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How do you get a job in the legal department of LVMH? Do you have to be fluent in French?

Anonymous User wrote:How do you get a job in the legal department of LVMH? Do you have to be fluent in French?

I've been to their offices on Madison Avenue, and didn't hear anyone speaking French, so I think you're good.

Renzo wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:How do you get a job in the legal department of LVMH? Do you have to be fluent in French?

I've been to their offices on Madison Avenue, and didn't hear anyone speaking French, so I think you're good.

This. I can imagine it might be useful to know French, since the NYC office reports to Paris headquarters, and you could thus do some translating work, but I don't believe it's required for interns, assuming that's what you're asking about. (IE, as Renzo said, don't believe people speak French in the hallways.) If you are asking about a permanent job, most fashion companies look for several years of firm experience, though it varies, and you could get lucky and find a position right out of law school. (This has happened, but it is rare and you will be much more marketable for this sort of job with firm experience.) Also FTR, it's not all about IP. Many of the substantive issues relate to employment law and leases/real estate, along with a lot of licensing. (Is it just me, or is every product category licensed?) Bonus perk: you may get to travel a lot. I was an intern in the legal department of a large fashion company (not LVMH) and was actually pretty surprised at how often the attorneys traveled.

How do you go about applying? I just wrapped up my 1L exams and am doing an SA gig abroad w/ a corporate law firm...

I'm just asking about LVMH in general because my personal interest is in the area of fashion and trying to tie my personal interest with law school

Anonymous User wrote:How do you go about applying? I just wrapped up my 1L exams and am doing an SA gig abroad w/ a corporate law firm...

I'm just asking about LVMH in general because my personal interest is in the area of fashion and trying to tie my personal interest with law school

This is Anon. above. My classmate got it through a school connection, so I am not sure of the best avenue otherwise. If you have or can get the general counsel's contact info, directly emailing is worth a shot. (I might actually go with assistant general counsel, as this person is more likely to be hiring interns.) FWIW, I got my internship through Symplicity, of all places. I got an email from a friend telling me I had to look, and a few days later I had an interview, to my own surprise. I would ask all of your friends--- chances are very high that someone knows someone who knows someone. You obviously have good credentials, so I imagine you can do the rest. Genuine interest will help you as well. I am of the opinion that enthusiasm can't be credibly faked.

My other rec for you would be to check with career services. Not a guarantee that they would know who you should be talking to, but worth a try.

OperaSoprano wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:How do you go about applying? I just wrapped up my 1L exams and am doing an SA gig abroad w/ a corporate law firm...

I'm just asking about LVMH in general because my personal interest is in the area of fashion and trying to tie my personal interest with law school

This is Anon. above. My classmate got it through a school connection, so I am not sure of the best avenue otherwise. If you have or can get the general counsel's contact info, directly emailing is worth a shot. (I might actually go with assistant general counsel, as this person is more likely to be hiring interns.) FWIW, I got my internship through Symplicity, of all places. I got an email from a friend telling me I had to look, and a few days later I had an interview, to my own surprise. I would ask all of your friends--- chances are very high that someone knows someone who knows someone. You obviously have good credentials, so I imagine you can do the rest. Genuine interest will help you as well. I am of the opinion that enthusiasm can't be credibly faked.

My other rec for you would be to check with career services. Not a guarantee that they would know who you should be talking to, but worth a try.

I don't know if it's different at LVMH, but I've found retailers really do look at online applicants. I'm currently a 0L who did the fashion job search a year ago, frustrated to not have any connections in my new city after leaving New York. FIT's career services told me to apply online, which I thought was crappy advice, but when I vented about this to a friend at Kenneth Cole and another friend who used to work at Coach, they both said that retailers really do hire from online applications. Sure enough, I got my initial screening interview (for a position that I wouldn't have really liked) from my online application. I followed up with that recruiter when I got into town, and she got me interviews for a couple different positions here.
The same recruiter who helped me get my foot in the door now also does the recruiting for legal. That means she's getting candidates from online applications and through internal referrals. I'm pretty sure that's it. I definitely ditto OS's suggestion to contact the AGC to express your interest and get your name recognized, attempt to network, etc. However, as much as it feels like you're sending your resume into space when applying online, it's actually worth doing so in retail.

OperaSoprano wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:How do you go about applying? I just wrapped up my 1L exams and am doing an SA gig abroad w/ a corporate law firm...

I'm just asking about LVMH in general because my personal interest is in the area of fashion and trying to tie my personal interest with law school

This is Anon. above. My classmate got it through a school connection, so I am not sure of the best avenue otherwise. If you have or can get the general counsel's contact info, directly emailing is worth a shot. (I might actually go with assistant general counsel, as this person is more likely to be hiring interns.) FWIW, I got my internship through Symplicity, of all places. I got an email from a friend telling me I had to look, and a few days later I had an interview, to my own surprise. I would ask all of your friends--- chances are very high that someone knows someone who knows someone. You obviously have good credentials, so I imagine you can do the rest. Genuine interest will help you as well. I am of the opinion that enthusiasm can't be credibly faked.

My other rec for you would be to check with career services. Not a guarantee that they would know who you should be talking to, but worth a try.

Thanks Opera. Unfortunately, my credentials aren't really good. As sad as it is to say, the SA gig was probably mainly through my connections. I just found out that LVMH is hiring IP counsel that has 5 years experience in IP.

How important is credentials? I mean I guess it can't be horrible. I'm current at a T2 and am above median after 1st semester. 2nd semester grades are unpredictable.

Anonymous User wrote:

OperaSoprano wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:How do you go about applying? I just wrapped up my 1L exams and am doing an SA gig abroad w/ a corporate law firm...

I'm just asking about LVMH in general because my personal interest is in the area of fashion and trying to tie my personal interest with law school

This is Anon. above. My classmate got it through a school connection, so I am not sure of the best avenue otherwise. If you have or can get the general counsel's contact info, directly emailing is worth a shot. (I might actually go with assistant general counsel, as this person is more likely to be hiring interns.) FWIW, I got my internship through Symplicity, of all places. I got an email from a friend telling me I had to look, and a few days later I had an interview, to my own surprise. I would ask all of your friends--- chances are very high that someone knows someone who knows someone. You obviously have good credentials, so I imagine you can do the rest. Genuine interest will help you as well. I am of the opinion that enthusiasm can't be credibly faked.

My other rec for you would be to check with career services. Not a guarantee that they would know who you should be talking to, but worth a try.

Thanks Opera. Unfortunately, my credentials aren't really good. As sad as it is to say, the SA gig was probably mainly through my connections. I just found out that LVMH is hiring IP counsel that has 5 years experience in IP.

How important is credentials? I mean I guess it can't be horrible. I'm current at a T2 and am above median after 1st semester. 2nd semester grades are unpredictable.

For getting a biglaw job, your grades are going to matter a lot. I don't think my company scrutinized as much, though my GPA was on the resume I sent them. It was more about fit than whether I was 0.1 above the next applicant, as it might have been at OCI. The big issue is that it's very hard to get a permanent job at one of these companies without the requisite experience they seek, and for that, you'll have to go to a big firm or a boutique with fashion clients. If you don't think you'll have the grades for the former, I would focus on trying to get into the latter. There are some very tiny firms that are extremely specialized and have primarily fashion clients, and if you work for one of them, you could get the experience you need.

Connections matter! I believe the vast majority of people who don't get OCI jobs do get their jobs either through connections they already had (family, etc) or connections they make while in LS. You are on the right track already.