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Okay, so I just filled out all of my OCI apps my school has coming this year (roughly 35 large firms) and I'm basically wondering if I should start mass mailing or what now (and if so, when do I start mailing?). My school placed roughly 12% into biglaw according to the most recent NLJ250 data. I'm not big law or bust, although I'll be busting my ass trying to get a biglaw job. According to someone similarly ranked last year, I'll end up with ~20 interviews from OCI. FWIW, I'm an excellent interviewer (I had roughly top 30% grades after first semester, and snagged a CB for a 1L SA and was informed I was their next choice and if one bailed I would have had the job - so it had to be my interviewing that got me there).

Now, my preferred practice area is environmental law. Are my grades good enough for a) a local EPA office (Philadelphia) or b) a State environmental department? Assuming both of those are out, do I have any other options outside of big firms that have environmental practices?

Is there anything else I should be looking for? As another side note, I have a few people advising me on how to approach getting the EIC position on the secondary, and intend to bust my ass next year trying for it and trying to get published.

(also to those who helped out in the transfer thread, I ultimately decided to stay put because it seems I'll be getting some phat cash from my current school)

get mailing dude, people are already securing interviews, you have a decent shot at getting something

beach_terror wrote:Okay, so I just filled out all of my OCI apps my school has coming this year (roughly 35 large firms) and I'm basically wondering if I should start mass mailing or what now (and if so, when do I start mailing?). My school placed roughly 12% into biglaw according to the most recent NLJ250 data. I'm not big law or bust, although I'll be busting my ass trying to get a biglaw job. According to someone similarly ranked last year, I'll end up with ~20 interviews from OCI. FWIW, I'm an excellent interviewer (I had roughly top 30% grades after first semester, and snagged a CB for a 1L SA and was informed I was their next choice and if one bailed I would have had the job - so it had to be my interviewing that got me there).

Now, my preferred practice area is environmental law. Are my grades good enough for a) a local EPA office (Philadelphia) or b) a State environmental department? Assuming both of those are out, do I have any other options outside of big firms that have environmental practices?

Is there anything else I should be looking for? As another side note, I have a few people advising me on how to approach getting the EIC position on the secondary, and intend to bust my ass next year trying for it and trying to get published.

(also to those who helped out in the transfer thread, I ultimately decided to stay put because it seems I'll be getting some phat cash from my current school)

you gotta mass mail firms asap

The time to mass mail is immediately.

You need to look through the NALP directory and martindale hubbel and any other source you can find to target a list of firms far beyond those coming to OCI in the region(s) you wish to work and you need to send them a cover letter, a resume, and a transcript. Email attachments are fine, as is mail.

You should do that this weekend and at least send a first wave of materials Monday. The 'window' for getting a summer associate position at a firm via mass mailing is closing as we speak. It would probably be fine to wait a week... but for something this important, I'd kick it into high gear.

You likely have a shot at the gov't gigs you mentioned, but with hiring freezes, the budget crisis, and the small size / hiring needs of such employers it's not something you can reliably get out of law school no matter what your creds.

In a similar spot to OP; What should mass mail entail? Resume + Transcript + CV? Should I include WS? Should it be email or snail mail?

I apologize if the answers seem obvious; I feel completely in the dark about this.

I thought Mass Mailing was open until Aug 1 (that's the date I'd heard basically everywhere). Is this wrong?

Aston2412 wrote:I thought Mass Mailing was open until Aug 1 (that's the date I'd heard basically everywhere). Is this wrong?

That's like two weeks away. Seems rapidly closing to me.

Aston2412 wrote:I thought Mass Mailing was open until Aug 1 (that's the date I'd heard basically everywhere). Is this wrong?

Think of it this way: Some firms treat mass mailing like rolling admissions, with things kicking off around July 1. Nobody grants very many mailer interviews so being the early bird is do or die at these firms.

Other firms will accept and file all the mailers up until they begin callbacks from OCI. At these firms, it doesn't matter at all whether you sent it in on July 1 or August 1 because they simply won't evaluate you until after they have an idea what their candidate pool looks like.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease in both groups.

blasted dla piper this morning...now comes the waiting....

