Top Law Schools

A place to share your funny or bizarre stories from OCI

1. I had an interview with an alum that our school's ocs told me to contact because he was "very interested in bringing some current student to his firm."

Alum: how do you like [our law school]?
Me: It's fine. I met some interesting people and I learned a lot, and not just about law.
Alum: [Our school] is neither fine nor interesting.
Me: ...
Alum: so what do you want to do?
Me: I'm interested in litigation. I'm on [journal/moot court/mock trial]
Alum: that has nothing to do with litigation
Me: ...
Alum: so have you had [former full time professor currently a judge]?
Me: Not yet, thought he gave a lecture before appellate briefs were due and it was very helpful.
Alum: [Currently a judge] is an asshole

Not sure how often lawyers call judges assholes during screening interviews. but no CB.

(Reposted from my PLIP thread post)

I was scheduled for a 9:55 interview with an associate and two partners from Quinn Emanuel. I arrived at 9:40, and sat on the chair until 9:54 at which time I knocked on the door. Three minutes later I knocked again, and this time their associate answered (concerned look on his face) and explained that the two partners had not yet arrived. He then went to peek over the balcony to see if they were down below.... and the door closed/locked behind him. After the color drained from his face, he explained had to run down to the lobby to find the others / get a new key. The three arrived together at 10:10, leaving me ~4 minutes by the time we got into the room and sat down. Rather than apologizing or offering to reschedule, the two partners decided the time was better spent bashing my SA (Fortune 100 company) in an incredibly unprofessional manner. Needless to say, every bit of my bias against Quinn has been absolutely confirmed. I have no interest in speaking with them again.

Similar to above about interviewers' timing.

Had 1:30pm interview with firm, first one of the interviewer's day. There was a package outside of his door, and the door was slightly ajar. Regardless, knocked at 1:30pm, then again at 1:35pm. Interviewer (one partner) walked in breathless at 1:40pm from the elevator and apologized profusely about taking up my time. He proceeded to walk around setting up as I sat there, and we sort of had the first 5 minutes of the interview on the fly as he walked around pulling out materials and I sat on the chair.

Later, he opened the package and made bemused comments about the stuff as he handed me the swag gift. He had to keep poking his head out for the later people at their scheduled times to say that he came in late, and tried coming out after another girl when he realized he didn't give away the swag gift that time. He recognized me, then jokingly asked whether I wanted 3 more of them. At that point I jokingly suggested he make a sign that he was behind schedule, but I think he eventually got caught up at the break.

All in all, adorably flustered nice guy , and I wouldn't mind at all if I had to work for them.

Spent half my Dentons interview joking with the interviewer about how their new logo looks like a purple crayon (she's the one who brought it up, too).

Callback interview at 10am about an hour drive away. Didn't drink my normal amount of coffee beforehand - I usually have a cup around 6:30am and again around 9:00. I didn't drink any because I was worried about being late and was off my normal routine. Apparently I'm really addicted to caffeine since the lack of coffee gave me a headache. It was pretty mild for the first 3 interviews, painful for the fourth, full on migraine by lunch. I was super nauseus at lunch. Tried to power through, sort of picking at the appetizers, tried to drink a bunch of water thinking that might help. It did not help. I barely made it to the bathroom mid-appetizer course where I threw up the entire contents of my stomach, which at that point was mostly water. As I was kneeling in the bathroom, focusing on not getting vomit on the sleeves of my suit, I felt pretty certain that I'd reached the low-point of the day. I was sadly mistaken. Maybe five minutes into the drive home I was hit by another wave of nausea. Tried to get off the freeway so I could pullover and vomit out the side of the car, but I didn't have nearly enough time. Instead I threw up on myself and all over the drivers seat and car dashboard. I pulled over and tried to sort of clean it up but couldn't find a gas station and didn't have anything helpful on me and had no change of clothes. Ended up driving the rest of the way home, almost an hour, covered in the remains of the salad I had attempted to eat at lunch. Besides that I thought the interview went pretty well.

TL;DR my dry-cleaner hates me.

Attorney from Kirkland began interview bashing the top 30 school I transferred from. Explaining how Kirkland would not have even answered the phone from the top 30 school. Needless to say I am not expecting a callback...

Anonymous User wrote:Attorney from Kirkland began interview bashing the top 30 school I transferred from. Explaining how Kirkland would not have even answered the phone from the top 30 school. Needless to say I am not expecting a callback...

