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What do you ask at these 1L receptions? I have my first one coming up in a couple days and need to know what the standard questions are! Thanks so much.

rshin12 wrote:What do you ask at these 1L receptions? I have my first one coming up in a couple days and need to know what the standard questions are! Thanks so much.

The most useful question I found is "what are your grade cutoffs"?
A friend of mine asked if the reception affected hiring in any way and was told quite candidly that you won't experience any real benefit, but if you do something memorable, it'll probably impact you negatively (to which I suggested to someone in my section that s/he should go streaking)

Ask about them. Their practice, how they get there, what they like about it, etc.

Protip: Person X in practice group Y at a firm will know fuck all about practice group Z and often fuck all about general firm stuff. Once you're on the inside, "the firm" quickly dissolves into the people and practice you spend time with. Since you won't know what that is when you meet a person, just ask them to tell you. People both love and have the ability to talk at length about themselves.

thesealocust wrote:Ask about them. Their practice, how they get there, what they like about it, etc.

Protip: Person X in practice group Y at a firm will know fuck all about practice group Z and often fuck all about general firm stuff. Once you're on the inside, "the firm" quickly dissolves into the people and practice you spend time with. Since you won't know what that is when you meet a person, just ask them to tell you. People both love and have the ability to talk at length about themselves.

TCR. /endthread

dingbat wrote:

rshin12 wrote:What do you ask at these 1L receptions? I have my first one coming up in a couple days and need to know what the standard questions are! Thanks so much.

The most useful question I found is "what are your grade cutoffs"?
A friend of mine asked if the reception affected hiring in any way and was told quite candidly that you won't experience any real benefit, but if you do something memorable, it'll probably impact you negatively (to which I suggested to someone in my section that s/he should go streaking)

First, this information should be available with career services. Second, the people at the reception probably won't know the cutoff for your school off the top of their head. Lastly, no... just don't do this. PLEASE don't be that guy. (Asking about grade cutoffs does reflect negatively btw)

rshin12 wrote:What do you ask at these 1L receptions? I have my first one coming up in a couple days and need to know what the standard questions are! Thanks so much.

You should say "Please give me a job it will really make my day!"

the trick is to drink enough until you become the life of the party

Yep, thesealocust strikes again with most useful advice in the thread. The trick is to bond with the associates by asking about them and their practice. This also gives you talking points that you can use later, and you can always name drop in interviews and talk about how much you enjoyed the receptions and chatting to everyone. It's a (professional) PARTY - treat it like an opportunity to get to know people and do not talk about hiring. Everyone is desperate, but don't be the one who lets it show.

Edit: I found people also like to talk about their law school experience - it's a common one that allows people to bond over shared memories. For example, you can ask "how did you get into your practice area; was there something you did in law school that started your interest in it?" or "do you have any advice about useful classes I should make sure to take, or professors I should take?" This is especially useful if they went to your school (which they probably did if it's a school-specific firm reception. I know it's hard to take the advice to be normal and not mention the fact that you want a job from them, but I always found that was most useful for a) surviving the reception without making a weird impression, and b) talking points in the future.

I'll add that the advice about asking them about their practice, how they ended up in it, etc., also applies in OCI and interviews. Nothing kills time like letting someone talk about him or her self. Plus, it is basic psychology that (1) asking questions about someone's life shows an interest in that person's life and (2) people like people who are interested in them.

I swear, during all callbacks, I inevitably asked them all about their area of practice, why they ended up in it, their job, how they liked the firm, etc., and it always went well. Plus it's an open ended topic - conversation flows and then BAM - interview over. If you can make it so that the interviewer ends the conversation because they've run out of time and not because there is nothing more to talk about, you've had a successful interview.