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Hi all—I’m a 1L at a school ranked 15-30 and I was just invited to a screening interview at a biglaw firm in a secondary market. What kinds of things should I do to prepare?

They’ve said they’re not sure if they’re hiring 1Ls this summer, but it’s hard not to be kind of excited about this…I figure a foot in the door is worth something, right? Does anyone have any insight as to what this means? Like I said, I’m trying not to get ahead of myself, but I’m the only 1L at my school I know of who has a screening interview at a large firm already.

Anonymous User wrote:Hi all—I’m a 1L at a school ranked 15-30 and I was just invited to a screening interview at a biglaw firm in a secondary market. What kinds of things should I do to prepare?

They’ve said they’re not sure if they’re hiring 1Ls this summer, but it’s hard not to be kind of excited about this…I figure a foot in the door is worth something, right? Does anyone have any insight as to what this means? Like I said, I’m trying not to get ahead of myself, but I’m the only 1L at my school I know of who has a screening interview at a large firm already.

first off, congrats!

second off, i dont think its a screening interview -- probably more like a callback interview (since for 1Ls they dont do the whole screening bit...who who knows, this firm might have its own program and do it its own way).

if its a screening interview, iunno 20min long? but if it is a CB as id imagine, then you'd meet w/ a bunch of attorneys -- diff practice areas, diff ranks of seniority. sometimes more than 1 at a time. they'll ask a bunch of questions, whole thing will last a few hrs, and you'll get a free lunch at a really nice restaurant to boot (or coffee if its an afternoon thing maybe).

questions you can probably find online; so many they can ask -- some big ones off the top of my head: why law school? why this firm? why the practice area you're interested in? some challenge you once faced at x job. 3 strengths/3 weaknesses. etc.

good luck

DoubleChecks wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Hi all—I’m a 1L at a school ranked 15-30 and I was just invited to a screening interview at a biglaw firm in a secondary market. What kinds of things should I do to prepare?

They’ve said they’re not sure if they’re hiring 1Ls this summer, but it’s hard not to be kind of excited about this…I figure a foot in the door is worth something, right? Does anyone have any insight as to what this means? Like I said, I’m trying not to get ahead of myself, but I’m the only 1L at my school I know of who has a screening interview at a large firm already.

first off, congrats!

second off, i dont think its a screening interview -- probably more like a callback interview (since for 1Ls they dont do the whole screening bit...who who knows, this firm might have its own program and do it its own way).

if its a screening interview, iunno 20min long? but if it is a CB as id imagine, then you'd meet w/ a bunch of attorneys -- diff practice areas, diff ranks of seniority. sometimes more than 1 at a time. they'll ask a bunch of questions, whole thing will last a few hrs, and you'll get a free lunch at a really nice restaurant to boot (or coffee if its an afternoon thing maybe).

questions you can probably find online; so many they can ask -- some big ones off the top of my head: why law school? why this firm? why the practice area you're interested in? some challenge you once faced at x job. 3 strengths/3 weaknesses. etc.

good luck

OP here: Thank you. Yeah, I'm not sure how to classify it. They said it'd be a lunch with the hiring partner and one other person from the firm.

Anonymous User wrote:
OP here: Thank you. Yeah, I'm not sure how to classify it. They said it'd be a lunch with the hiring partner and one other person from the firm.

Let me echo the congrats: that sounds a lot like a callback (granted, I'm a 1L...so I could be wrong).

Assuming you know the hiring partner's name, I'd research his practice group a little bit and see if there's some high-profile stuff they've been doing recently.

poppers

my school's OCS stressed this point more than almost anything: DONT ORDER SPAGHETTI!!!!!!!!111

Be ready to talk about anything and everything on your resume, as well as the legal issues raised in your writing sample. Also, have a good answer to why law school, what area of law, why your school, favorite class, why this secondary market etc...

I contacted a partner at biglaw who says I should come to the firm, chat with him and "and meet the others." What kind of interview is that?

Anonymous User wrote:I contacted a partner at biglaw who says I should come to the firm, chat with him and "and meet the others." What kind of interview is that?

It's an "I like you, why don't you stop by and we'll see if you can meet a few people without tripping all over yourself" interview.

2LLLL wrote:Be ready to talk about anything and everything on your resume

80% of my interviewers asked their first question about a line in my hobbies section. Don't discount the importance of this section in distinguishing yourself. If you put something out of the ordinary in that section, they'll ask you about it, and you should have a great story to tell.

Be prepared to have REALLY good reasons why you want to be in the secondary market long term. Read the local newspaper and business magazines before the interview to have a few talking points.

Also, even if you get rejected, stay in touch with these people. I had a 1L callback/rejection that turned into a 2L callback/offer.

Good luck!

80% of my interviewers asked their first question about a line in my hobbies section. Don't discount the importance of this section in distinguishing yourself. If you put something out of the ordinary in that section, they'll ask you about it, and you should have a great story to tell.

