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Hi everyone,

I realize that 2Ls still looking for decent firm jobs right now are up against astronomical odds. There is ample testimony of that here.

In this thread I would like to hear stories of people who scored a decent firm job between November and whenever of 2L year, especially if it was with a firm you did not make contact with until later. Yes, I'm looking for a small dose of optimism but also want to know how many of these anecdotes there actually are and if so how you achieved your success.

"I have a friend who ..." stories welcome if you got it straight from the horse's mouth.

Thanks muchly.

After OCI, our asshole Dean of Career Services told me to give up and start focusing on small law firms or government work.

I continued to send out my resume and got a market-paying job in NYC.

Anonymous User wrote:After OCI, our asshole Dean of Career Services told me to give up and start focusing on small law firms or government work.

I continued to send out my resume and got a market-paying job in NYC.

School?

johansantana21 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:After OCI, our asshole Dean of Career Services told me to give up and start focusing on small law firms or government work.

I continued to send out my resume and got a market-paying job in NYC.

School?

T25

no offense.. but he might be right. Most of the firms are done hiring already.

I would like to hear stories of encounters with unicorns. Fine if the story is second-hand.

Didn't get a firm gig, decided to do summer in govt and reapply as a 3L. Fell in love with govt work and when 3L rolled around I didn't even bother applying to firms; got a great govt gig. Not getting that summer firm job was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Now a 3L, but last year I struck out at 2L OCI (as a transfer...). Locked up a firm gig in March of 2L through a networking event that came to town (it was a group of firms that represent a secondary market). Felt pretty crappy until I locked that up but just keep on trucking if law is what you want to do. Jobs are out there...just gotta be persistent and try any way you can to get your name out there.

Ended up having to turn down a firm offer last February because I had accepted a government job elsewhere. The partner offered me a job based on my performance in a class he was my supervisor in. The firm wasn't quite big law though. It paid 100K+ in a non NY market.

I spent the summer with a government agency. I hit the job market twice as hard as a 3L. I ended up with a market paying offer out of OCI, multiple call backs that I had to pull out before getting an answer, and a V10 offer. Don't give up.

Anonymous User wrote:Ended up having to turn down a firm offer last February because I had accepted a government job elsewhere. The partner offered me a job based on my performance in a class he was my supervisor in. The firm wasn't quite big law though. It paid 100K+ in a non NY market.

Partner at a V10 did this recently too, though the student also used to work for him before law school.

Anonymous User wrote:Ended up having to turn down a firm offer last February because I had accepted a government job elsewhere. The partner offered me a job based on my performance in a class he was my supervisor in. The firm wasn't quite big law though. It paid 100K+ in a non NY market.

Was splitting just not something one or both of the employers would have entertained?

IAFG wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Ended up having to turn down a firm offer last February because I had accepted a government job elsewhere. The partner offered me a job based on my performance in a class he was my supervisor in. The firm wasn't quite big law though. It paid 100K+ in a non NY market.

Was splitting just not something one or both of the employers would have entertained?

The government job wouldn't have let me split. And they were on different coasts which also caused problems. Also, the firm didn't guarantee offers at the end of the summer. By which I mean, he was like we'll probably hire you, but you won't know until Feb of next year, and you may have a delayed start date. I thought about just burning the bridge for the government job, but figured it would probably be better for the job search if I had some government work, seeing as how the only places that seem to hire 3L's who aren't looking to trade up are government agencies.

Applied to a bunch of biglaw firms around the end of October and beginning of November and got quite a few responses (V10s included), a cb and an V50 offer in mid-November.

Anonymous User wrote:Applied to a bunch of biglaw firms around the end of October and beginning of November and got quite a few responses (V10s included), a cb and an V50 offer in mid-November.

great hustle. what were your stats?

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Applied to a bunch of biglaw firms around the end of October and beginning of November and got quite a few responses (V10s included), a cb and an V50 offer in mid-November.

great hustle. what were your stats?

Median at T6. I've heard similar stories from others, so I think large law firms are often looking into November.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Applied to a bunch of biglaw firms around the end of October and beginning of November and got quite a few responses (V10s included), a cb and an V50 offer in mid-November.

great hustle. what were your stats?

Median at T6. I've heard similar stories from others, so I think large law firms are often looking into November.

would you mind sharing any general advice/tips on your approach? how you identified openings that late in the game, and whether your application strategy was different in mid-October than it was in September and different in November than in mid-October.

thanks for your contribution.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Applied to a bunch of biglaw firms around the end of October and beginning of November and got quite a few responses (V10s included), a cb and an V50 offer in mid-November.

great hustle. what were your stats?

Median at T6. I've heard similar stories from others, so I think large law firms are often looking into November.

would you mind sharing any general advice/tips on your approach? how you identified openings that late in the game, and whether your application strategy was different in mid-October than it was in September and different in November than in mid-October.

thanks for your contribution.

I'm not sure if my application strategy changed or if firms that had openings were having a hard time finding T-10 people this late in the game who had not (1) already applied and been rejected or (2) accepted offers elsewhere. I did do a bunch of interview prep, updated my resume, and tweaked my cover letter slightly. In terms of identifying openings, I just took a stab in the dark and applied to the biggest firms on the assumption that they would be the most likely to have spots.

An interesting thing to note is that some of the firms who contacted me in November probably would have rejected me at OCI, so in that sense I feel like applying later really helped. I'm not great at interviewing and I think I really lost out to my classmates during OCI. Also the career services at my school explicitly told me at the beginning of October not to bother applying to big law firms. I'm glad I didn't listen.