Thank you for the advice everyone, I really appreciate it. I'm going to email just so things move as quickly as possible at this point (is this a good idea?). If anyone has any Philly/Wilmington area suggestions, any advice would be awesome at this point.

Second question: when mass mailing I don't need to break from the super generic cover letter do I? My cover letter is basically talking myself up and throwing in the firms name in and then saying I'm interested in *insert largest or most interesting practices in the firm* but I'd be eager to gain experience in any area.

Re: Timing - It's still probably on the early end, but it's a short window. I'd say mid-July is probably ideal. On the later end, you can always send a letter and hope, but by August firms will be moving on other candidates / career fairs and so the window will be closing.

Beach_Terror: Generic cover letter should be fine.

geekrocker37 wrote:In a similar spot to OP; What should mass mail entail? Resume + Transcript + CV? Should I include WS? Should it be email or snail mail?

I apologize if the answers seem obvious; I feel completely in the dark about this.

Resume + Transcript + Cover Letter. Writing Sample is optional, I wouldn't (most firms don't care, most 1L writing samples suck). Email or snail mail are both fine, depends on the contact info you can find for a firm.

gradesmatter wrote:

beach_terror wrote:Okay, so I just filled out all of my OCI apps my school has coming this year (roughly 35 large firms) and I'm basically wondering if I should start mass mailing or what now (and if so, when do I start mailing?). My school placed roughly 12% into biglaw according to the most recent NLJ250 data. I'm not big law or bust, although I'll be busting my ass trying to get a biglaw job. According to someone similarly ranked last year, I'll end up with ~20 interviews from OCI. FWIW, I'm an excellent interviewer (I had roughly top 30% grades after first semester, and snagged a CB for a 1L SA and was informed I was their next choice and if one bailed I would have had the job - so it had to be my interviewing that got me there).

Now, my preferred practice area is environmental law. Are my grades good enough for a) a local EPA office (Philadelphia) or b) a State environmental department? Assuming both of those are out, do I have any other options outside of big firms that have environmental practices?

Is there anything else I should be looking for? As another side note, I have a few people advising me on how to approach getting the EIC position on the secondary, and intend to bust my ass next year trying for it and trying to get published.

(also to those who helped out in the transfer thread, I ultimately decided to stay put because it seems I'll be getting some phat cash from my current school)

you gotta mass mail firms asap

now that's what I call a lolci

billbrasky wrote:

gradesmatter wrote:

beach_terror wrote:Okay, so I just filled out all of my OCI apps my school has coming this year (roughly 35 large firms) and I'm basically wondering if I should start mass mailing or what now (and if so, when do I start mailing?). My school placed roughly 12% into biglaw according to the most recent NLJ250 data. I'm not big law or bust, although I'll be busting my ass trying to get a biglaw job. According to someone similarly ranked last year, I'll end up with ~20 interviews from OCI. FWIW, I'm an excellent interviewer (I had roughly top 30% grades after first semester, and snagged a CB for a 1L SA and was informed I was their next choice and if one bailed I would have had the job - so it had to be my interviewing that got me there).

Now, my preferred practice area is environmental law. Are my grades good enough for a) a local EPA office (Philadelphia) or b) a State environmental department? Assuming both of those are out, do I have any other options outside of big firms that have environmental practices?

Is there anything else I should be looking for? As another side note, I have a few people advising me on how to approach getting the EIC position on the secondary, and intend to bust my ass next year trying for it and trying to get published.

(also to those who helped out in the transfer thread, I ultimately decided to stay put because it seems I'll be getting some phat cash from my current school)

you gotta mass mail firms asap

now that's what I call a lolci

That's actually pretty impressive for a T2. One you get below the UCLA/USC/Vanderbilt level, it's extremely rare to see more than 40 NALP firms coming to campus. Some schools outperform their ranking significantly (SMU), others take it in the grapes despite being T30(UMN, Indiana, Iowa, etc.). My T1 has maaaaaybe 25 nalp firms attending.

billbrasky wrote:

gradesmatter wrote:

beach_terror wrote:Okay, so I just filled out all of my OCI apps my school has coming this year (roughly 35 large firms) and I'm basically wondering if I should start mass mailing or what now (and if so, when do I start mailing?). My school placed roughly 12% into biglaw according to the most recent NLJ250 data. I'm not big law or bust, although I'll be busting my ass trying to get a biglaw job. According to someone similarly ranked last year, I'll end up with ~20 interviews from OCI. FWIW, I'm an excellent interviewer (I had roughly top 30% grades after first semester, and snagged a CB for a 1L SA and was informed I was their next choice and if one bailed I would have had the job - so it had to be my interviewing that got me there).

