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Recently I've been getting a lot of emails from random law students and recent grads of my alma mater, requesting that i forward their resume or speak with them re my firm.

Does this happen to anyone else? If so, what do you do?

Not a lawyer, but it seems the obvious answer would be to either ignore or respond to them. Whatever you want and/or have time to do. I'm one of those random law students. Most often lawyers were receptive. Sometimes I was ignored.

Lacepiece23 wrote:Not a lawyer, but it seems the obvious answer would be to either ignore or respond to them. Whatever you want and/or have time to do. I'm one of those random law students. Most often lawyers were receptive. Sometimes I was ignored.

yeah most ignored me back in the day

If you want to be nice, speak with them. If not, feel free to ignore (they'll just keep trying different attys).


The resume crap sounds like they're going too far, so you can ignore it or tell them they're being fucks.

RodneyRuxin wrote:If you want to be nice, speak with them. If not, feel free to ignore (they'll just keep trying different attys).


The resume crap sounds like they're going too far, so you can ignore it or tell them they're being fucks.

It was funny...one gave me a cover letter and transcript too. He added that it would be great if I could pass it along to someone who could do something for him. I didn't realize I was his secretary.

MoonDreamer wrote:Recently I've been getting a lot of emails from random law students and recent grads of my alma mater, requesting that i forward their resume or speak with them re my firm.

Does this happen to anyone else? If so, what do you do?

If they're law students, they're probably looking for shit to talk about during OCI re: your firm. If they're recent grads, they're desperate for a job.

If it were me, I'd answer questions if I had time. I remember trying to "network" prior to OCI so I'd have something to say other than the stupid crap on the websites of various firms. I appreciated the people who humored me.

NinerFan wrote:

MoonDreamer wrote:Recently I've been getting a lot of emails from random law students and recent grads of my alma mater, requesting that i forward their resume or speak with them re my firm.

Does this happen to anyone else? If so, what do you do?

If they're law students, they're probably looking for shit to talk about during OCI re: your firm. If they're recent grads, they're desperate for a job.

If it were me, I'd answer questions if I had time. I remember trying to "network" prior to OCI so I'd have something to say other than the stupid crap on the websites of various firms. I appreciated the people who humored me.

I just wonder what the protocol is...should I be forwarding to office manager or whomever?

Funny. I had a 3L e-mail me from my LS once asking if I had time to meet up and talk about the NY legal market, etc. (my LS was a few states away). The tone of the e-mail was sane and the person seemed genuine enough and I happened to have a slow week so I said why not. I met the person and we had lunch. Very nice kid. She had a job offer from a big firm (relative to the secondary market in which my school resided) and she was actually thinking about declining because she would rather "work in NYC."

Thankfully - I was able to stop her and take the job. I saved a life that day. Cause I assume that anyone that gives up a job at a top firm to compete as a jobless 3L in NYC (from a TTT law school), will ultimately try and kill-self just as soon as she realized what she had done.

reasonable_man wrote:Funny. I had a 3L e-mail me from my LS once asking if I had time to meet up and talk about the NY legal market, etc. (my LS was a few states away). The tone of the e-mail was sane and the person seemed genuine enough and I happened to have a slow week so I said why not. I met the person and we had lunch. Very nice kid. She had a job offer from a big firm (relative to the secondary market in which my school resided) and she was actually thinking about declining because she would rather "work in NYC."

Thankfully - I was able to stop her and take the job. I saved a life that day. Cause I assume that anyone that gives up a job at a top firm to compete as a jobless 3L in NYC (from a TTT law school), will ultimately try and kill-self just as soon as she realized what she had done.

Your a good person... Not being sarcastic. To the OP sorry I didn't really read the part about them sending u resumes and shit. Feel free to ignore that fuckery. For lack of a better term. I would never email someone I didn't know my resume and ask them to pass it along. If they wanted to connect to u or the firm thats different.

MoonDreamer wrote:

RodneyRuxin wrote:If you want to be nice, speak with them. If not, feel free to ignore (they'll just keep trying different attys).


The resume crap sounds like they're going too far, so you can ignore it or tell them they're being fucks.

It was funny...one gave me a cover letter and transcript too. He added that it would be great if I could pass it along to someone who could do something for him. I didn't realize I was his secretary.