This is so weird, the attorney from Kirkland I interviewed with was a transfer to the school I transferred to, we spent like half the interview talking about how great the community at the new school is, how to integrate as a transfer, joking about life in the town I transferred to. So I wouldn't count on it yet, they aren't completely non-transfer friendly (though maybe your douchebag interviewer blew it for you with his stuffy attitude).

Partner from Cahill. All day, seemed to find joy out of seeing how uncomfortable he could make you. One word answers. Silence. Five people, including top students, just couldn't take it and left the interview early. My favorite: "tell me about a time you had a problem (as he looks at his phone and yawns)." Just an absolute jackass.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Attorney from Kirkland began interview bashing the top 30 school I transferred from. Explaining how Kirkland would not have even answered the phone from the top 30 school. Needless to say I am not expecting a callback...

This is so weird, the attorney from Kirkland I interviewed with was a transfer to the school I transferred to, we spent like half the interview talking about how great the community at the new school is, how to integrate as a transfer, joking about life in the town I transferred to. So I wouldn't count on it yet, they aren't completely non-transfer friendly (though maybe your douchebag interviewer blew it for you with his stuffy attitude).

I think this goes to show that firms are not homogenous and will have douchebags. Kirkland hires transfers all the time (if anything they fit in more with the culture), and also takes people directly from schools like Fordham, Tulane and Emory. Don't know why that associate in particular was talking so negatively.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Attorney from Kirkland began interview bashing the top 30 school I transferred from. Explaining how Kirkland would not have even answered the phone from the top 30 school. Needless to say I am not expecting a callback...

This is so weird, the attorney from Kirkland I interviewed with was a transfer to the school I transferred to, we spent like half the interview talking about how great the community at the new school is, how to integrate as a transfer, joking about life in the town I transferred to. So I wouldn't count on it yet, they aren't completely non-transfer friendly (though maybe your douchebag interviewer blew it for you with his stuffy attitude).

I think this goes to show that firms are not homogenous and will have douchebags. Kirkland hires transfers all the time (if anything they fit in more with the culture), and also takes people directly from schools like Fordham, Tulane and Emory. Don't know why that associate in particular was talking so negatively.

Patton Boggs set up a panel at my school for 1Ls and the attorneys backed out at the last minute, but someone from recruiting did show up. Her big piece of OCI advice, which she talked at length about, was "sometimes the firms have to send the asshole." August, after all, is prime vacation time.

Anonymous User wrote:Callback interview at 10am about an hour drive away. Didn't drink my normal amount of coffee beforehand - I usually have a cup around 6:30am and again around 9:00. I didn't drink any because I was worried about being late and was off my normal routine. Apparently I'm really addicted to caffeine since the lack of coffee gave me a headache. It was pretty mild for the first 3 interviews, painful for the fourth, full on migraine by lunch. I was super nauseus at lunch. Tried to power through, sort of picking at the appetizers, tried to drink a bunch of water thinking that might help. It did not help. I barely made it to the bathroom mid-appetizer course where I threw up the entire contents of my stomach, which at that point was mostly water. As I was kneeling in the bathroom, focusing on not getting vomit on the sleeves of my suit, I felt pretty certain that I'd reached the low-point of the day. I was sadly mistaken. Maybe five minutes into the drive home I was hit by another wave of nausea. Tried to get off the freeway so I could pullover and vomit out the side of the car, but I didn't have nearly enough time. Instead I threw up on myself and all over the drivers seat and car dashboard. I pulled over and tried to sort of clean it up but couldn't find a gas station and didn't have anything helpful on me and had no change of clothes. Ended up driving the rest of the way home, almost an hour, covered in the remains of the salad I had attempted to eat at lunch. Besides that I thought the interview went pretty well.

TL;DR my dry-cleaner hates me.

That sounds awful!

During one of my CBs I had an interviewer talk for 45 mins about the state of his firm in comparison to its competitors. He was very specific. He did not ask me one question and ran 15 mins into my next interviewers time.

Anonymous User wrote:During one of my CBs I had an interviewer talk for 45 mins about the state of his firm in comparison to its competitors. He was very specific. He did not ask me one question and ran 15 mins into my next interviewers time.

That sounds like a good thing IMO (like he was trying to convince you to choose the firm and didn't have to ask you anything more)

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:During one of my CBs I had an interviewer talk for 45 mins about the state of his firm in comparison to its competitors. He was very specific. He did not ask me one question and ran 15 mins into my next interviewers time.

That sounds like a good thing IMO (like he was trying to convince you to choose the firm and didn't have to ask you anything more)

Perhaps, I guess we'll see if I get an offer, but his negative tone and mention of specific partner names at other firms was very strange and unsettling.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:During one of my CBs I had an interviewer talk for 45 mins about the state of his firm in comparison to its competitors. He was very specific. He did not ask me one question and ran 15 mins into my next interviewers time.

