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Came across a neat NALP form of the sort I hadn't seen before: http://www.law.northwestern.edu/career/ ... y_2013.pdf.

It's detailed placement data for C/O 2012 at NU, including information about where people got jobs. Look at page 8 of the PDF. A total of 17 people got job offers at firms of 50+ attorneys through mailings, or 11% of those so employed. That's a substantial source of jobs for people who presumably were by and large not successful at OCI.

Similar chart from Michigan, showing 20 people getting a job from mailing: http://www.law.umich.edu/careers/classs ... rt2012.pdf.

Don't be one of those assholes who fails to mass-mail. And by "fail to mass mail" I mean all the stupid shit people do short of giving mass-mailings a 100% effort--waiting until you get that last rejection from OCI to start mailing, not casting a wide net, applying to just a few firms at a time, stopping all mailing efforts when you get a callback, etc. Start mailing in late summer a little before OCI, and keep doing it until you have a job offer in writing. There's 350 firms in the NLJ 350--you should apply to as many of them as you can make a case for.

Any idea when to start 3L mailing? 8/1?

Mentioned this in the NW OCI thread, there is a great thread on mass mailing from last year, which I didn't find.

Though it may still be stickied for all I know.

NYSprague wrote:Mentioned this in the NW OCI thread, there is a great thread on mass mailing from last year, which I didn't find.

Though it may still be stickied for all I know.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=215200

rayiner wrote:Don't be one of those assholes who fails to mass-mail. And by "fail to mass mail" I mean all the stupid shit people do short of giving mass-mailings a 100% effort--waiting until you get that last rejection from OCI to start mailing, not casting a wide net, applying to just a few firms at a time, stopping all mailing efforts when you get a callback, etc. Start mailing in late summer a little before OCI, and keep doing it until you have a job offer in writing. There's 350 firms in the NLJ 350--you should apply to as many of them as you can make a case for.

Thanks for this. I have a question about the bolded.

I'm at CCN. My goal is TX but I am open to other southern cities or NYC. I only have ties to a small southern state with few jobs.

1. Is being from another southern state good enough for, say, Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville?

2. How to handle the where else are you applying question? I'm planning on bidding TX/NYC at OCI. Both OCS (for whatever they're worth) and TX-bound 2/3Ls said to be very careful about applying too broadly.

Anonymous User wrote:

rayiner wrote:Don't be one of those assholes who fails to mass-mail. And by "fail to mass mail" I mean all the stupid shit people do short of giving mass-mailings a 100% effort--waiting until you get that last rejection from OCI to start mailing, not casting a wide net, applying to just a few firms at a time, stopping all mailing efforts when you get a callback, etc. Start mailing in late summer a little before OCI, and keep doing it until you have a job offer in writing. There's 350 firms in the NLJ 350--you should apply to as many of them as you can make a case for.

Thanks for this. I have a question about the bolded.

I'm at CCN. My goal is TX but I am open to other southern cities or NYC. I only have ties to a small southern state with few jobs.

1. Is being from another southern state good enough for, say, Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville?

2. How to handle the where else are you applying question? I'm planning on bidding TX/NYC at OCI. Both OCS (for whatever they're worth) and TX-bound 2/3Ls said to be very careful about applying too broadly.

Re: 1) I'm not really sure, but I'd imagine so. I applied in Atlanta, but had gone to undergrad there so nobody really asked me "why Atlanta?"

Re: 2) Be careful about bidding too broadly because you have a limited number of bids, and want to make sure you thoroughly cover a market. There's nothing wrong with applying broadly. Asking "where else are you applying?" is a shit question and doesn't warrant your replying with full disclosure. Tell TX firms "I'm focusing on TX" and NYC firms "I'm focusing on NYC" and quickly change the subject to why you really want to work in their market.

I'd add that this advice should apply to basically everyone, regardless of school/grades. At my T14 I knew people in the top 10% in three classes ('11-'13) who did not get an offer from OCI, and several more who came dangerously close to striking out. Your bidding strategy may turn out to be terrible, you may turn out to be a much worse interviewer than you anticipate, etc. Until you have an offer, no firm is beneath you.

Anonymous User wrote:I'd add that this advice should apply to basically everyone, regardless of school/grades. At my T14 I knew people in the top 10% in three classes ('11-'13) who did not get an offer from OCI, and several more who came dangerously close to striking out. Your bidding strategy may turn out to be terrible, you may turn out to be a much worse interviewer than you anticipate, etc. Until you have an offer, no firm is beneath you.

Also, you can mass-mail the "top" firms if you don't get an interview at OCI for whatever reason. I am summering at a V5 and didn't interview with them at OCI.

I don't begin my summer internship until July. Should I include it now in my resume as a prospective experience or should I wait until July before mass mailing?

I was #1 in the class after 1L year and still mass-mailed almost a dozen firms that weren't coming to my school's OCI. Almost accepted an offer at one of them, too.

Nobody is above mass-mailing as a rising 2L. It may well be the highest payoff-to-effort ratio action you take in your entire career.

Anonymous User wrote:I don't begin my summer internship until July. Should I include it now in my resume as a prospective experience or should I wait until July before mass mailing?

"Summer 2014." But I wouldn't mass-mail before July in any case.

Hipster but Athletic wrote:Any idea when to start 3L mailing? 8/1?

Around there or a week earlier. I have a number of posts back in my history that speak to the 3L OCI process. Not going to dig through now, but you might find some helpful.

OutCold wrote:

Hipster but Athletic wrote:Any idea when to start 3L mailing? 8/1?

Around there or a week earlier. I have a number of posts back in my history that speak to the 3L OCI process. Not going to dig through now, but you might find some helpful.

TYFT. It was helpful.

How do you handle targeted cover letters? For firms with a wide variety of specialties. Can you just mention a few things you are interested in that they do?