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Trying to compile a list of obvious things everyone should know about a firm before OCI. I just decided to participate in OCI last minute and don't really know where to begin, so any input from more experienced TLSers would be awesome

My OCI cheat sheets include a few pieces of information:

Interviewer-- Office, practice group, representative case, alum?

What they want you to bring

Prominent Practice Groups/Areas and awards/distinguishing features.

Unique firmwide policies--Pro Bono, Assignment structure, Training, Mentoring, overwhelmingly important client (e.g. Deepwater Horizon lit at Kirkland)

Summer Associate program

bump. anyone else mind sharing their list of factors to research?

Or even better, can we just get people's cheat sheets posted?

I always include basic nalp raw data at the top. Firm Size, Office Size, Relevant Department Size. I also include Vault "Buzzwords" for my own benefit, although one firm was called "Darwinian," and I just have to ask what that means during the interview.

Cupidity wrote:I always include basic nalp raw data at the top. Firm Size, Office Size, Relevant Department Size. I also include Vault "Buzzwords" for my own benefit, although one firm was called "Darwinian," and I just have to ask what that means during the interview.

I'm imagining cage matches with other SAs, fighting over the available work.

Cooley is redefining "eat what you kill."

So this cheat sheet, do you guys actually bring it with u into the interview and use it during the interview? Doesn't it look bad looking down on something etc... while interviewing?

Eco wrote:So this cheat sheet, do you guys actually bring it with u into the interview and use it during the interview? Doesn't it look bad looking down on something etc... while interviewing?

No you look at it before your interview.

revitalize this thread for more info. I am very newb to this, so not really sure how to weight different factors when looking at firms. Should I care about region much? number of SA offers? number of permanent offers? etc. Helpful advice is much appreciated.

If you are talking about "representative cases" during your interview, you are doing it wrong.

Use the firm-reported Vault info and other sources you can find (firm websites, chambers associate, NALP forms) to find out how the firm views and sells itself. You'll discover things like Quinn is proud of their lack of dress code, MoFo likes to think themselves edgey, Cravath is proud of the 'Cravath system', etc. This can be helpful in approaching questions about what attracted you to the firm.

Beyond that, you want to have a good idea of what the firm actually does; this can be hard because every firm tries to sell itself as being an expert in everything. But, look at where the firm has highly-regarded practices as rated by Chambers, and look at how many lawyers are in what practice areas in the office for which you are interviewing. A firm might say on its bio that it does IP work, but not mention that it's only one partner in one office in Menlo Park, which won't help you if you are interviewing for the NYC office.

The Vault, LateralLink, and Chambers Associate comments from associates past summers can be useful for helping you feel out the culture of the firm, but don't take them as gospel.

Also, make sure you take a look at the firm's recruiting website. There's no reason to ask questions about the summer program, etc. that you could have answered yourself by doing so; and, it may lead to actual questions you might want answered about how they conduct the summer.

The best information you can gather will come from the associates/partners at the firm itself. You will almost always stand out in a good way if you can say that I spoke with so-and-so and they said blah blah blah and that sounds like exactly what I'm looking for in a firm for because I'm interested in yada yada yada.

traehekat wrote:You will almost always stand out in a good way if you can say that I spoke with so-and-so and they said blah blah blah and that sounds like exactly what I'm looking for in a firm for because I'm interested in yada yada yada.

+1

And this means more than just talking with the firm attorney who was invited to be on a law school career panel and you heard them speak or you asked them one question afterwards. Talk to your 2L classmates or your career office and find out who summered at the firms - chat with those people.

The anecdotes from actual attorneys or SAs provides great material both during the interview and for "hallway talk" (to avoid awkwardness when they are walking you from one callback interview to another)

Tag.

jawsthegreat wrote:If you are talking about "representative cases" during your interview, you are doing it wrong.

+1

LawIdiot86 wrote:

jawsthegreat wrote:If you are talking about "representative cases" during your interview, you are doing it wrong.

+1

I don't think I meant representative cases or at least that's what I intended. I just want to make a spreadsheet of firms, both OCI firms and for mass mailing firms. And I want to know what factors people first consider, when they decide whether to apply to that firm. Hope this clarifies thing a bit, but thanks everyone for your response so far.

One of the best things I did was subscribe to the Business Journal in the markets I was interested in. Scanning headlines and reading a few pieces a week gives you a nice background on the market and most of the Business Journals have an entire section dedicated to the Legal sector. They also allow you to search by firm name which is particularly helpful because stories in the Business Journals are far more likely to mention which firms are representing businesses in deals and litigation than are more traditional mainstream news sources.