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Is it a safe to say that an OCI law firm is hiring for practice area X if the 2 interviewers specialize in Practice X?

Ex.) Screening Interviewers specialize in IP Litigation, which I am interested in. When asked which area of law I am interested in/want to practice, should I say IP as opposed to a more generic answer like "Well, I am interested in business law, but not sure yet between trans. and lit."

dougroberts wrote:Is it a safe to say that an OCI law firm is hiring for practice area X if the 2 interviewers specialize in Practice X?

Ex.) Interviewers specialize in IP Litigation, which I am interested in. When asked which area of law I am interested in/want to practice, should I say IP as opposed to a more generic answer like "Well, I am interested in business law, but not sure yet between trans. and lit."

Not sure it means anything. Only say IP if you have a good reason to do so.

My understanding is that at most firms they just send whoever is up for it to do the screener interviews. However, once you get to the c/b stage, you are more likely to get an interviewer whose practice area they are hiring in.

dougroberts wrote:Is it a safe to say that an OCI law firm is hiring for practice area X if the 2 interviewers specialize in Practice X?

No.

I had an interview today with a interviewer who was a partner in the exact practice group I wanted to join at their firm. They and I spent the entire interview talking about my interest in the field, various cases they was working on, and the advantages of working in that field. At the very end of the interview, they told me that while the interview was wonderful and she would give me a callback under other circumstances, they weren't hiring at all in her practice group. So, in a word, no.