enable you to get in with one of them. Then, split lit and corporate and eventually transition to lit.

[Anonymous User]

How much do grades matter at the CB stage? What about at the screener stage?

[roranoa]

How important is interpersonal skills in the workplace?

Is it important that you smile all the time, being positive and making jokes and giving compliments to people every now and then?

Or do people not really care about all that as long as you don't bother them and provide good work product?

[eastcoast_iub]

Apologize if this was covered already, I didn't go through the whole thread, but I am trying to get an idea of what grade cutoffs are for my original school (currently ranked 26).

I am just outside top 10% at IUB (about 12%). I am looking to transfer, but I know that I'll be judged on the cutoff from my original school. Are most firms going to do a hard cutoff at top 10%? Or am I close enough to the top 10% to warrant consideration at most firms?

[worksmart]

.