What's with all these pre-OCI offers? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I know six people now that have v50 offers already at my lower t14. Big grade range too, anywhere from below median to top 10%, and none of them had 1L SAs. I'm also lucky enough to have one- I was prepared for an OCI bloodbath but people are making it rain with offers, pre-OGI. IS BIGLAW BACK?

[Anonymous User]

I'm a clerk and I noticed the same thing among our summer interns. I think 3/4 have summer offers lined up already (one with Quinn, which is known to hire early), so it does seem like a really strange cycle. I think the firms are doing to OCI what judges did to the Plan...

[nsideirish]

People are reading TLS and mass mailing!!

[09042014]

OCI has been moving sooner and sooner and sooner for a while. I think some firms are trying to crash the gates a bit. Quinn must be doing well with their system. A lot of law students talk about it as if it were Boies or something. Lol.

[Anonymous User]

OCI has been moving sooner and sooner and sooner for a while. I think some firms are trying to crash the gates a bit. Quinn must be doing well with their system. A lot of law students talk about it as if it were Boies or something. Lol.

Law is a competitive and prestige-driven field and everyone wants to be better than their classmates. Having an offer a month before anyone else does is a huge ego boost and also allows you to go into OCI with a lot more confidence. It also means that Quinn gets to plant a seed in your mind that is able to grow significantly before you even think about other firms. I know a number of people who would not have even thought about going to Quinn a few months ago, but are seriously considering it now that they have an offer.

[Anonymous User]

wait, how are these people getting offers (assuming without 1L SAs)? via mass mail? I can only think of one firm, Quinn, that actually actively recruits students pre OCI...

[piccolittle]

wait, how are these people getting offers (assuming without 1L SAs)? via mass mail? I can only think of one firm, Quinn, that actually actively recruits students pre OCI...

Yes, via mass mail. It seems like most firms actually consider mass mail applications; it was rare for me to be told to wait for OCI (I think it happened once).

[Anonymous User]

wait, how are these people getting offers (assuming without 1L SAs)? via mass mail? I can only think of one firm, Quinn, that actually actively recruits students pre OCI...

Yes, via mass mail. It seems like most firms actually consider mass mail applications; it was rare for me to be told to wait for OCI (I think it happened once).

interesting; so we are talking about a Quinn type of process? i.e. straight to CB --> offer?

[Anonymous User]

I was able to get a straight to callback interview with a firm through an alum. Networking can lead to a lot of things pre-OCI.

[Anonymous User]

wait, how are these people getting offers (assuming without 1L SAs)? via mass mail? I can only think of one firm, Quinn, that actually actively recruits students pre OCI...

Yes, via mass mail. It seems like most firms actually consider mass mail applications; it was rare for me to be told to wait for OCI (I think it happened once).

interesting; so we are talking about a Quinn type of process? i.e. straight to CB --> offer?

Depends on the firm. One person I know went screener --> callback--> offer, another screener --> offer, one Quinn and another just from reaching out to an attorney at the firm. But the offers are out there, and it seems like if waiting for OCI was an OK strategy before it is probably less of so now. A lot of firms are actively recruiting through their alumni, receptions, and mass mails. Every offer they give out pre-OCI is one less they will have available at OCI.

If this is a new strategy by firms to get good candidates early, its working. One person with an offer at UVA has declined like 75% of their pre-selects already because they think they would not take those firms over their current offer. If this trend continues, and top firms have law students TURNING DOWN interviews with them, they will recruit sooner too.

Might as well just have OCI as soon as 1L grades come out and drop the bullshit 1L jobs.

[Anonymous User]

wait, how are these people getting offers (assuming without 1L SAs)? via mass mail? I can only think of one firm, Quinn, that actually actively recruits students pre OCI...

Yes, via mass mail. It seems like most firms actually consider mass mail applications; it was rare for me to be told to wait for OCI (I think it happened once).

interesting; so we are talking about a Quinn type of process? i.e. straight to CB --> offer?

Depends on the firm. One person I know went screener --> callback--> offer, another screener --> offer, one Quinn and another just from reaching out to an attorney at the firm. But the offers are out there, and it seems like if waiting for OCI was an OK strategy before it is probably less of so now. A lot of firms are actively recruiting through their alumni, receptions, and mass mails. Every offer they give out pre-OCI is one less they will have available at OCI.

