I struck out Forum

Chief Justice Cooley · Post by **Chief Justice Cooley** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:54 pm

Last ding from my last CB. Have no idea what the hell i'm going to do. Drop out?

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:56 pm

how many callbacks did you have?

kaiser · Post by **kaiser** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:57 pm

What market are you in? What markets are you focused on? Have you been mass mailing? What do your grades/rank look like? Do you have any personal connections you can work off of? Have you looked into small and mid-size firms?

Post by **Helmholtz** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:57 pm

school/rank?

Chief Justice Cooley · Post by **Chief Justice Cooley** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:59 pm

lower tier 1 (40-50), top 15% (secondary journal, no moot court)

had 3 CBs (10 screeners with firms)

minnbills · Post by **minnbills** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:01 am

Chief Justice Cooley wrote:lower tier 1 (40-50), top 15% (secondary journal, no moot court)

had 3 CBs (10 screeners with firms)

What's your debt situation?

Post by **Helmholtz** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:01 am

other career options?

Chief Justice Cooley · Post by **Chief Justice Cooley** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:02 am

minnbills wrote:
Chief Justice Cooley wrote:lower tier 1 (40-50), top 15% (secondary journal, no moot court)

had 3 CBs (10 screeners with firms)
What's your debt situation?

greater than 100k if I finish

Chief Justice Cooley · Post by **Chief Justice Cooley** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:03 am

i'm straight from undergrad with zero work experience and liberal arts degree

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:03 am

what kind of firms did you have screening interviews/ CBs with?

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:04 am

I would seriously look to specialize in a particular area of law that have transactional boutiques that are less popular (immigration, tax, employment, health care, maybe even capital markets). This year write some good papers on the topic/ conduct solid independent research. Work with practitioners in the field and try to get published in a trade journal. Network the entire year in the area-- but not in a job search type of way. Let practitioners, especially those who are alumni from your school in the particular field, know that you are genuinely interested in learning about XX type of law and seek to learn more. Mass mail midlaw this November and December and try to land something in that field. If you fail with midlaw too, work on building those connections in the specialized practice area exhaustively until June of next year.

When the job search season comes again, spread out like crazy and really strut your stuff as the (tax or whatever) special snowflake. Every interview you get with boutiques and firms that specialize in that area (eg Paul Hastings for employment or Ivins for tax) show off your knowledge and super-specialized resume.

You will get a job doing this if you have reasonably good grades from a good school.

Chief Justice Cooley · Post by **Chief Justice Cooley** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:04 am

Anonymous User wrote:what kind of firms did you have screening interviews/ CBs with?

all nlj 250 save for 3 local midlaw firms

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:16 am

Drop out now. You just missed your lottery ticket. A very small number of people from your school get jobs that can repay their debt loads. Striking out at OCI means you almost certainly will not be one of them.

Reality is rough, but so is 100k+ debt and unemployment.

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:19 am

drop out, if you push on after this it'll be a painful bloody slog uphill scraping by ... being a lawyer isn't awesome enough (esp at the level you'll be at) to make it worth doing while just scraping by

haus · Post by **haus** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:41 am

It does not sound like you have any oprions worth dropping out to pursue.

It stinks, but hitting the eject lever is unlikey to ease your pain.

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:52 am

Anonymous User wrote:I would seriously look to specialize in a particular area of law that have transactional boutiques that are less popular (immigration, tax, employment, health care, maybe even capital markets). This year write some good papers on the topic/ conduct solid independent research. Work with practitioners in the field and try to get published in a trade journal. Network the entire year in the area-- but not in a job search type of way. Let practitioners, especially those who are alumni from your school in the particular field, know that you are genuinely interested in learning about XX type of law and seek to learn more. Mass mail midlaw this November and December and try to land something in that field. If you fail with midlaw too, work on building those connections in the specialized practice area exhaustively until June of next year.

When the job search season comes again, spread out like crazy and really strut your stuff as the (tax or whatever) special snowflake. Every interview you get with boutiques and firms that specialize in that area (eg Paul Hastings for employment or Ivins for tax) show off your knowledge and super-specialized resume.

You will get a job doing this if you have reasonably good grades from a good school.

+1. this can be a highly successful strategy if executed well, but certainly not the only one.

Julio_El_Chavo · Post by **Julio_El_Chavo** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:54 am

Anonymous User wrote:I would seriously look to specialize in a particular area of law that have transactional boutiques that are less popular (immigration, tax, employment, health care, maybe even capital markets). This year write some good papers on the topic/ conduct solid independent research. Work with practitioners in the field and try to get published in a trade journal. Network the entire year in the area-- but not in a job search type of way. Let practitioners, especially those who are alumni from your school in the particular field, know that you are genuinely interested in learning about XX type of law and seek to learn more. Mass mail midlaw this November and December and try to land something in that field. If you fail with midlaw too, work on building those connections in the specialized practice area exhaustively until June of next year.

When the job search season comes again, spread out like crazy and really strut your stuff as the (tax or whatever) special snowflake. Every interview you get with boutiques and firms that specialize in that area (eg Paul Hastings for employment or Ivins for tax) show off your knowledge and super-specialized resume.

You will get a job doing this if you have reasonably good grades from a good school.

Credited, although if this fails, I think you should consider doc review or other options. Don't get your heart set on one strategy. Have as many backup plans as possible.

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:59 am

You haven't struck out, it's only September 11th. People will still be getting CB's for a few weeks, especially in secondary markets. Just keep mailing. Also +1 to the idea about specializing.

This all assumes you don't have a decent option if you were to drop out now.

jessedvhs · Post by **jessedvhs** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 1:08 am

6th stanza of the Ranger creed

bjsesq · Post by **bjsesq** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 1:51 am

jessedvhs wrote:6th stanza of the Ranger creed

Don't come on here spouting shit about ranger school or batt. This isn't the place.

quakeroats · Post by **quakeroats** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 2:12 am

jessedvhs wrote:6th stanza of the Ranger creed

Sometimes
some crimes
go slippin' through the cracks...

flcath · Post by **flcath** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 2:29 am

Good luck, buddy.

minnbills · Post by **minnbills** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 2:32 am

Good luck, if you choose to stay keep that nose to the grindstone and don't give up.

YourCaptain · Post by **YourCaptain** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 7:59 am

minnbills wrote:Good luck, if you choose to stay keep that nose to the grindstone and don't give up.

You're not yet in this situation so I won't be too harsh - do you have any idea of how hard it is out there?

OP is at a school in one of several very saturated markets; if he is *fortunately* at Colorado he has a shot but otherwise he is in a very rough position. Putting his head down to grind out "connections" for 3L jobs is very unrealistic. Trust me, you can send out hundreds of applications, get silence for 2 weeks, and then receive the flood of paper-mail rejections. As one hiring partner said during an OCI interview to me, "...It's just unfortunate because your competition is almost unreal in how brutal it is."

OP, here's what you ought to do. It's early September, smaller markets haven't begun moving in earnest yet. Your grades seem decent enough - get in contact with Partners who either (both is best) attended your UG or LS and work in markets where you have a connection/tie. Send the firm an app, and half-hour later, email the partner with your resume saying, "Hey, I'm [X], interested in your firm because of [Y], if you have any questions please let me know." (Not verbatim, but general gist). Prepare your apps today, send them out Monday, and godspeed.

Otherwise, I would (personally) not stick around for 3L.

MrAnon · Post by **MrAnon** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 8:39 am

If you just want to be a lawyer handling immigration, real estate closings, appearances, making $20-$30k per year to start with the chance at $100k after 10-15 years then continue on. If you just wanted biglaw then drop out.

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