How to land a 1L SA Forum

[Anonymous User]

Did you land your in-house position after emailing an alumni? Or just some other nice fellow? How exactly did you approach emailing non-alumni folks?

[Anonymous User]

I identified 50 companies. Then I looked for job postings. Only about 5 had postings, I applied that way and then followed up with the GC. For the other 45, I used the "directory of corporate counsel" (career services should have one) and the alumni database to find out contact info and I emailed the GC directly. If there are multiple attorneys in the director and one is an alumnus, I would contact that guy individually first.

There's no magic formula: try cold calling 1/3, emailing 1/3, and sending a letter on nice stationary to 1/3; just see what works and do that.

[Anonymous User]

I highly recommend directly contacting general counsels at fortune-500 companies. I did this, and ended up with (what I consider to be) the best 1L SA gig of anyone at my school (MVP). During 2L OCI, nobody asked about my grades (which are mediocre), they only wanted to hear about my SA under the general counsel. I ended up a 2L position at a v-30 firm where I'm "below their cutoff."

Working in house is much better than working at a firm for 3 reasons: 1) you will have a strong connection with the company, which may allow you to bring in your own business early on, 2) you will have seen what it's like on the "other side," you will be the guy calling up a V-10 partner and asking the why-didn't-I-have-that-memo-in-my-hand-by-COB-Friday questions and 3) over the summer you will have made connections with partners and associates at many different law firms.

At OCI I knew a partner at half the firms with which I interviewed.

You should first contact companies with offices near a market you're connect to and companies where the general counsel is an alumni.

Also, if you're a 0L, now is the time to contact associates and partners that are UG or law school alumni to ask about "advice" for law school. Keep in thouch with them throughout the first year. Your connection will these lawyers will be much more genuine than if you cold call them 1 week before 2L OCI.

sounds awesome. just curious, was the pay on par with a 1L SA? not that that would be a deciding factor, just curious.

[Anonymous User]

At YHS. I know probably 7-8 people who mass mailed NY/DC firms, and no one got a thing. People with ties to a secondary market and willingness to work there had luck, and a couple of people got SAs through our spring interview program, although none at the major NY/DC firms. A few other people got SAs in weird locations (e.g., Asia).

[Anonymous User]

At HYS (around median). Mailed legal recruiters at ~75 firms in the LA/SF area (ties to the regions; grew up there, family, etc.) and got ONE, yes ONE, offer from a V50. It's a rough market, but you need to hussle. Apply Dec. 1st and make sure you follow up with every firm if you haven't had a response.

[rad lulz]

At HYS (around median). Mailed legal recruiters at ~75 firms in the LA/SF area (ties to the regions; grew up there, family, etc.) and got ONE, yes ONE, offer from a V50. It's a rough market, but you need to hussle. Apply Dec. 1st and make sure you follow up with every firm if you haven't had a response.

Just ONE offer?

My heart goes out to you anon

[bk1]

At HYS (around median). Mailed legal recruiters at ~75 firms in the LA/SF area (ties to the regions; grew up there, family, etc.) and got ONE, yes ONE, offer from a V50. It's a rough market, but you need to hussle. Apply Dec. 1st and make sure you follow up with every firm if you haven't had a response.

Just ONE offer?

My heart goes out to you anon

[Anonymous User]

At HYS (around median). Mailed legal recruiters at ~75 firms in the LA/SF area (ties to the regions; grew up there, family, etc.) and got ONE, yes ONE, offer from a V50. It's a rough market, but you need to hussle. Apply Dec. 1st and make sure you follow up with every firm if you haven't had a response.

Anon, mind saying whether or not this is in sf?

[Anonymous User]

At HYS (around median). Mailed legal recruiters at ~75 firms in the LA/SF area (ties to the regions; grew up there, family, etc.) and got ONE, yes ONE, offer from a V50. It's a rough market, but you need to hussle. Apply Dec. 1st and make sure you follow up with every firm if you haven't had a response.

by follow up, do you mean try to call them like a week after you sent them an email applying? Or just send another email?

[mephistopheles]

grades and ties. mass mail firms (i did like 40-50 apps) and see if you can get any to bite. if they do, be ready to sell an interest in a particular practice area that they focus in and will rotate 1Ls through. if you have relevant work experience, this is easier. i had to make a more personal explanation. then, prepare for the interviews by learning the bios of the interviewers (at least a little, like know who clerked so you can ask them about it, etc) and think of a lot of good questions. i ended up interviewing most of my interviewers.

just relaxing is key, too. at my first callback, i feel like i was way awkward. but at my second, i was like they're interested in me, so here's where i demonstrate i'm knowledgable and not terrible / maybe fun to have around the office.

grades are great, though. it's wonderful to have them glance at the transcript and be like well, yeah no wonder part of your answer is about contracts class.. you "knocked it out of the park" (as one partner said).

note: it's a long fucking process.

[Anonymous User]

Top 15 percent at one of NYU or Columbia. Applied to about 50 firms all in NYC. Had decent networking connections to two of them. Only got 3 interviews and 0 offers. I knew it was going to be rough, but this was just disappointing.

[rad lulz]

,

[Anonymous User]

Just trying to let others know how difficult it is to get a 1l SA, cause I don't think I fully knew.

[SHIA]

Top 15 percent at one of NYU or Columbia. Applied to about 50 firms all in NYC. Had decent networking connections to two of them. Only got 3 interviews and 0 offers. I knew it was going to be rough, but this was just disappointing.

