Official "I'm getting no-offered by my 2L firm" panic thread Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am a Rising 3L at CCN. I have done well at CCN. I feel like I have done well at my summer job, too. Work I have done has made it in to court filings largely unaltered, significant memos have found their way in to the hands of clients, and I did not engage in public urination at any of the summer events.

However, my firm is slow right now, and all of the associates have this look of "all of you are getting no offered and should /killselves now" about them, as they slouch home at 80% utilization.

ITT, we panic about our lives being over because we have 200k in debt and no job prospects because we're going to get no-offered by our 2L firm.

[seespotrun]

How long can you stay awake after taking 2 Xanax and 1 Ambien? If your answer is anything over 15 minutes, you are indeed getting no-offered.

[Anonymous User]

How long can you stay awake after taking 2 Xanax and 1 Ambien? If your answer is anything over 15 minutes, you are indeed getting no-offered.

oh shi-

[Anonymous User]

I hear ya!
I'm at a T2 (albeit one that owns its market).
My 2L summer job (actually I started part time in January and will probably continue with part time again when school starts back up) is at a 2 attorney firm (basically a solo guy with another lawyer he collaborates with.) My boss is very (very) old and certainly not looking to expand his practice.
I knew going in that there would be no offer. My boss hires a clerk like me every year. But he's in no position to take on an another attorney.
Still, that knowledge doesn't make the prospect of having to find a post-grad job any easier...

[Anonymous User]

Hear, hear.

I'm in a somewhat different situation because I'm the only SA at a small firm. The expectation is that they hire the SA if that person does a good job. But the summer program is rather informal, so I haven't had a midsummer evaluation or received any feedback besides a general "Nice job" on a couple of assignments I've done. I have no one I can compare myself to, either.

[Voyager]

Good luck all. It is a brutal time for you. Last summer my class figured out that doom was coming by about week 4 or 5. There were clues all along the way. I knew we were in trouble for sure when I heard that they would give us our offers on the very last day of the program.

Other clues:

1) The time that I finally finished a huge multi week project for an "of counsel" who was working on a very high profile lit case and went in to get feedback on how I did. I was told that my work was "outstanding", "instrumental", that he looked forward to seeing me there after law school and that he really appreciated all of the work I did. He then asked if I had heard about offers yet. I said no and that no one knew if offers would be coming. I then added that project evaluations for the summers were due that very day. He exclaimed, "really?!?!" and RAN out of the office to submit my evaluation. THAT was a bad sign. Was shit really that bad? Oh yeah.

2) When my mentor told me week 2 that I needed to make sure I "was in the top half" of the class.

3) When the recruiting people's smiles began looking rigor mortis-like/strained round about week 5.

4) Oh jesus: when an all office email announced that the firm was going to SUB-LEASE the top 3 floors of the office. THAT was a bad sign.

5) When we found out that we would not get offers (if at all) until the very last day at the EARLIEST and that it might happen several weeks after the program ended. When I told this to a junior associate his response was "wtf?"

6) When a certain celebrity partner from the headquarters office showed up to our office to talk about his life and remarked that he thought the office was was way too extravagant and that he "was not comfortable there."

7) When that same celebrity partner assured us during his "pep" talk that "not all of you will get offers" and it sounded like he meant many of us would not get offers.

8 ) The night before the last day, when we had our infamous goodbye party at which the partner in charge of recruiting told us that the firm wished us "all the best in our careers" and "good luck where ever you end up."

Then 1/3 of the class got no offered. I greatly enjoyed rescinding my acceptance.

[seespotrun]

Good luck all. It is a brutal time for you. Last summer my class figured out that doom was coming by about week 4 or 5. There were clues all along the way. I knew we were in trouble for sure when I heard that they would give us our offers on the very last day of the program.

Other clues:

1) The time that I finally finished a huge multi week project for an "of counsel" who was working on a very high profile lit case and went in to get feedback on how I did. I was told that my work was "outstanding", "instrumental", that he looked forward to seeing me there after law school and that he really appreciated all of the work I did. He then asked if I had heard about offers yet. I said no and that no one knew if offers would be coming. I then added that project evaluations for the summers were due that very day. He exclaimed, "really?!?!" and RAN out of the office to submit my evaluation. THAT was a bad sign. Was shit really that bad? Oh yeah.

2) When my mentor told me week 2 that I needed to make sure I "was in the top half" of the class.

3) When the recruiting people's smiles began looking rigor mortis-like/strained round about week 5.

4) Oh jesus: when an all office email announced that the firm was going to SUB-LEASE the top 3 floors of the office. THAT was a bad sign.

