Top Law Schools

I met with career services counselor and he advised me that absent an already existing connection to a firm (not a firm connection but a contact that I've had contact with or someone at that level) mass mailings were not useful.

This goes against the grain of what I see on TLS and other outlets, can someone with experience or even strong TLSy opinions give me an idea.

I'm Top 10% with Pless.

He is an idiot.

PlessFightsFire wrote:I met with career services counselor and he advised me that absent an already existing connection to a firm (not a firm connection but a contact that I've had contact with or someone at that level) mass mailings were not useful.

This goes against the grain of what I see on TLS and other outlets, can someone with experience or even strong TLSy opinions give me an idea.

I'm Top 10% with Pless.

You need to ask him how you can establish that first contact, is it through mass mailing?

Mass mail your heart out then send a polite email to your counselor saying, "suck it"

I got tons of interviews out of mass mailing. My success rate at them was huge, since they don't call you in unless they actually want you there (as opposed to my pure lottery OCI, where it sometimes felt like the firm was just humoring me, and waiting to end the 20 minutes). I converted almost every mass mailing interview into a CB, and a number of interviews, including the V15 SA I have now. Your counselor is a fool, and you should disregard that advice.

When should mass mailings go out, and what should be included? I'm thinking early July, and include cover letter, resume, and transcript.

FYI, I'm top 15% at a T2 in the PNW and this is where I want to practice.

What else should I consider?

Advice from a top 10 school counselor, just scribble your contact info on school letterhead, that work’s wonders.

Apparently some advisors are forever stuck in the wayback time machine. How can these people be sooooo out of touch??

wuduhel wrote:When should mass mailings go out, and what should be included? I'm thinking early July, and include cover letter, resume, and transcript.

FYI, I'm top 15% at a T2 in the PNW and this is where I want to practice.

What else should I consider?

You could try to target your cover letters to the firms that you are mailing to, but this tends to eat up a LOT of time if you're mass mailing more than 30-40. I'm also unsure how much of a bump a targeted cover letter actually gives you.

Early July seems a little early to me. I would think committees aren't yet gearing up for hiring season then, at thus your resume might get lost/forgotten about. Mid-late July seems better. But that's just speculation on my part.

Mass mailing probably isn't going to get most people very much much but that doesn't mean they shouldn't do it just in case. If you are top 10% you probably have a better shot than most people. I'd still try to target as many of your apps to specific firms as possible though.

Anonymous User wrote:I got tons of interviews out of mass mailing. My success rate at them was huge, since they don't call you in unless they actually want you there (as opposed to my pure lottery OCI, where it sometimes felt like the firm was just humoring me, and waiting to end the 20 minutes). I converted almost every mass mailing interview into a CB, and a number of interviews, including the V15 SA I have now. Your counselor is a fool, and you should disregard that advice.

Yeah this jives with what I've seen alot of on this site. Thanks for posting your personal experience, gotta say its frustrating that TLS has provided me with more information about pretty much anything than my law school.

How targeted/tailored were your cover letters?

PlessFightsFire wrote:
I'm Top 10% with Pless.

Normally I would agree with your career counselor. However, given that you're top 10% and Pless, you mihgt be able to get something out of mass mailing. Go for it, dude.

I think it works, and anyhow it don't cost nothin.
Maybe also contact an alum who is at the firm.

Your CSO is fucking retarded. If he said it might not be worth the time, etc., then that might be fair. However, it seems undisputed that people have gotten jobs through mass mailing. Since I'm pretty borderline for OCI, my CSO has strongly advised me to mass mail and seems pretty confident that I should be able to snag at least a couple of interviews out of it (maybe overly positive thinking). I realize our situations are different, but it seems like there is absolutely no reason not to do it unless there is something better you could be doing with your time (which is unlikely).

I got my job through mass mailing, and I think I stand a good chance of permanent employment.

Even if 99% of the time a person who massmailed didn't get anything, wouldn't you still do it, hoping to be that 1%?

IAFG wrote:Even if 99% of the time a person who massmailed didn't get anything, wouldn't you still do it, hoping to be that 1%?

Especially considering we're firing off hundreds of apps.

I got zero interviews thru OCI and three thru mass mailing, so I'm a believer

The career center at my school actually released a calender of things we should be doing and mass mailing is written on there.

I have a question that you all might be able to answer. What would be in a mass mail cover letter? I imagine it would have to be pretty general.

AreJay711 wrote:I have a question that you all might be able to answer. What would be in a mass mail cover letter? I imagine it would have to be pretty general.

I was wondering this too, like how specifically it should be tailored to the firm, besides the obvious parts.

This thread is further proof that career services is wrong quite frequently.

ilovesf wrote:

AreJay711 wrote:I have a question that you all might be able to answer. What would be in a mass mail cover letter? I imagine it would have to be pretty general.

I was wondering this too, like how specifically it should be tailored to the firm, besides the obvious parts.

I used a pretty generic cover letter but tailored one or two sentences in the first paragraph to each specific firm. Even that took a long time for 100+ letters but I think it was worth it. I ended up getting my job through OCI but I did get interviews through mass mailing.

So mass mailing works if you're in the top 10 or top 15, which isn't that surprising. Has anyone had success with it if they're ranked between top 20 and median at a non-T14 school?

Peg wrote:So mass mailing works if you're in the top 10 or top 15, which isn't that surprising. Has anyone had success with it if they're ranked between top 20 and median at a non-T14 school?

Yes. Me.

Unless you have a job you love through OCI, the potential benefits of mass mailing vastly outweigh the small cost of doing it. Regardless of whether you're top 5% at a T14 or median at a TT, the worst that can happen is the firm says no, which puts you in no worse a position than you're in anyway. If they say yes, though, then all manner of things might be well.

ilovesf wrote:

AreJay711 wrote:I have a question that you all might be able to answer. What would be in a mass mail cover letter? I imagine it would have to be pretty general.

I was wondering this too, like how specifically it should be tailored to the firm, besides the obvious parts.

It doesn't have to be general. If you spend a little time checking out the firm, you would be able to tailor the letter to certain practice areas. You can do semi-targeting, which is a lot better than completely generic. Cover letters serve the function of getting someone to actually read your resume. For some people, the first line is all that matters. See e.g., "I am a second year law student at Harvard . . . " But for others, it takes more substance. So depending on what your credentials are, you may have to work pretty hard to get someone to take your app/resume seriously.