Sorry you had to work fora judge or for govt just like everyone else bro

If you don't get a 2L SA then we can talk.

No need to be snarky - the anon makes a good point that it is VERY difficult to get 1L SA positions and I think it is OK to warn people that just because you go to a T14 (or T6 school as in anon's case), you will still face trouble and it's not easy by any means. A large part of it is "luck" as well.

[Anonymous User]

Just trying to let others know how difficult it is to get a 1l SA, cause I don't think I fully knew.

yeah, second this

top 10%, mvp, EE from HYPSM, and only 3 cb's w/ no offer; granted, I only applied to one major market

it's MUCH easier for a secondary market, I know people at my school who range from top 3rd to even median who had multiple cb's and offers from secondaries

[Anonymous User]

I'm at a top 20. Got top grades 1st semester (4.0+). Didn't apply for anything until January. Did 4 screening interviews, 3 call backs, and ended up w/3 offers at prestigious firms. Decent WE pre-LS.

Grades, grades, grades.

Except I know tons of people who did this and still got fucked in the 1L hustle game, so the bottom line is, don't assume you're going to get anything. Not at T14, not at HYS, not with IP-security, not with minority status, not with all of those things together.

[Anonymous User]

The bottom line is this

To get a 1L SA in major market (NY/DC/SF/LA), top 5% at t14 (pref. w/ IP) is nec, but not sufficient; also, ties are req.
Lots of luck involved (Partner I interviewed w/ at a V20 told me that they had one spot, and their practice group got passed over for it)

To get a 1L SA in a secondary market (anywhere else, including to a certain degree Boston/Chicago), much more dependent on ties, and grades are less important but stellar grades obviously help
Lots less luck involved (this is borne out of tons of anecdotal evidence as well as poring through past posts).

Honestly, it's way easier to get a 1L SA than people think...as long as you're not gunning for NY/DC/SF/LA

[Anonymous User]

I'll weigh in. A few ppl I know at my T10 got 1L SAs. Almost everyone (except 1 person) was IP and the non-IP person is an excellent talker/schmoozer. Everyone mass mailed 12/1. I had ~10 interviews scheduled, got a couple offers, and withdrew from the rest. This was before grades were released. Similar situation for my classmates. I have very strong ties to my market but I know of 2 ppl who got their SA with no ties at all. I had a lot more success with symplicity than mass mailing.

TL;DR if you're hard science/engineering and at a T14, it's probably worth it to mass mail and see what happens.

[mephistopheles]

i just wanted to say that while getting apps in early is great, i got mine after applying at the end of january, so some two months after applications were allowed.

[guyplus]

.......

[Anonymous User]

If I can't find a big law 1l summer job, do you guys think it would be better to work in the legal department of a large company ($500 million revenue/year) or work in a small firm (10-100 lawyers)? I want a 2l SA job in a large firm.

[IAFG]

If I can't find a big law 1l summer job, do you guys think it would be better to work in the legal department of a large company ($500 million revenue/year) or work in a small firm (10-100 lawyers)? I want a 2l SA job in a large firm.

Depends on the work the firm does. Either they're equal or the company is better.

[hephaestus]

If I can't find a big law 1l summer job, do you guys think it would be better to work in the legal department of a large company ($500 million revenue/year) or work in a small firm (10-100 lawyers)? I want a 2l SA job in a large firm.

Are these actual options or are you a 0L?
But I would take the firm if it lead to potential post-graduation employment. If not, whichever you prefer.

[Anonymous User]

1L at MVP, top ~10% after 1st semester, good grades in undergrad (3.9x+) from a school in the region I was targeting (upper Midwest), as well as significant W/E prior to law school. I am certainly not IP secure (no hard science degree). I also have significant ties to the region (grew up there, went to high school there, went to undergrad there, my family lives there).

I am not a minority, so I only applied to firms in the region that I was targeting that offered 1L SA positions to non-IP and non-diversity candidates. That essentially meant I could apply for 6 positions. Of those around half did nothing but send me a rejection letter. With the other half I had some kind of an interview, telephonic or over skype, and was still dinged at 2/3 firms. However, I feel extremely lucky with the 1L SA I picked up as it was at my no.1 choice. I definitely feel that had my grades not been excellent 1st semester I would not have a 1L SA position. Even then, the firm I applied to actually increased their 1L SA class to 2 positions so they could hire me and another 1L from HYS. Had they not gotten the okay to hire two 1Ls the HYS student would have been taken over me. This is all at a non Vault 100 firm. They are a NLJ 250 firm. Take that for what it is worth. Also, the 2 firms that dinged me over the phone made that decision before receiving my grades.

I will say this, I was not available for in-face interviews over winter break, which I feel really hurt my applications. Also, all the firms I was applying to had 1 1L spot open and I had a feeling that even though they were not advertised as being diversity positions that they were probably quasi diversity positions.

[Anonymous User]

Some markets are definitely more receptive to 1Ls. It seem like southern small markets in particular are willing to hire 1Ls from top schools

Purely anecdotal, but it seems like a lot of people at UVA got 1L firm jobs this year relative to how rare it is. I and a handful of others got offers from firms in home/ small markets in the south, and I know a decent amount of people landed Texas and Atlanta as well. Have heard about 2 in DC and 1 in NY too

No idea what the total figures are, but just from talking to people it sounds like there is a solid amount, with a huge advantage to those who are from smaller cities in the south