12 CBs, 12 dings, advice needed Forum

[ResIpsa21]

Actually I've had great success this season expressing interest in a range of fairly specific practice and industry areas. I went with this approach because 1) I am genuinely interested in those practices and want to be at a firm that offers what I'm looking for, and 2) my expressed interests matched up well with my resume, personality, background.

I structured my bidlist to include firms that do at least some work in my areas of interest. I also tweaked the specific practice I expressed interest in depending on the firm's particular strengths, but my interests had a pretty strong theme across the board, and I never came across seeming too flexible about it.

Ultimately I think it helped because I came across as someone who did not just go to law school on a whim, but perhaps a more thoughtful person with actual goals and preferences. Admittedly this might be difficult to do if you don't have much work or internship experience on your resume.

I have serious WE, a legit reason for coming to law school (specific practice of law), and communicated this (even with the "I just finished 1L, what do I really know/I really like your summer program because it will allow me to do something I'm interested in while getting exposure to all of your different practice areas). It backfired.

Its just a risky approach to take. I'm sure with the right practice area, its fine. With others, you are screwed.

How do you know that this was the reason you didn't get offers? I am not convinced that expressing a particular area was a problem for me... my two dings were out-of-market (opposite coast with no ties) and the firms I am waiting on have not made any offers yet (small classes). Obviously if you tell a firm you have always wanted to do IP and they don't do any IP at all, then you're gonna get dinged. But if the firm is very well known / has a ton of partners doing IP, and you add that you are open to anything, I have to think it helps. The partner who gave me this advice is a family friend who was giving me tips on how to get into his V100 firm... I don't think he was lying. But who knows.