Why Firmly Refuse? - A Dialog on the Pressure of OCI Forum

[Lawlexrotica69]

http://hlrecord.org/?p=14339

It seems some Harvard Law students are unhappy. I don't really have any comments about this. But it is certainly an interesting read, and one that I hope will benefit the TLS community. The Harvard Law Record likes to put out relatively controversial stuff. The comments that follow are also quite insightful.

[LawIdiot86]

It would take Harvard to complain about being nefariously coerced into accepting jobs that pay 160k...

[Anonymous User]

It would take Harvard to complain about being nefariously coerced into accepting jobs that pay 160k...

I think firmly refuse creates a false dichotomy. I can and did continue looking for jobs after accepting a firms offer during fall recruiting. You have to recall that you do not have to accept or decline a biglaw offer till well within your 3L year, leaving you with plenty of opportunities to explore other fields your 1L summer, as well as in externships and clinics your 2L year. In many ways, having an offer in the pocket actually should help people explore other fields since they then know that they can look for something they truly love rather than having to continually bolster their resume.

[LawIdiot86]

It would take Harvard to complain about being nefariously coerced into accepting jobs that pay 160k...

I think firmly refuse creates a false dichotomy. I can and did continue looking for jobs after accepting a firms offer during fall recruiting. You have to recall that you do not have to accept or decline a biglaw offer till well within your 3L year, leaving you with plenty of opportunities to explore other fields your 1L summer, as well as in externships and clinics your 2L year. In many ways, having an offer in the pocket actually should help people explore other fields since they then know that they can look for something they truly love rather than having to continually bolster their resume.

I think their point is more along the lines that because of the way Harvard communicates with them and educates them about jobs, it leaves them no option but to take a big law job. Basically the same argument that the TTTT lawsuits are using. That somehow, people who went to college, live in mainstream society, and took a fairly difficult exam are so naive that they can be tricked into almost anything by law schools. Be it taking a 160k job that isn't really good or paying 60k a year to go to NYLS.

[Lawlexrotica69]

ATL made a post about it:

Here you go: http://abovethelaw.com/2012/04/the-comm ... s#comments

[timbs4339]

I'm not at HLS but at my school I'm not sure whether all the students who claimed they were interested in public interest and switched to firm work were really very dead set on public interest. To me it seemed more of the "politically correct" answer for people who were obviously going to take biglaw jobs anyway. At my school at least there seems to be an unspoken understanding that underneath all the bluster about social justice and public service for a number of reasons the school really relies on a large percentage of students going into biglaw and continuing in private practice .

[Ludo!]

Must be nice to go to a school where you can be self righteous about turning down a job