5) When we found out that we would not get offers (if at all) until the very last day at the EARLIEST and that it might happen several weeks after the program ended. When I told this to a junior associate his response was "wtf?"

6) When a certain celebrity partner from the headquarters office showed up to our office to talk about his life and remarked that he thought the office was was way too extravagant and that he "was not comfortable there."

7) When that same celebrity partner assured us during his "pep" talk that "not all of you will get offers" and it sounded like he meant many of us would not get offers.

8 ) The night before the last day, when we had our infamous goodbye party at which the partner in charge of recruiting told us that the firm wished us "all the best in our careers" and "good luck where ever you end up."

Then 1/3 of the class got no offered. I greatly enjoyed rescinding my acceptance.

*full-body cramp*

The only thing more terrifying than getting no-offered at OCI is undoubtedly getting no-offer as an SA.

[270910]

*full-body cramp*

The only thing more terrifying than getting no-offered at OCI is undoubtedly getting no-offer as an SA.

I mean, you still get to pocket 24-40K (pre-tax) as an SA while learning if you like biglaw and getting exposure to several practice areas. It's brutal, but there's no doubt that it is worse to fail to ever get your foot in the big law door than it is to fail to receive a permanent offer.

[Voyager]

*full-body cramp*

The only thing more terrifying than getting no-offered at OCI is undoubtedly getting no-offer as an SA.

I mean, you still get to pocket 24-40K (pre-tax) as an SA while learning if you like biglaw and getting exposure to several practice areas. It's brutal, but there's no doubt that it is worse to fail to ever get your foot in the big law door than it is to fail to receive a permanent offer.

Dude. Absolutely. That does not mean that waiting to receive word of your offer/no-offer during your last week at your firm is NOT a cramp-inducing experience ITE.

I mean, if you get no offered you are reduced to scrambling like a mofo for a back up plan. I had a deferred offer when I went through the experience of looking for other options and it still very much sucked.

[270910]

*full-body cramp*

The only thing more terrifying than getting no-offered at OCI is undoubtedly getting no-offer as an SA.

I mean, you still get to pocket 24-40K (pre-tax) as an SA while learning if you like biglaw and getting exposure to several practice areas. It's brutal, but there's no doubt that it is worse to fail to ever get your foot in the big law door than it is to fail to receive a permanent offer.

Dude. Absolutely. That does not mean that waiting to receive word of your offer/no-offer during your last week at your firm is NOT a cramp-inducing experience ITE.

I mean, if you get no offered you are reduced to scrambling like a mofo for a back up plan. I had a deferred offer when I went through the experience of looking for other options and it still very much sucked.

Agree 100%. Just responding to seespotrun's contention that (s)he was more afraid of a now offer as an SA than during OCI.

[Anonymous User]

My program has already ended, and the firm told us we wouldn't hear about offers until at least mid-August. I'm trying not to think/obsess over it now.

[Voyager]

My program has already ended, and the firm told us we wouldn't hear about offers until at least mid-August. I'm trying not to think/obsess over it now.

that sucks. which firm (since you are already posting as an anonymous user)?

[seespotrun]

*full-body cramp*

The only thing more terrifying than getting no-offered at OCI is undoubtedly getting no-offer as an SA.

I mean, you still get to pocket 24-40K (pre-tax) as an SA while learning if you like biglaw and getting exposure to several practice areas. It's brutal, but there's no doubt that it is worse to fail to ever get your foot in the big law door than it is to fail to receive a permanent offer.

Dude. Absolutely. That does not mean that waiting to receive word of your offer/no-offer during your last week at your firm is NOT a cramp-inducing experience ITE.

I mean, if you get no offered you are reduced to scrambling like a mofo for a back up plan. I had a deferred offer when I went through the experience of looking for other options and it still very much sucked.

Agree 100%. Just responding to seespotrun's contention that (s)he was more afraid of a now offer as an SA than during OCI.

I suppose you're right, but my goals and expectations develop in cycles with the ultimate goal (biglaw for me) in the backdrop. Cycle 1 was getting into law school. Cycle 2 was owning 1L and getting onto LR. Cycle 3 is landing an SA gig. Cycle 4 is getting hired for post-grad. Cylce 5 is $$$$$.

What I'm terrified of is getting through Cycle 3 but failing to accomplish 4, having to scramble to find a job that I hate to pay off my debt, and adjust my expectations accordingly. The $30k I'd have in the bank from one summer would be little consolation knowing that I was so close to achieving my early-career goals that I'd been working at since, err, always.