Same Firm and Different Offices Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hey,

So I'm interviewing with a particular firm's San Francisco and New York offices during my school's OCI next week. It's going to be two separate interviews, do I need to have particular facts about each office?

The firm's websites and press releases make it difficult to tell which office does what. Obviously I can see from the NALP directory that one is more corporate focused and the other is more litigation focused. In the end however, I like both SF and NYC and this firm (that I like and have plenty to talk about when it comes to their overall work) allows multiple interviews.

Will I need to be able to say, well your SF/NYC office did this and these things really interested me or can I just say "your firm as a whole did X case/deal and it sounded like my kind of work."

[Loose Seal]

You'll need to talk about the work the office does specifically. If someone came to an interview for the DC office of our NY firm raving about entertainment law (which we get little to none of in DC but more of in NY) we might think that perhaps our office was not the right fit for them.

Talk about the overall firm culture/reputation and talk a bit about other areas to the degree to which the offices are integrated and matters are cross-staffed, but if I were you I would focus more on the work of the particular office you are interviewing at.

[Anonymous User]

You'll need to talk about the work the office does specifically. If someone came to an interview for the DC office of our NY firm raving about entertainment law (which we get little to none of in DC but more of in NY) we might think that perhaps our office was not the right fit for them.

Talk about the overall firm culture/reputation and talk a bit about other areas to the degree to which the offices are integrated and matters are cross-staffed, but if I were you I would focus more on the work of the particular office you are interviewing at.

Thanks for the answer! While I've definitely seen firms that say our DC office does X and our NY office does Y, this firm seems to be a bit more nebulous so I'll need to do some serious homework.

Bonus question: When their OCI listing says that candidates can express preferences for other offices during the interview, is that a trap? If I'm interviewing for a firms NY office and they don't allow multiple interviews, is it a bad idea to say "Hey I'm also interested in your SF office too!"

[piccolittle]

To find out what kind of work is done in which office, look at attorney bios. I always search my preferred office + preferred practice to make sure it actually exists in that office.

[Anonymous User]

What about a situation where you're interviewing for one location, but the firm only sends people from other offices? The firm says it's interviewing for the location I want, so presumably I should still try to have a conversation about the location I want, while also slipping in things about the firm's reputation generally?

[Loose Seal]

Bonus question: When their OCI listing says that candidates can express preferences for other offices during the interview, is that a trap? If I'm interviewing for a firms NY office and they don't allow multiple interviews, is it a bad idea to say "Hey I'm also interested in your SF office too!"

I don't think you should mention this in your interviews with associates. You could mention it via email to the recruiting person while setting up your callback, though.

To find out what kind of work is done in which office, look at attorney bios. I always search my preferred office + preferred practice to make sure it actually exists in that office.

Agreed. The work that the partners are doing is probably instructive since it's somewhat easier to staff a matter with local people than with remote associates. (Although if you look at a few associate profiles and see that they are all working on very random matters, then perhaps the firm operates differently --- which may be an interesting question to ask in callbacks (work assigning, case management, cross-staffing, integration with other offices, etc.)

What about a situation where you're interviewing for one location, but the firm only sends people from other offices? The firm says it's interviewing for the location I want, so presumably I should still try to have a conversation about the location I want, while also slipping in things about the firm's reputation generally?

Focus on the work you want to do and the quality of the firm. If I were interviewing for the NY office, I'd be less swayed by "Aw, I love the culture of the NYO" and more swayed by a candidate who wants to do litigation or whatnot.

That said, it's kind of weird that they're sending people from another office, no? What's the point of that?

[Renne Walker]

Just call an alum at the firm and ask.