If the tone/content particularly peed you off, you could forward to HR to warm against days person.


Anonymous because I'm sure I'd get a lot of shit for this, but, if they're that entitled/conceited/disrespectful/etc. then it's better the job goes to someone who isn't.

Anonymous User wrote:

MoonDreamer wrote:

RodneyRuxin wrote:If you want to be nice, speak with them. If not, feel free to ignore (they'll just keep trying different attys).


The resume crap sounds like they're going too far, so you can ignore it or tell them they're being fucks.

It was funny...one gave me a cover letter and transcript too. He added that it would be great if I could pass it along to someone who could do something for him. I didn't realize I was his secretary.

If the tone/content particularly peed you off, you could forward to HR to warm against days person.


Anonymous because I'm sure I'd get a lot of shit for this, but, if they're that entitled/conceited/disrespectful/etc. then it's better the job goes to someone who isn't.

Yeah I mean i have no ill-will but it's just so tactless. It's absolutely clear they were copy/pasting the same email and just replacing the firm name. THat was kind of annoying I guess.

MoonDreamer wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

MoonDreamer wrote:

RodneyRuxin wrote:If you want to be nice, speak with them. If not, feel free to ignore (they'll just keep trying different attys).


The resume crap sounds like they're going too far, so you can ignore it or tell them they're being fucks.

It was funny...one gave me a cover letter and transcript too. He added that it would be great if I could pass it along to someone who could do something for him. I didn't realize I was his secretary.

If the tone/content particularly peed you off, you could forward to HR to warm against days person.


Anonymous because I'm sure I'd get a lot of shit for this, but, if they're that entitled/conceited/disrespectful/etc. then it's better the job goes to someone who isn't.

Yeah I mean i have no ill-will but it's just so tactless. It's absolutely clear they were copy/pasting the same email and just replacing the firm name. THat was kind of annoying I guess.

Maybe if you do feel like being an alumni mentor for a day, the best thing you could do is respond and let them know (kindly) how it looks from your side of the table to receive an email like that.

I don't think this is horrible if it's coming from a 3L or a graduate. Sure they could go the whole "meet for coffee and learn more about your practice" shtick, but at this stage in the game they don't really need an informational interview. I think for 2Ls, yes they should play along.

I've read on this site a few stories of 3Ls mass mailing alumni with a similar approach (here's is my resume, if you could pass it along that would be great) and a few "claimed" to have had success. I guess different approaches work for different people. I guess if it were me I would prefer you just send me your resume and I forward it. We can skip the whole coffee bit, because we both know what you want. A job.

NinerFan wrote:

MoonDreamer wrote:Recently I've been getting a lot of emails from random law students and recent grads of my alma mater, requesting that i forward their resume or speak with them re my firm.

Does this happen to anyone else? If so, what do you do?

If they're law students, they're probably looking for shit to talk about during OCI re: your firm. If they're recent grads, they're desperate for a job.

If it were me, I'd answer questions if I had time. I remember trying to "network" prior to OCI so I'd have something to say other than the stupid crap on the websites of various firms. I appreciated the people who humored me.

And they're doing exactly what they should be in this regard. I am surprised that OP is surprised.

MoonDreamer wrote:Yeah I mean i have no ill-will but it's just so tactless. It's absolutely clear they were copy/pasting the same email and just replacing the firm name. THat was kind of annoying I guess.

On the one hand, yes they are probably mass-mailing so don't feel like you are personally insulting them if you ignore them. On the other hand, don't judge them for hustling. It's not tactless. They need a job and they're playing the numbers game. A LOT of 3Ls at certain schools are probably being told this strategy by their career services offices.

Tactless would be if they sent you a picture of their biceps.

Can I ask what people talk about over coffee? I did one conference call with like 3 dudes at a huge firm (parents at it up for me) and it was awkward as fuck. I have a couple more in person scheduled this summer by random chance and no clue what the point is. Especially since these guys work firms that won't hire me. Are these coffees to just meant to help you feel like you tried to do something when you end up on the street or is there an actual benefit to hearing, "get good grades, be a good dude, network a lot..."

jml8756 wrote:
Tactless would be if they sent you a picture of their biceps.

Wow mind blown. Dude seriously needs psychiatric help.

