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Am I Screwed?
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 11:34 pm
by Anonymous User
2L. No SA for summer. Offer for internship with OGC for large company. If I do this, how screwed am I? Company doesn't hire right out of law school. Will I be unemployed before taking the bar, after taking the bar? Median grades at a T10, no strong W/E but a few fairly good internships. Am I just destined to have a terrible life doing doc review?
Obviously nothing more than speculation can come from this, but I'm interested. Based on TLS forums I'm pretty sure I am just screwed.
Re: Am I Screwed?
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 11:36 pm
by bobtyme
Anonymous User wrote:2L. No SA for summer. Offer for internship with OGC for large company. If I do this, how screwed am I? Company doesn't hire right out of law school. Will I be unemployed before taking the bar, after taking the bar? Median grades at a T10, no strong W/E but a few fairly good internships. Am I just destined to have a terrible life doing doc review?
Obviously nothing more than speculation can come from this, but I'm interested. Based on TLS forums I'm pretty sure I am just screwed.
I'm more of an advise-seeker on here than an advise-giver but here it goes: I graduated bottom 30% of my class at a tier-2 but managed to get a pretty decent associate position with a 100+ atty firm. If i can do it, you can do it.
Re: Am I Screwed?
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 11:45 pm
by Anonymous User
bobtyme wrote:
I'm more of an advise-seeker on here than an advise-giver but here it goes: I graduated bottom 30% of my class at a tier-2 but managed to get a pretty decent associate position with a 100+ atty firm. If i can do it, you can do it.
Thank you. I know everyone's circumstances differ, and the general feeling on TLS can be pretty negative. BUT there's no set equation, believe me.
Re: Am I Screwed?
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 11:57 pm
by bobtyme
OP: are you kind of like biglaw or bust? I wonder what the T-14 sentiment is on finding employment. I imagine you wouldn't want to touch a mid-size firm job with a 10 foot pole.
Re: Am I Screwed?
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 11:58 pm
by TTRansfer
You're not completely screwed. I know a number of people who have landed firm gigs during 3L year here at GW. Just bust ass the rest of the year and try and ace the classes you have.
Re: Am I Screwed?
Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 12:04 am
by bobtyme
TTRansfer wrote:You're not completely screwed. I know a number of people who have landed firm gigs during 3L year here at GW. Just bust ass the rest of the year and try and ace the classes you have.
So by "firm gig" you mean biglaw right?
Re: Am I Screwed?
Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 12:24 am
by jbagelboy
Striking out at 2L OCI just means you have to hustle a lot more than your classmates with standing offers, and you probably won't come out with six figures. Doesn't mean you can't reach that eventually. Roughly ~30-35% of your classmates at MVB (and maybe 25-30% at P) are in a similar boat. People seem to be in and out of the vale regularly, but it takes persistence. If your current summer offer won't lead to employment after graduation, you'll have to perform as best you can this semester and mass-mail/network the shit out of the summer and fall semester.
Re: Am I Screwed?
Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 12:25 am
by bobtyme
jbagelboy wrote:Striking out at 2L OCI just means you have to hustle a lot more than your classmates with standing offers, and you probably won't come out with six figures. Doesn't mean you can't reach that eventually. Roughly ~30-35% of your classmates at MVB (and maybe 25-30% at P) are in a similar boat. People seem to be in and out of the vale regularly, but it takes persistence. If your current summer offer won't lead to employment after graduation, you'll have to perform as best you can this semester and mass-mail/network the shit out of the summer and fall semester.
What kind of firms are you referencing?
Re: Am I Screwed?
Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 12:29 am
by jbagelboy
bobtyme wrote:jbagelboy wrote:Striking out at 2L OCI just means you have to hustle a lot more than your classmates with standing offers, and you probably won't come out with six figures. Doesn't mean you can't reach that eventually. Roughly ~30-35% of your classmates at MVB (and maybe 25-30% at P) are in a similar boat. People seem to be in and out of the vale regularly, but it takes persistence. If your current summer offer won't lead to employment after graduation, you'll have to perform as best you can this semester and mass-mail/network the shit out of the summer and fall semester.
What kind of firms are you referencing?
Huh? Referencing? I'll let other people jump in with more specifics on 3L OCI/mass-mailing. I imagine this depends in part of markets OP has ties to and would be targeting, ect.
Re: Am I Screwed?
Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 12:34 am
by bobtyme
jbagelboy wrote:bobtyme wrote:jbagelboy wrote:Striking out at 2L OCI just means you have to hustle a lot more than your classmates with standing offers, and you probably won't come out with six figures. Doesn't mean you can't reach that eventually. Roughly ~30-35% of your classmates at MVB (and maybe 25-30% at P) are in a similar boat. People seem to be in and out of the vale regularly, but it takes persistence. If your current summer offer won't lead to employment after graduation, you'll have to perform as best you can this semester and mass-mail/network the shit out of the summer and fall semester.
What kind of firms are you referencing?
Huh? Referencing? I'll let other people jump in with more specifics on 3L OCI/mass-mailing. I imagine this depends in part of markets OP has ties to and would be targeting, ect.
What I mean is are you saying either biglaw or nothing?
Re: Am I Screwed?
Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 12:52 am
by OutCold
bobtyme wrote:jbagelboy wrote:bobtyme wrote:jbagelboy wrote:Striking out at 2L OCI just means you have to hustle a lot more than your classmates with standing offers, and you probably won't come out with six figures. Doesn't mean you can't reach that eventually. Roughly ~30-35% of your classmates at MVB (and maybe 25-30% at P) are in a similar boat. People seem to be in and out of the vale regularly, but it takes persistence. If your current summer offer won't lead to employment after graduation, you'll have to perform as best you can this semester and mass-mail/network the shit out of the summer and fall semester.
What kind of firms are you referencing?
Huh? Referencing? I'll let other people jump in with more specifics on 3L OCI/mass-mailing. I imagine this depends in part of markets OP has ties to and would be targeting, ect.
What I mean is are you saying either biglaw or nothing?
The only one who has said anything about biglaw in this thread is you. If you miss out at OCI, finding any kind of firm job takes quite a bit of hustle. Smaller firms have smaller recruiting needs and are harder to locate since they generally don't recruit on the same timeline. They also aren't as grade-sensitive, and networking can actually play a role. All this is to say--he's not at all locked out of a firm job, it's just going to take a lot more effort to find one, and it's far from a safe bet.
Re: Am I Screwed?
Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 1:02 am
by bobtyme
Marketing yourself as the girl or guy who does it all, gets coffee, does your laundry, babysits, and happens to also do legal work. That's how you get an associate position outside of OCI. You become the lawyer who does it all for the partner.