Now, my preferred practice area is environmental law. Are my grades good enough for a) a local EPA office (Philadelphia) or b) a State environmental department? Assuming both of those are out, do I have any other options outside of big firms that have environmental practices?

Is there anything else I should be looking for? As another side note, I have a few people advising me on how to approach getting the EIC position on the secondary, and intend to bust my ass next year trying for it and trying to get published.

(also to those who helped out in the transfer thread, I ultimately decided to stay put because it seems I'll be getting some phat cash from my current school)

you gotta mass mail firms asap

now that's what I call a lolci

That beats the 10-15 big firms coming to my school!

Heartford wrote: That beats the 10-15 big firms coming to my school!

Booyah! (but not really )

is it normal to mass mail all of the top 250 firms if a person doesn't have a preference on region?

merc280 wrote:is it normal to mass mail all of the top 250 firms if a person doesn't have a preference on region?

No.

The NLJ 250 is in no way the top 250 firms. It is simply a list, from largest to smallest, of the 250 largest law firms in the united states.

Applying across the country is a foolish strategy. You need to focus your job search.

How should I treat firms that have a Philly office but are really headquartered elsewhere. The Philly offices are roughly 5-10 attorneys, but the main office is typically 2 hours away and is substantially larger. I'm assuming the SA program is only based out of the main office - should I just skip these firms (I have been).

Makes sense to me; NALPdirectory.com hopefully lists at least whether the major names have summer programs there or not.

thesealocust wrote:Makes sense to me; NALPdirectory.com hopefully lists at least whether the major names have summer programs there or not.

I've found NALP to be pretty useless for the Philadelphia market. Just sorting by Philadelphia firms only yields 30 some results. A lot of the stuff I'm stumbling across on Martindale is pretty weak too. Have some apps ready to send out Monday morning though.

beach_terror wrote:

thesealocust wrote:Makes sense to me; NALPdirectory.com hopefully lists at least whether the major names have summer programs there or not.

I've found NALP to be pretty useless for the Philadelphia market. Just sorting by Philadelphia firms only yields 30 some results. A lot of the stuff I'm stumbling across on Martindale is pretty weak too. Have some apps ready to send out Monday morning though.

That's because Philly doesn't have a ton of biglaw firms like New York. If you're looking for market paying gigs, take the advice on this board and target NYC.

billbrasky wrote:

beach_terror wrote:

thesealocust wrote:Makes sense to me; NALPdirectory.com hopefully lists at least whether the major names have summer programs there or not.

I've found NALP to be pretty useless for the Philadelphia market. Just sorting by Philadelphia firms only yields 30 some results. A lot of the stuff I'm stumbling across on Martindale is pretty weak too. Have some apps ready to send out Monday morning though.

That's because Philly doesn't have a ton of biglaw firms like New York. If you're looking for market paying gigs, take the advice on this board and target NYC.

Not necessarily looking for market paying gigs, mainly just looking for places that are hiring. Do I have a shot at a market paying job in NYC?

beach_terror wrote:

thesealocust wrote:Makes sense to me; NALPdirectory.com hopefully lists at least whether the major names have summer programs there or not.

I've found NALP to be pretty useless for the Philadelphia market. Just sorting by Philadelphia firms only yields 30 some results. A lot of the stuff I'm stumbling across on Martindale is pretty weak too. Have some apps ready to send out Monday morning though.

As billbrasky alluded, that's a Philly problem, not a NALP / Martindale problem.

I don't know dick about NYC firms (lived in Philly my entire life). Are there any that I should most definitely avoid and some that I should target, as I have a reasonable shot of at least getting some sort of initial interview? Apologies for the derpness.