Top Law Schools

.

tl;dr

.

tl;dr

You should link this question to your career office ... This is a question for them more than TLS.

.

I'm so confused.

Last summer I sent out about 200 targeted emails to large/mid firms in cities/firms that were not covered by our OCI program. I started as soon as grades/rank came out for the end of 1L year. So basically end of June/early July.

Some firms e-mailed back and said it was too early and to reapply in September. But most either told me no or that they would hold my application until they were ready to start recruiting. I got a few calls relatively early though, late July. Well before our OCI started.

The whole process was definitely done well before 2L fall grades came out.

I applied around mid-to-late July last year. I think the idea is to balance applying to early (e.g. now - because many law firms haven't even started there summer 2010 associateships yet, or have just started them), and applying too late (e.g. late October - because most callbacks will be done by then). However, it is a bit of a bitch if you are at a school where there are something like 500 offices coming to your school because all of those offices will tell you to just sign up for a slot at OCI, which can be difficult when many of them only have 20 slots and like 50+ people bidding on them. So you just basically have to send your resume and cover letter out again after OCI. Having gone through this, I would recommend just waiting until OCI starts to sending out apps if you are at a t14 (even if you start applying after the first day of OCI) because it will save you a lot of work. However, if you aren't at a t14 and are aiming for offices that don't come to your OCI applying around mid-July is probably fine (I think there were only a handful of firms that told me I applied to early and that they would hold my applications, but those were dla piper type firms that decided not to recruit until the spring).

i should know this week who is and isn't coming to OCI, and know my grades in 2-3 weeks.

i plan to send out one wave to firms i know won't be at OCI as soon as I get grades, and another wave as soon as I know who I did and didn't get OCI interviews with.

i personally think waiting until Aug/Sept is too late. the point here is to get your foot in the door before they interview hundreds of other students.

It seems counter intuitive to apply before summer/early summer. How would you discuss your 1L summer employment/experience on your resume if you have not done it yet?

edit: n/m

wiseowl wrote:
i plan to send out one wave to firms i know won't be at OCI as soon as I get grades, and another wave as soon as I know who I did and didn't get OCI interviews with.

Why would you send resumes to firms that dinged you from OCI interviewing?

edit: n/m

thesealocust wrote:

rando wrote:

wiseowl wrote:
i plan to send out one wave to firms i know won't be at OCI as soon as I get grades, and another wave as soon as I know who I did and didn't get OCI interviews with.

Why would you send resumes to firms that dinged you from OCI interviewing?

I think the implication was sending more aps if OCI looks like it won't pan out (or would be cutting it close), not applying to the same place over again.

If that was the intent, I suggest wiseowl approach job applications as if OCI won't pan out, rather than waiting for it to not pan out.

rando wrote:

wiseowl wrote:
i plan to send out one wave to firms i know won't be at OCI as soon as I get grades, and another wave as soon as I know who I did and didn't get OCI interviews with.

Why would you send resumes to firms that dinged you from OCI interviewing?

I think at Duke you don't get "dinged" from OCI interviewing- if you don't get a firm you bid on it's just because other students ranked it higher and there is limited interview space, not because the firm doesn't want to interview you (since they have no say at all in the matter). If this happens, you can (and should) still apply to the firm and hope they either make space for you during OCI breaks or let you interview some other way. At least that was my impression from OCS.

Duke is a lottery. If you don't get a firm you wanted, it doesn't mean you got dinged, it just means you got the short end of the stick.

wiseowl wrote:Duke is a lottery. If you don't get a firm you wanted, it doesn't mean you got dinged, it just means you got the short end of the stick.

Makes much more sense now.

I have been informed.