Michigan 2010 OCI Callbacks Forum

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have Jones Day or Baker (both Columbus) dings yet?

Just cut me off already damnit!

[Anonymous User]

Ohio markets moved very slow last year.......................and barely called anybody back.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone else get the impression that DC is particularly hyper-competitive this year? I've only heard of maybe 2 or 3 people getting single callbacks in the DC market for folks who are definitely top 20-25% of the class...

I know someone who is on LR, but grades below top 1/3 and I think he got something like 10+ D.C. callbacks...

[Anonymous User]

Did anyone get Dechert, Sheppard Mullin, Pillsbury (all for DC) dings yet?

[Anonymous User]

Did anyone get Dechert, Sheppard Mullin, Pillsbury (all for DC) dings yet?

Nothing back from any of them yet.

[Anonymous User]

Did anyone get Dechert, Sheppard Mullin, Pillsbury (all for DC) dings yet?

I'm the poster above. Snail mail Pillsbury ding.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone gotten a ding from PH or Weil (both NY)? Pretty sure they are dings at this point, but I want some finality.

[Anonymous User]

Dechert DC ding by snailmail today.

[Anonymous User]

Dechert SF snailmail ding today.

It's looking more and more like the "bloodbath" people were right. I'm above 3.3 and have 0 CBs, with dings from more than half of my OCI firms. It's going to take a miracle to get 4 CBs at this rate.

[Anonymous User]

Dechert SF snailmail ding today.

It's looking more and more like the "bloodbath" people were right. I'm above 3.3 and have 0 CBs, with dings from more than half of my OCI firms. It's going to take a miracle to get 4 CBs at this rate.

Did you bid only on CA? It was a super tough market this year, as it was last year.

I know people with 3.3X with 4+ callbacks, but they bid on other markets.

I'd start mailing smaller firms in CA if you want to work there. I think many of them have started the hiring process.

[Anonymous User]

Dechert SF snailmail ding today.

It's looking more and more like the "bloodbath" people were right. I'm above 3.3 and have 0 CBs, with dings from more than half of my OCI firms. It's going to take a miracle to get 4 CBs at this rate.

Did you bid only on CA? It was a super tough market this year, as it was last year.

I know people with 3.3X with 4+ callbacks, but they bid on other markets.

I'd start mailing smaller firms in CA if you want to work there. I think many of them have started the hiring process.

Pretty much entirely SF. I should have pressed OCS more firmly for a "best guess" on who might be hiring, and/or consulted other sources. (They pretty much skipped straight to, "If you like SF, you should bid mostly there". I should have been more skeptical, given that the Bay Area market consultant guy was like, "It won't be better next year or even probably the year after that.") Not too relevant now, except that I might ask: which areas are recruiting the most people? It sounds like LA did okay, as did NY, but DC is similarly tough this year?

Thanks for the advice on the smaller firms. I'll do that. I'm also going to blanket firms in secondary areas where I have ties.

I'm planning on going to talk to OCS this coming week, although I am increasingly skeptical of their expertise. I suspect in not too long I'll be like the people a year or two ahead of me, ranting about how useless and worse-than-useless they typically are.

[Anonymous User]

Not too relevant now, except that I might ask: which areas are recruiting the most people? It sounds like LA did okay, as did NY, but DC is similarly tough this year?

I can confirm that NYC was pretty good, at least for the top of the class. Firms with good transactional practices were particularly strong. I know several people with double digit NYC callbacks. Mostly top 15% and journal/LR types, though, so take it with a grain of salt. I also know several people with strong callback responses from Cali, but again those were mostly top-of-the-class types. In other words the top students seem to be ok across the board, while the employment situation for students in the top 50-20th percentiles were much tougher in the weaker markets (Cali, Boston, Chicago).

One exception to the rule: DC. DC seemed to be tough for *everyone*, including top students.

[Anonymous User]

I can vouch that DC has been pretty tough this year. Friends and I have been struggling even with call backs. NOTHING IS GUARANTEED. I think the DC callback-offer ratio will be much lower than expected.

[Anonymous User]

Not too relevant now, except that I might ask: which areas are recruiting the most people? It sounds like LA did okay, as did NY, but DC is similarly tough this year?

