Mass mailing from non T-14 schools Forum

[Anonymous User]

Thought it'd be a nice way for us non-T-14ers to talk about massmailing. Top 10-15% and have sent out a couple hundred apps so far with just a few rejections and no call backs or screeners. Anyone else having better luck?

[Anonymous User]

One call back, one screener, and about 8 rejections so far. Better than nothing.

[hoos89]

Non T-14 is a pretty big range. If you're top 10-15% at a T20, I would expect you to have decent success mass-mailing. If you're at a TTT...not so much.

[Anonymous User]

Right outside top 20% at t20. 3 screeners, one straight to callback, plenty of rejections. Kicker: Didn't massmail new york (but am today).

[Anonymous User]

Just above median at Midwest T25.

Countless rejections or "not hiring at this point" for big-law firms. No callbacks yet, but also many favorable responses "will forward onto hiring committee/etc."
Multiple callbacks at Chicago mid-law firms around 50 attorneys.
Multiple callbacks/interviews/offers with small law offices in school market.

I would say it's very important for non-T14 people to tailor cover letters and find alumni within firms to ask to forward materials. Alumni actually care enough to respond in my experience. I would also apply to the main website/hiring chair for the bigger firms, but find an alumni within the actual office you want to work at to be your "advocate" and help avoid your application from being forgotten.

[Anonymous User]

Around median at a T30. 1 Screener->CB in New York V100, one direct to callback with a medium sized firm in a secondary. I've have one callback and am waiting, haven't had the direct to callback yet. Sent out around 150 mass mails.

[Anonymous User]

Non T-14 is a pretty big range. If you're top 10-15% at a T20, I would expect you to have decent success mass-mailing. If you're at a TTT...not so much.

T-40.

[PepperJack]

Right outside top 20% at t20. 3 screeners, one straight to callback, plenty of rejections. Kicker: Didn't massmail new york (but am today).

You should be having a lot of success. Did you mention rank in your subject line? If your school officially ranks then this needs to be marketed.

[PepperJack]

Around median at a T30. 1 Screener->CB in New York V100, one direct to callback with a medium sized firm in a secondary. I've have one callback and am waiting, haven't had the direct to callback yet. Sent out around 150 mass mails.

You're doing great.

[Anonymous User]

Non T-14 is a pretty big range. If you're top 10-15% at a T20, I would expect you to have decent success mass-mailing. If you're at a TTT...not so much.

T-40.

Advertise the rank. This school alone might not be getting your documents read.

[Anonymous User]

Non T-14 is a pretty big range. If you're top 10-15% at a T20, I would expect you to have decent success mass-mailing. If you're at a TTT...not so much.

T-40.

Advertise the rank. This school alone might not be getting your documents read.

What do you mean?

[Anonymous User]

Around median at a T30. 1 Screener->CB in New York V100, one direct to callback with a medium sized firm in a secondary. I've have one callback and am waiting, haven't had the direct to callback yet. Sent out around 150 mass mails.

How do you know when a mass mail goes directly to a CB? I got invited to an interview at a small firm (IP boutique) and have a date set, but he really hasn't told me the specifics of the interview (who I'll be interviewing with, the length of the interview, ext...). Since the firm is about a 2.5 hour drive away, I'm hoping it's a CB type interview, but I'm not really sure.

[Anonymous User]

Right outside top 20% at t20. 3 screeners, one straight to callback, plenty of rejections. Kicker: Didn't massmail new york (but am today).

You should be having a lot of success. Did you mention rank in your subject line? If your school officially ranks then this needs to be marketed.

School is GW, so we can only report Top 3rd. Any idiot can get a rough guide with a median calculator, but doing so can get us in big trouble.

[hoos89]

Around median at a T30. 1 Screener->CB in New York V100, one direct to callback with a medium sized firm in a secondary. I've have one callback and am waiting, haven't had the direct to callback yet. Sent out around 150 mass mails.

How do you know when a mass mail goes directly to a CB? I got invited to an interview at a small firm (IP boutique) and have a date set, but he really hasn't told me the specifics of the interview (who I'll be interviewing with, the length of the interview, ext...). Since the firm is about a 2.5 hour drive away, I'm hoping it's a CB type interview, but I'm not really sure.

It's usually pretty clear. I have been invited in for a screener in an out of town firm exactly once, and there was one where it wasn't clear, which I ultimately declined in large part because they wouldn't pay to bring me out. That said, your interview is with a boutique not a big firm, and it's reasonably close by and doesn't necessarily require that you spend the night. If you really want to know, you could just ask directly (it technically wouldn't be a callback, since that implies some initial interview has occurred, but ask whether there could be another round of interviews after this).

[PepperJack]

Right outside top 20% at t20. 3 screeners, one straight to callback, plenty of rejections. Kicker: Didn't massmail new york (but am today).

You should be having a lot of success. Did you mention rank in your subject line? If your school officially ranks then this needs to be marketed.

