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Hi all,

I'm writing for a friend of mine that I'm concerned about. CCN rising 2L at median last term but a B- and a C this term. Anyone have any tips for someone in that position looking for big law besides mass mailing? Perhaps firms or markets that are notorious for not caring as much about grades? Really sweet person and I hate to think they wouldn't be able to get a job.

Thanks a lot!

Why would you rule out mass mailing? Just because it's a lot of work? I'd tell him to buckle in and pound the pavement in hopes that something materializes. He's at CCN so he's got more leeway than others but I wouldn't count on that to take him the whole way.

Anonymous User wrote:Hi all,

I'm writing for a friend of mine that I'm concerned about. CCN rising 2L at median last term but a B- and a C this term. Anyone have any tips for someone in that position looking for big law besides mass mailing? Perhaps firms or markets that are notorious for not caring as much about grades? Really sweet person and I hate to think they wouldn't be able to get a job.

Thanks a lot!

Mass mailing is key. He should be mailing every firm in every market he has ties to.

He could try setting up informational interviews with partners or alumni at law firms. It's a good way to get his resume looked at.

The default rule for people in your friend's situation is to bid big, unselective NYC firms with big summer classes. He should probably avoid the Vault 20, but every other firm after that is fair game.

Does your friend have an IP degree or signficant pre-LS work experience?

The most important piece of advice is that he should start working on his backup plan like now. There are midlaw firms that don't hire at OCI that have hired people from your school before. Federal government summer honors applications are coming up. Your friend should start hitting those places up.

timbs4339 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Hi all,

I'm writing for a friend of mine that I'm concerned about. CCN rising 2L at median last term but a B- and a C this term. Anyone have any tips for someone in that position looking for big law besides mass mailing? Perhaps firms or markets that are notorious for not caring as much about grades? Really sweet person and I hate to think they wouldn't be able to get a job.

Thanks a lot!

Mass mailing is key. He should be mailing every firm in every market he has ties to.

He could try setting up informational interviews with partners or alumni at law firms. It's a good way to get his resume looked at.

The default rule for people in your friend's situation is to bid big, unselective NYC firms with big summer classes. He should probably avoid the Vault 20, but every other firm after that is fair game.

Does your friend have an IP degree or signficant pre-LS work experience?

The most important piece of advice is that he should start working on his backup plan like now. There are midlaw firms that don't hire at OCI that have hired people from your school before. Federal government summer honors applications are coming up. Your friend should start hitting those places up.

Sorry for deleting the post for a moment. Just didn't want it to turn into a whole post flaming this person. Really appreciate the substantive help.

Not ruling out mass mailing AT ALL. Just saying that advice is obvious and he's already doing that. Unfortunately, he has no IP degree, no significant work experience that is helpful at all, etc. He interviews fairly well in that he's social, but not a person you want to hire immediately because they're so much fun or something.

For mass mailing, should he not include his transcript until requested? Anyone know about markets that are particularly welcoming to CCN grads regardless of grades?

Also, for fed honors, is there any chance due to the low grades?

Anonymous User wrote:

timbs4339 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Hi all,

I'm writing for a friend of mine that I'm concerned about. CCN rising 2L at median last term but a B- and a C this term. Anyone have any tips for someone in that position looking for big law besides mass mailing? Perhaps firms or markets that are notorious for not caring as much about grades? Really sweet person and I hate to think they wouldn't be able to get a job.

Thanks a lot!

Mass mailing is key. He should be mailing every firm in every market he has ties to.

He could try setting up informational interviews with partners or alumni at law firms. It's a good way to get his resume looked at.

The default rule for people in your friend's situation is to bid big, unselective NYC firms with big summer classes. He should probably avoid the Vault 20, but every other firm after that is fair game.

Does your friend have an IP degree or signficant pre-LS work experience?

The most important piece of advice is that he should start working on his backup plan like now. There are midlaw firms that don't hire at OCI that have hired people from your school before. Federal government summer honors applications are coming up. Your friend should start hitting those places up.

Sorry for deleting the post for a moment. Just didn't want it to turn into a whole post flaming this person. Really appreciate the substantive help.

Not ruling out mass mailing AT ALL. Just saying that advice is obvious and he's already doing that. Unfortunately, he has no IP degree, no significant work experience that is helpful at all, etc. He interviews fairly well in that he's social, but not a person you want to hire immediately because they're so much fun or something.

For mass mailing, should he not include his transcript until requested? Anyone know about markets that are particularly welcoming to CCN grads regardless of grades?

Also, for fed honors, is there any chance due to the low grades?

Yes, he shouldn't include his transacript until requested. Firms will probably request it if they want to proceed with him, but he might get lucky if a local firm really wants to pick up a CCN SA. Midlaw firms may not even request the transcript.

NYC is the only market I can think of off the top of my head that is particularly friendly to CCN students (and that's probably because 2/3 schools are located there). It's also the place where there are the most firms likely to have "target" numbers of students from his school specifically. That, his home market, any place he went to college, etc.

He probably won't get SEC/DOJ, but I've known people with below median grades to get interviews at places like Treasury, FDIC, EPA, etc.

*Bump* (Not the OP but would also really like to know this, currently situated at a T10 school)

I'm just below median from a T50 and will mostly be bidding on "midlaw" firms. while not the exact situation, I do not plan on sending my transcript with my resume. I figure that most firms will ding me, but some will probably call back given enough applications. We left the era where 150 applications was a lot a long time ago. If you are in the very bottom of the class, you should be looking to send hundreds of resumes.