If this is a new strategy by firms to get good candidates early, its working. One person with an offer at UVA has declined like 75% of their pre-selects already because they think they would not take those firms over their current offer. If this trend continues, and top firms have law students TURNING DOWN interviews with them, they will recruit sooner too.

Might as well just have OCI as soon as 1L grades come out and drop the bullshit 1L jobs.

To add to this, I know of another student (also UVA) who accepted a non-Quinn early offer and declined all his/her preselects/alternates. I believe he/she had 40+ too. Recruiting is definitely going to move up as firms see candidates being picked off early.

[Anonymous User]

I just really didn't want to do OCI. It seemed like exactly the place I didn't want to be, so I mass mailed the a bunch of V20 offices, did some callbacks, and got enough offers to skip. I started grinding really early though.

[baal hadad]

OCI has been moving sooner and sooner and sooner for a while. I think some firms are trying to crash the gates a bit. Quinn must be doing well with their system. A lot of law students talk about it as if it were Boies or something. Lol.

This is my thoughts

[Anonymous User]

Depends on the firm. One person I know went screener --> callback--> offer, another screener --> offer, one Quinn and another just from reaching out to an attorney at the firm. But the offers are out there, and it seems like if waiting for OCI was an OK strategy before it is probably less of so now. A lot of firms are actively recruiting through their alumni, receptions, and mass mails. Every offer they give out pre-OCI is one less they will have available at OCI.

If this is a new strategy by firms to get good candidates early, its working. One person with an offer at UVA has declined like 75% of their pre-selects already because they think they would not take those firms over their current offer. If this trend continues, and top firms have law students TURNING DOWN interviews with them, they will recruit sooner too.

Might as well just have OCI as soon as 1L grades come out and drop the bullshit 1L jobs.

To add to this, I know of another student (also UVA) who accepted a non-Quinn early offer and declined all his/her preselects/alternates. I believe he/she had 40+ too. Recruiting is definitely going to move up as firms see candidates being picked off early.

I am another UVA student and I know of multiple offers being extended already. I have also been approached by a couple of firms about doing callbacks pre-OCI. I got those through networking, but I think it may be the new normal.

[Chrstgtr]

To those who received offers already:
What was your timeline?
When did you mass mail?
When did you interview/receive offers?

[Anonymous User]

I am in LA and it seems like no firms have extended offers yet. Are the firm's getting in on the action early mainly NYC or East coast offices?

[Anonymous User]

To those who received offers already:
What was your timeline?
When did you mass mail?
When did you interview/receive offers?

V20 mass mailer above.

I started emailing July 1, setup most of the interviews over the next week or so, interviewed 7/11-7/22 and had most my offers 2-3 days after the callback. I had 7 offers in by the 24th (All NY and DC).

[Anonymous User]

Are we talking about regional firms/offices or mega nyc/dc firms (v20)?

[Anonymous User]

Are we talking about regional firms/offices or mega nyc/dc firms (v20)?

V5 NY firms and top non-W&C/Covington DC offices.

[Anonymous User]

To those who received offers already:
What was your timeline?
When did you mass mail?
When did you interview/receive offers?

Mine came through networking. I made an informational phone call to an alumni partner during the Spring semester and asked a few questions about the market and the firm. I also bid on the firm at a job fair, so they had my resume/transcript (although that job fair had not occurred at the time of my callback). Around mid-summer, I made a visit to the city and got coffee with an alumni associate, making sure that the partner knew this was happening. About a week later, the partner got in contact about setting up a full callback pre-OCI. This was a V20 in a large, secondary market to which I had little/no ties.

For the record, I also know for a fact that Cravath is doing early callbacks.

[Anonymous User]

Top DC firm here as well, got offered two weeks ago. Know of V50 NYC offers. The time is now

[txdude45]

So... from the looks of things, OCI is going the way of the dinosaur for the top shops. Damn.

[Anonymous User]

Should we be mass mailing firms we already have OCI screeners with in that case?

[Anonymous User]

You gave yourself away with that reference to "OGI."

Anyway, the West Coast is in on the game as well. I have received an offer from a V10 in CA already. I did this simply by mass mailing and hitting up all their recruiting events. I think luck played a big role, too, but I think mass mailing should definitely be on everyone's radar.

[Anonymous User]

FWIW It seems CSO is aware of this trend at my t-14 and does not appear to be happy about it. For many reasons I'm sure, but I'd imagine they are not looking forward to the phone call when a V20 that did not recruit early wants to know why so many students backed out of their interviews.