School is GW, so we can only report Top 3rd. Any idiot can get a rough guide with a median calculator, but doing so can get us in big trouble.

Yeah, so no don't do that, but put the GPA and the school name. Even if they don't know it off hand, it's obvious you would not list your GPA unless it was good. My reasoning for doing this is simply that the people reading these are people, are busy, and get lots of these emails. I think it would be naive to assume every e-mail gets opened. The inbox probably has 1000s of emails.

[Anonymous User]

So some people include school name and rank in the subject line? I'm top 10 at a TTT and mass mailing. Only other thing I have going for me is veteran status. But firms don't usually care about that.

[PepperJack]

Rank or GPA depending on your school's rules. Idk if it's common, but if it is beneficial to you, why not?

[Anonymous User]

Just outside of top 1/3 at a T-20. 100 or so mass mails, 1 screener at an ID firm. Looking at this thread I think I'm doing something wrong.

[Anonymous User]

Just outside of top 1/3 at a T-20. 100 or so mass mails, 1 screener at an ID firm. Looking at this thread I think I'm doing something wrong.

original OP here. I feel your pain. I feel like once your outside of the T-14, mass mailing is not very effective. I'm still doing it, but fuck, it'd be nice to at least get some bites.

[Anonymous User]

Top 5% at a regional T1. Got 1 straight to callback interview at a vault new york firm and one phone screener which lead to a callback interview in a secondary market where I did my undergrad. Besides that a couple dings but mostly radio silence.

[Anonymous User]

Top 20% at a TTTT. Have an EE degree and passed the patent bar. Looks like I struck out at the patent job fairs (had 20 screeners, 0 CBs so far). My school's OCI is pretty much nonexistent. Mass mailed to almost all CA firms with a patent practice and some others I didn't bid on at the job fairs. Received a couple interviews at small IP boutiques but I'm not sure if they hire people after summering there. One of the firms appears it will, the other appears it will not.

[lxhyss]

Around median at a T30. 1 Screener->CB in New York V100, one direct to callback with a medium sized firm in a secondary. I've have one callback and am waiting, haven't had the direct to callback yet. Sent out around 150 mass mails.

Congratulations! I am at the median of a lower T-14. I mass-mailed around 200 firms and got nothing. Your success, together with other successfully mass-mailing campaigns on TLS, makes me feel like there must be something wrong with my cover letter. I would really appreciate it if you could share with me your cover letter drafting technique. If you don't feel like posting please PM me. Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

Around median at a T30. 1 Screener->CB in New York V100, one direct to callback with a medium sized firm in a secondary. I've have one callback and am waiting, haven't had the direct to callback yet. Sent out around 150 mass mails.

Congratulations! I am at the median of a lower T-14. I mass-mailed around 200 firms and got nothing. Your success, together with other successfully mass-mailing campaigns on TLS, makes me feel like there must be something wrong with my cover letter. I would really appreciate it if you could share with me your cover letter drafting technique. If you don't feel like posting please PM me. Thanks!

+1.

[Anonymous User]

Just outside of top 1/3 at a T-20. 100 or so mass mails, 1 screener at an ID firm. Looking at this thread I think I'm doing something wrong.

original OP here. I feel your pain. I feel like once your outside of the T-14, mass mailing is not very effective. I'm still doing it, but fuck, it'd be nice to at least get some bites.

This is a bit of an over simplification. Plenty of people at T-14s have trouble mass-mailing, including many of those below median (i.e. half of the students). I'm at a T20 and have had great success mass-mailing (5 callbacks and several phone screeners so far), but I am also top 5% and have sent out ~315 applications to just about every major legal market. People can be deeper in their class and still have success at a T14, but most firms don't just ignore every application from people outside the T14.

If you're not having success, keep trying. Keep sending applications until you can't find any more firms to apply to, and then find more firms. Follow up with every firm that hasn't rejected you or offered you an interview after 2 weeks or so (try to find something to update your application with, but you can follow up even without that). If they still haven't gotten back to you after another 2 weeks, follow up again. Contact alumni at firms and say you're interested in talking about their firm if they have a few minutes to spare (don't just ask them to forward your resume). Don't stop until you have an offer in hand.

[Anonymous User]

Just outside of top 1/3 at a T-20. 100 or so mass mails, 1 screener at an ID firm. Looking at this thread I think I'm doing something wrong.

original OP here. I feel your pain. I feel like once your outside of the T-14, mass mailing is not very effective. I'm still doing it, but fuck, it'd be nice to at least get some bites.

Roughly top 1/3 at UT/Vandy, have had 8 screeners from mass mailing and one scheduled CB (dinged after one screener and haven't heard back from the other 6 yet). Sent out probably about 100 applications so far.

I made sure to target my letters and convey a genuine interest/reason for living in that market, and some knowledge of the firm's practice areas. So, if they do a lot of commercial litigation, I said I was interested in commercial litigation. Can't really think of any other advice other than just keep applying broadly. The screeners I have received have been across the board, from V50 firms, to midsize regional firms, to elite boutiques.