You could possibly parlay this into a free lunch.

NinerFan wrote:

MoonDreamer wrote:Recently I've been getting a lot of emails from random law students and recent grads of my alma mater, requesting that i forward their resume or speak with them re my firm.

Does this happen to anyone else? If so, what do you do?

If they're law students, they're probably looking for shit to talk about during OCI re: your firm. If they're recent grads, they're desperate for a job.

If it were me, I'd answer questions if I had time. I remember trying to "network" prior to OCI so I'd have something to say other than the stupid crap on the websites of various firms. I appreciated the people who humored me.

This is what it is.

It really is a nice thing when alumni who work at firms respond to e-mails from current students. Most current students don't have any way of obtaining more information about the firm's culture, the substantive content of/subjective differences between practice areas, etc. other than talking to real live attorneys. In some cases, the only real live attorneys a law student knows, besides his/her law school teachers and whoever they worked with over the summer, are alumni of their law school who work at firms. Consequently, such attorneys may be the only, or the best, source of information which some law students would have no other way to acquire.

It really is nice when alumni of my school who work at firms respond to my e-mails, because the majority of them don't. I don't believe in mass mailing; I don't spam my resume to random places. I contacted only the top 10 firms at my OCI out of a genuine interest in learning more about them in order to have something meaningful to say during OCI, as well as out of pure curiosity. Being able to associate a face, and a human personality, to an otherwise abstract and interchangeable firm's name, if an attorney agrees to meet me for coffee, takes a significant amount of the stress out of what is, inherently, the stressful and uncertain process of job-searching

I think it depends entirely on the tone of the email/letter. If they come across as entitled, you don't owe them shit. If they are being deferential and seem like nice people who just need a little guidance, I think it's good to pay it forward for the help you received at one time or another.

Anonymous User wrote:I don't think this is horrible if it's coming from a 3L or a graduate. Sure they could go the whole "meet for coffee and learn more about your practice" shtick, but at this stage in the game they don't really need an informational interview. I think for 2Ls, yes they should play along.

I've read on this site a few stories of 3Ls mass mailing alumni with a similar approach (here's is my resume, if you could pass it along that would be great) and a few "claimed" to have had success. I guess different approaches work for different people. I guess if it were me I would prefer you just send me your resume and I forward it. We can skip the whole coffee bit, because we both know what you want. A job.

Agree 100%. I've gotten lots of contacts, leads, and interviews from sending out my resume. I didn't mass mail but rather did targeted mailings. Selected female partners from my law school and sent it to them. It's extremely helpful and I wouldn't hesitate to respond to a student who reached out to me.

If they ask for a meeting, I usually say yes. If they cold-call and ask me to pass on resume, no, and I usually mention it to hiring committee.

We all know what you want, at least try to be tactful.

You shouldn't be asking for pass along until we've met several times, have a relationship, and I have something to actually say about you.

FWIW I'm at CCN and I've had very few alumni ignore me. I think it's pretty shiTTTy to ignore someone looking for advice before OCI.

If you go to a school where few did that for you, this is your chance to change that. Students will pay it forward--I know I will.

I've e-mailed a lot of alums and former clerks for my judge and 95% of them have been very helpful or at least very willing to talk. My take on it is really this:

Advice = Sure!

Meeting = Maybe. (Just because it's not something I personally do, but I probably would. I know your purpose is to get me to pass along your resume--but a meeting can determine whether I'd be inclined to do it or not. Semi-screener basically.)

Including your resume so i have an idea of whether i can help you = Good. There's very limited advice/help i can give to someone at the bottom of their class at my school, but, assuming I'm working at a firm and know attorneys around the area and everything, there's probably things I can do for someone at the top. It helps me frame whatever advice/stuff I'm going to chat about. I can also determine if I'm just going to pass along the resume or not--without having to ask for one.

Straight up sending me your application materials and asking to pass it along = WTF BRO. I'd still probably e-mail back to tell them that i'm happy to talk but what they did isn't going to work.

I'm a little confused why the OP is shocked about this. Apart from the tackless law students that send their resumes, it is known that people usually contact attorneys (especially junior associates) for advice about OCI. I spoke to a partner that said one of the reasons that junior attorneys have bios on his firm's reason is for this exact reason.