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I'm fairly lucky in that a lot of my family are lawyers who are/have worked at big and regional firms in the area I want to work. I've been talking with those family members about the firms coming to OCI to get their thoughts on various firms as I put together my bid list. They've told me they can get me interviews with a number of the firms coming to OCI and put in a good word for me. So my question is do I waste bids on firms that I know my family can get me interviews with outside of OCI or what?

Are you bidding so many that you don't have room to put these at the bottom of your list so that they can pre-select you? The firm may prefer to interview you in the OCI process rather than outside of it, and by bidding them you give them that option.

In the same situation with a secondary market and I've been told if the firm is coming to OCI, you should bid them. If they aren't, use the connection in a cover letter.

I think the rationale was that you don't want the firm to think that you didn't want to "waste" a bid on them. Every firm wants to be your #1 choice.

OP here. So should I have my family members talk to the people they know before I interview at OCI? I don't know how much it helps but they know some of the hiring managers, managing partners, and general counsels at the firms I'm interested in. I'm also Top 20% at a top 20 school that's in the market I'm interested in but I feel that if I have those connections why not use them?

Thanks all.