I can confirm that NYC was pretty good, at least for the top of the class. Firms with good transactional practices were particularly strong. I know several people with double digit NYC callbacks. Mostly top 15% and journal/LR types, though, so take it with a grain of salt. I also know several people with strong callback responses from Cali, but again those were mostly top-of-the-class types. In other words the top students seem to be ok across the board, while the employment situation for students in the top 50-20th percentiles were much tougher in the weaker markets (Cali, Boston, Chicago).

One exception to the rule: DC. DC seemed to be tough for *everyone*, including top students.

Don't know too many people who applied to LA, but it's one of the easiest markets in general. I think NY was "okay" for those top 20-50. The problem is that those in that range ended up bidding on the same NY firms and got very few interviews as a result. I know a lot of people in that GPA range who bid solely on NY and only got around 10 interviews for OCI, with a fair number of "reach" firms in the list because everyone put lower-GPA firms in the top 5 on their bid list.

As for DC, I know a couple people with outside top 1/3 grades and no LR with 3+ callbacks...However, the DC people I know with multiple callbacks are all very amiable.

[Anonymous User]

Blanketed California market. Slightly above median, no journals, non ip. 16 interviews total, 11 dings, 2 cbs, 3 awaiting (one has given out cbs for sure, one is still deciding, the last one is a very small office).

Both CBs are from firms with medians that are within 0.05 of my gpa.

I thought I interviewed well (who really knows) but I got dinged at all 3.3ish firms so far which leads me to think they have either moved up the chain to 3.4ish range or I am just avg. at interviewing.

If you are interested in hitting up the smaller offices of big law firms in california, you may be a little late already. Most picked up berkeley/stanford/hastings kids. I mass mailed all target firms over the summer and got no responses.

[Anonymous User]

has milbank LA rejected people? I know they've given out cbs.

[Anonymous User]

Blanketed California market. Slightly above median, no journals, non ip. 16 interviews total, 11 dings, 2 cbs, 3 awaiting (one has given out cbs for sure, one is still deciding, the last one is a very small office).

Both CBs are from firms with medians that are within 0.05 of my gpa.

I thought I interviewed well (who really knows) but I got dinged at all 3.3ish firms so far which leads me to think they have either moved up the chain to 3.4ish range or I am just avg. at interviewing.

If you are interested in hitting up the smaller offices of big law firms in california, you may be a little late already. Most picked up berkeley/stanford/hastings kids. I mass mailed all target firms over the summer and got no responses.

I should have mentioned I have strong ties to California (at least one half of it).

[Anonymous User]

Blanketed California market. Slightly above median, no journals, non ip. 16 interviews total, 11 dings, 2 cbs, 3 awaiting (one has given out cbs for sure, one is still deciding, the last one is a very small office).

Both CBs are from firms with medians that are within 0.05 of my gpa.

I thought I interviewed well (who really knows) but I got dinged at all 3.3ish firms so far which leads me to think they have either moved up the chain to 3.4ish range or I am just avg. at interviewing.

If you are interested in hitting up the smaller offices of big law firms in california, you may be a little late already. Most picked up berkeley/stanford/hastings kids. I mass mailed all target firms over the summer and got no responses.

Yeah, with my 3.3X I've already been dinged from Jones Day, Pillsbury, and Dechert in NorCal, and those are not 3.3X medians (in terms of the OCS stats). Maybe I just suck at interviewing? I also have strong area ties, and, I think, pretty good WE and other quals.

Then again, I didn't manage to get as many area interviews as you, so that might have something to do with it. I have a couple of "awaiting" bids from Cali firms .05 or more below my GPA, and one within .05 above my GPA. (The prevailing wisdom seems to be that silence after more than a couple weeks is an implicit ding, though.) I'll just start throwing my app everywhere I can and see what happens.

[Anonymous User]

Dechert has a small office so it could have been anything from partner's two kids wanted summer jobs to we are closing shop after christmas.

Not sure what the hell is going on w/ jones day. We dont really know what jones day sf gpa is anyway, could have been really high. But I thought i did really well on the interview and got dinged.

pillsbury might have been some form of yield protection in your case.

Also another thing i noticed was that with firms where the interviewer was not from the same office, i.e. Chicago partner interviewing w/ SF, you pretty much have no chance.