Exactly- I got more questions about playing rugby in college than about my summer internship. Probably because interviewers would rather hear about something unique than about how you "learned a lot about legal research" and "even got to write sections in a few briefs."

Even better if you have a self-deprecating (sp?) joke to tie in to your hobby. Mine was that I played football through high school and rugby through college and my first major injury was in the law school flag football tournament.

Don't want to hijack the thread, but I was offered an interview at large firm in my home market. They said I will be going to lunch with a few attorneys and I'm worried I might end up being awkwardly silent/unable to think of interesting topics of conversation. Does anyone who has experience with these lunches know if it's more the attorneys asking questions/getting to know you, or are you expected to maintain the conversation throughout lunch. Obviously I know I can't just awkwardly and silently sit there.

When asked your strengths and weaknesses what do you say? especially weakness. its hard you dont want to give the whole "I workk to hard" or something stupid, but you dont want to say something like "I am a major slacker/I procrastinate alot"

AssumptionRequired wrote:When asked your strengths and weaknesses what do you say? especially weakness. its hard you dont want to give the whole "I workk to hard" or something stupid, but you dont want to say something like "I am a major slacker/I procrastinate alot"

I said that my business development skills weren't that great. no offer.

Kohinoor wrote:

AssumptionRequired wrote:When asked your strengths and weaknesses what do you say? especially weakness. its hard you dont want to give the whole "I workk to hard" or something stupid, but you dont want to say something like "I am a major slacker/I procrastinate alot"

I said that my business development skills weren't that great. no offer.

Hopefully that wasnt the reason.... but congrats on getting a 1L interview in the first place.

What about others?

AssumptionRequired wrote:

Kohinoor wrote:

AssumptionRequired wrote:When asked your strengths and weaknesses what do you say? especially weakness. its hard you dont want to give the whole "I workk to hard" or something stupid, but you dont want to say something like "I am a major slacker/I procrastinate alot"

I said that my business development skills weren't that great. no offer.

Hopefully that wasnt the reason.... but congrats on getting a 1L interview in the first place.

What about others?

To quote the venerable Robert McNamara: "Never answer the question that is asked of you. Answer the question that you wish had been asked of you." One strategy that I've used is to talk about a weakness I used to have, and then describe how I overcame it. That way, you don't have to pretend to be perfect, but you also avoid digging your own grave. It's not exactly answering the question, but I've never been called on it.

It's a stupid question though, and I was only confronted with it once this recruiting season, so hopefully you won't have to deal with it.

To quote the venerable Robert McNamara: "Never answer the question that is asked of you. Answer the question that you wish had been asked of you." One strategy that I've used is to talk about a weakness I used to have, and then describe how I overcame it. That way, you don't have to pretend to be perfect, but you also avoid digging your own grave. It's not exactly answering the question, but I've never been called on it.

It's a stupid question though, and I was only confronted with it once this recruiting season, so hopefully you won't have to deal with it.

TCR.

I also never got the weakness question, but had I gotten it my answer would be that sometimes I get nervous while public speaking, but I went to some Toastmasters meetings and try to speak up in class as much as possible to practice and become more comfortable. The question is less about your weakness and more about what you've done to overcome it.

Strengths/Weaknesses is a shitty question that only shitty or inexperienced interviewers ask. The one time I got asked that question, it was by someone who'd only even been on the job for 1 week, and I could tell by looking at him that he didn't even know what he was looking for.

That is actually good to hear, because it would be hard to answer without coming out looking like an overconfident ass or someone with undesirable traits lol

There are one 1L screening interviews.

Anonymous User wrote:Don't want to hijack the thread, but I was offered an interview at large firm in my home market. They said I will be going to lunch with a few attorneys and I'm worried I might end up being awkwardly silent/unable to think of interesting topics of conversation. Does anyone who has experience with these lunches know if it's more the attorneys asking questions/getting to know you, or are you expected to maintain the conversation throughout lunch. Obviously I know I can't just awkwardly and silently sit there.

It all depends on the individuals. I don't know what to suggest, but being able to have a conversation is key. Come up with some questions on various topics such as the culture of the firm, the type of work, their career paths, whether employees socialize outside of work, time for hobbies, etc... but you're really going to just throw yourself in these situations and become more spontaneous if you want to impress them and make yourself seem desirable

Aqualibrium wrote:Strengths/Weaknesses is a shitty question that only shitty or inexperienced interviewers ask. The one time I got asked that question, it was by someone who'd only even been on the job for 1 week, and I could tell by looking at him that he didn't even know what he was looking for.

The strengths q doesn't tell much, but the weakness question can range from very revealing answers (both positive and negative) to useless answers; it's still valuable and I've been in plenty of interviews with good, experienced interviewers where the question or some variation has been asked

If the person interviewing you is under 40, just go in there and act like you're trying to make friends with them (only a weird friendship where you talk about your resume a lot). This is, in a nutshell, the strategy which worked best for me in interviews.