That sounds like a good thing IMO (like he was trying to convince you to choose the firm and didn't have to ask you anything more)

Perhaps, I guess we'll see if I get an offer, but his negative tone and mention of specific partner names at other firms was very strange and unsettling.

This happens. Some partners are more competitive (and vocal) than others. I wouldn't read too much into it/assume that is the firm-wide mentality.

Anonymous User wrote:Partner from Cahill. All day, seemed to find joy out of seeing how uncomfortable he could make you. One word answers. Silence. Five people, including top students, just couldn't take it and left the interview early. My favorite: "tell me about a time you had a problem (as he looks at his phone and yawns)." Just an absolute jackass.

What school was this at?

.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Partner from Cahill. All day, seemed to find joy out of seeing how uncomfortable he could make you. One word answers. Silence. Five people, including top students, just couldn't take it and left the interview early. My favorite: "tell me about a time you had a problem (as he looks at his phone and yawns)." Just an absolute jackass.

What school was this at?

If you think you had a similar experience, it's the same school. It was a parade of upset people walking out of that hotel room. What a big, giant "fuck you" to an entire school.

Anonymous User wrote:Partner from Cahill. All day, seemed to find joy out of seeing how uncomfortable he could make you. One word answers. Silence. Five people, including top students, just couldn't take it and left the interview early. My favorite: "tell me about a time you had a problem (as he looks at his phone and yawns)." Just an absolute jackass.

"Right now" would be TCR

Interviewer at OCI was being incredibly rude to students. He told one girl in the first two minutes "I hope you know we have a very small class size, and we take only the cream of the crop. That isn't you."

Hey at least he's not BS-ing right? But wait...

Then he proceeds to do a 26 minute interview (going 6 minutes over into the next interviewers time slot) in which he trashes her resume ("I see you do a lot of X work...do you REALLY think that's going to help you get a firm job?" "You've never worked for a law firm, do you even want to be a lawyer?") and asking her behavioral questions, to which he responds multiple times with "That's actually a good answer...you'd make a good lawyer one day if you get a firm to take a chance on you."

She was so upset afterwards, poor thing. Turns out he said similar things to a lot of people.

I spent most of a screener explaining the structure of major-junior and minor-league hockey and how the NHL draft works. The interviewer kept on asking questions, apparently utterly fascinated.

Anonymous User wrote:Interviewer at OCI was being incredibly rude to students. He told one girl in the first two minutes "I hope you know we have a very small class size, and we take only the cream of the crop. That isn't you."

Hey at least he's not BS-ing right? But wait...

Then he proceeds to do a 26 minute interview (going 6 minutes over into the next interviewers time slot) in which he trashes her resume ("I see you do a lot of X work...do you REALLY think that's going to help you get a firm job?" "You've never worked for a law firm, do you even want to be a lawyer?") and asking her behavioral questions, to which he responds multiple times with "That's actually a good answer...you'd make a good lawyer one day if you get a firm to take a chance on you."

She was so upset afterwards, poor thing. Turns out he said similar things to a lot of people.

Lawyers are dicks. More at 11.

Anonymous User wrote:(Reposted from my PLIP thread post)

I was scheduled for a 9:55 interview with an associate and two partners from Quinn Emanuel. I arrived at 9:40, and sat on the chair until 9:54 at which time I knocked on the door. Three minutes later I knocked again, and this time their associate answered (concerned look on his face) and explained that the two partners had not yet arrived. He then went to peek over the balcony to see if they were down below.... and the door closed/locked behind him. After the color drained from his face, he explained had to run down to the lobby to find the others / get a new key. The three arrived together at 10:10, leaving me ~4 minutes by the time we got into the room and sat down. Rather than apologizing or offering to reschedule, the two partners decided the time was better spent bashing my SA (Fortune 100 company) in an incredibly unprofessional manner. Needless to say, every bit of my bias against Quinn has been absolutely confirmed. I have no interest in speaking with them again.

Quinn is a gimmicky joke of a law firm anyway. They're losing more cases than they're winning nowadays, so if you end up at almost any other biglaw firm you'd be better off.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Partner from Cahill. All day, seemed to find joy out of seeing how uncomfortable he could make you. One word answers. Silence. Five people, including top students, just couldn't take it and left the interview early. My favorite: "tell me about a time you had a problem (as he looks at his phone and yawns)." Just an absolute jackass.

What school was this at?

By any chance, was the interviewer's initials DH?