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1L from CCN here. I am going to be in NYC this summer and was hoping to spend part of my time trying to secure a job for my 2L summer. I would love to skip out on OCI if at all possible. I'm hoping to target a handful of firms (Debevoise, Cleary, Magic Circle firms). Still figuring out my approach and whether or not this is actually feasible.

Has anyone successfully bypassed OCI by interviewing over the summer? I'd love to get some tips.

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amce12 wrote:1L from CCN here. I am going to be in NYC this summer and was hoping to spend part of my time trying to secure a job for my 2L summer. I would love to skip out on OCI if at all possible. I'm hoping to target a handful of firms (Debevoise, Cleary, Magic Circle firms). Still figuring out my approach and whether or not this is actually feasible.

Has anyone successfully bypassed OCI by interviewing over the summer? I'd love to get some tips.

Patent folks have been doing this by attending PLIP at end of summer instead and have offers before fall OCI starts.

Probably depends on the firm, but it's possible. It's definitely worth your time to network as much as you can over the summer.

I tried to do this. I contacted a bunch of firms in my home market while I was interning, and I got quite a few interviews before OCI, but it seemed like the firms wanted to hold off on decisions until they were selecting their OCI hires. I didn't end up getting an offer until well after OCI. So it probably won't save you from doing OCI, in any event.

Edit: I should note that this was during the really bad years, when firms were canceling entire summer classes, so that may have had an impact on firms' decisions.

Why do you want to skip OCI? Firms like Cleary and Debevoise have lots of peer firms, most of whom won't think about interviewing you until you go through OCI. Even if you have an offer before OCI you should see what's out there.

Definitely doable via Quinn... which doesn't even participate in OCI anymore. I know someone who accepted an offer from QE last summer and skipped OCI.

Of course, there is that whole "working for Quinn Emanuel" thing.

I'm not sure how early you have to bid, but couldn't you also use this to maximize your total number of interviews. Over the summer, if you interview with firms that will be at OCI, you could strike them off your bid list and free up extra space. Would that be feasible? Anyone done this?

It's a really great thing to do if you can nail down one offer before OCI.

That being said, I would definitely not skip out on OCI even if that happens. As a commenter above noted, there are a lot of peer firms you're leaving out. What's your basis for saying which firms you are interested in?

welkertexasranger wrote:It's a really great thing to do if you can nail down one offer before OCI.

That being said, I would definitely not skip out on OCI even if that happens. As a commenter above noted, there are a lot of peer firms you're leaving out. What's your basis for saying which firms you are interested in?

This. Also agree that the chances of you securing an offer before OCI are slim, and foregoing OCI without an offer already in hand is utmost foolishness. No harm in trying, but don't bet on it.

What's so bad about OCI?

L’Étranger wrote:What's so bad about OCI?

have you...done OCI?

i managed to snag some firm offers before oci (hys), including quinn. so it's doable. you will need to meet grade cutoffs for quinn but even if you snag quinn, i'd still go through oci. you want to be in a position to choose between offers.

in restrospect, oci was a giant waste of time but i probably would have regretted not going through it.

hichvichwoh wrote:

L’Étranger wrote:What's so bad about OCI?

have you...done OCI?

Did.
It wasn't the funnest thing ever, but didn't think it was so bad.
But more so, feel like non-grade-screened/non-pre-select OCI is the reason to go to a T10. Not taking advantage of OCI at a T10 seems wasteful on principle.