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I will have 5 years of work experience in economic litigation consulting when I begin law school. I decided to attend law school primarily because my experience with antitrust law has prompted me to want to practice in the field. If I am seeking internships at top firms with strong AT practices, will my work experience help much?

It seems as though most schools (outside of Northwestern) place little emphasis on work experience. Does this carry through into top firm hiring as well?

For context: I am applying this Fall to schools in the T-14 but have almost zero chance of HYS with my GPA and only mediocre chances at CCN (thinking very hard about Chicago ED). I want to know how I should weigh employment opportunities offered by different schools given my greater than average amount of WE.

Thanks

What I have heard (both from career services and 3Ls/alums) is that it will differentiate you amoung rough equals, but will not outweigh more important factors (grades, school). That is, if you are roughly median and have work experience, you will probably be hired before someone else who is roughly median w/o work experience, but don't count on beating a kid who is top third.

Also, it matters more and less for different firms/practices. Corporate seems to like WE slightly more than lit. Some of the british firms really like WE.

bdubs wrote:Does WE matter in OCI?

Yes. A very large amount. Grades and pedigree/school matter more, but controlling for those factors WE - particularly relevant WE - is a large plus.

It will matter, especially in this market. The softies are really a distinguishing factor when there are more people with high grades than they are planning on hiring.

atkinsa wrote:It will matter, especially in this market. The softies are really a distinguishing factor when there are more people with high grades than they are planning on hiring.

My sincere hope is that in two years when this guy goes through OCI, ITE will not be T anymore.