[Anonymous User]

As a more tactical/practical question: For those of you who have gone on callbacks already, did you break fresh copies of your transcript to give to the interviewers, or should we assume that's unnecessary since they received it at OCI already? I'm planning on putting together a little folder with resume/writing sample/references for each person I interview with, but I'm wondering if the transcript should be included. Or perhaps all of that is overkill?

Thanks in advance for the opinions.

[Anonymous User]

As a more tactical/practical question: For those of you who have gone on callbacks already, did you break fresh copies of your transcript to give to the interviewers, or should we assume that's unnecessary since they received it at OCI already? I'm planning on putting together a little folder with resume/writing sample/references for each person I interview with, but I'm wondering if the transcript should be included. Or perhaps all of that is overkill?

Thanks in advance for the opinions.

To answer your question, your interviewers will have a copy of your resume and transcript in front of them. On the other hand, I feel like it is helpful to have copies with you, just in case. Personally, I have avoided recirculating copies of my transcript as much as possible. However, if you want to reemphasize your excellent grades, then by all means, include the transcript. You could even try printing your transcript with darker ink, to make it stand out more when someone flips through your packet.

[Anonymous User]

As a more tactical/practical question: For those of you who have gone on callbacks already, did you break fresh copies of your transcript to give to the interviewers, or should we assume that's unnecessary since they received it at OCI already? I'm planning on putting together a little folder with resume/writing sample/references for each person I interview with, but I'm wondering if the transcript should be included. Or perhaps all of that is overkill?

Thanks in advance for the opinions.

I am just about to go to my first CB so take it with a grain of salt: I will just bring the whole packet of materials, and tell the interviewer "here are my resume / transcript / writing sample / reference list". Based on my OCI experience, he / she will respond with something like "I'll take X and Y, thanks." It might be an overkill, but I think it looks better than saying "sorry I don't have a transcript, check with your HR department please."

[Anonymous User]

As a more tactical/practical question: For those of you who have gone on callbacks already, did you break fresh copies of your transcript to give to the interviewers, or should we assume that's unnecessary since they received it at OCI already? I'm planning on putting together a little folder with resume/writing sample/references for each person I interview with, but I'm wondering if the transcript should be included. Or perhaps all of that is overkill?

Thanks in advance for the opinions.

I am just about to go to my first CB so take it with a grain of salt: I will just bring the whole packet of materials, and tell the interviewer "here are my resume / transcript / writing sample / reference list". Based on my OCI experience, he / she will respond with something like "I'll take X and Y, thanks." It might be an overkill, but I think it looks better than saying "sorry I don't have a transcript, check with your HR department please."

There doesn't seem to be any standing, unsaid requirement to bring these materials. In my two CBs, one firm seemed impressed that I could produce a neat little packet of a transcript (including transcripts from undergrad), a resume, references, and a writing sample; the other firm never asked for them and declined to accept them when I offered them. Therefore, I would recommend bringing them along and proactively offering them to your interviewers only IF your grades are strong and you have a strong writing sample. Otherwise, I would not bring additional materials unless the firm specifically asks for them. If you want to be sure, you can call the recruiting offices of these firms and ask them what they expect you to bring.

[Anonymous User]

As a more tactical/practical question: For those of you who have gone on callbacks already, did you break fresh copies of your transcript to give to the interviewers, or should we assume that's unnecessary since they received it at OCI already? I'm planning on putting together a little folder with resume/writing sample/references for each person I interview with, but I'm wondering if the transcript should be included. Or perhaps all of that is overkill?

Thanks in advance for the opinions.

To answer your question, your interviewers will have a copy of your resume and transcript in front of them. On the other hand, I feel like it is helpful to have copies with you, just in case. Personally, I have avoided recirculating copies of my transcript as much as possible. However, if you want to reemphasize your excellent grades, then by all means, include the transcript. You could even try printing your transcript with darker ink, to make it stand out more when someone flips through your packet.

Haha, I certainly wish they were strong enough to be worthy of emphasizing. Thanks for the suggestions, all.

[Anonymous User]

For my cbs, I certainly brought all my materials along, but never brought them out unless asked. It was nice though, when a few interviewers didn't have my resume printed out and only up on their computer screen, and I offered to give them a paper copy. It reflected well that I was prepared and had materials to offer.