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What do I do?
I mass mailed a good amount of places. Keep mailing or is it over?

Also I hear I should leverage any connections I have and to network my ass off. I don't have any connections though. Also, how do you network with partners who were alumni at your school? Do I just email and ask if I could ask them questions over the phone? How do you transition from that to "here's my resume"?

Yes keep applying to every place you would consider working at next summer.

Also, you're going about networking the wrong way. You can't just network now and expect that to lead to a job for next summer. Cultivating a relationship that can potentially lead to a job (not necessarily with the firm of the person you are networking with) takes time and doesn't happen overnight.

Expand your search both geographically and by job. Look beyond firms to government jobs that can position you to apply again as a 3L with good experience, start looking for in-house gigs, apply to small/mid-sized firms in any/every city.

You keep applying forever until you get your first job.

Kratos wrote:Expand your search both geographically and by job. Look beyond firms to government jobs that can position you to apply again as a 3L with good experience, start looking for in-house gigs, apply to small/mid-sized firms in any/every city.

Has biglaw ship sailed?

Anonymous User wrote:

Kratos wrote:Expand your search both geographically and by job. Look beyond firms to government jobs that can position you to apply again as a 3L with good experience, start looking for in-house gigs, apply to small/mid-sized firms in any/every city.

Has biglaw ship sailed?

Well I'm a 2L so I dunno, I was just offering the advice I've heard. But if you haven't applied to every big firm in the country yet you should. I'd keep following up with everyone that hasn't dinged you, while also broadening your job search. Like what else are you gonna do except keep applying to stuff?

Kratos wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Kratos wrote:Expand your search both geographically and by job. Look beyond firms to government jobs that can position you to apply again as a 3L with good experience, start looking for in-house gigs, apply to small/mid-sized firms in any/every city.

Has biglaw ship sailed?

Well I'm a 2L so I dunno, I was just offering the advice I've heard. But if you haven't applied to every big firm in the country yet you should. I'd keep following up with everyone that hasn't dinged you, while also broadening your job search. Like what else are you gonna do except keep applying to stuff?

Study.
I'm at a crossroads. I'm so behind in my classes but at the same time, I don't know if I should be hustling for the job search.

This sucks.

Anonymous User wrote:

Kratos wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Kratos wrote:Expand your search both geographically and by job. Look beyond firms to government jobs that can position you to apply again as a 3L with good experience, start looking for in-house gigs, apply to small/mid-sized firms in any/every city.

Has biglaw ship sailed?

Well I'm a 2L so I dunno, I was just offering the advice I've heard. But if you haven't applied to every big firm in the country yet you should. I'd keep following up with everyone that hasn't dinged you, while also broadening your job search. Like what else are you gonna do except keep applying to stuff?

Study.
I'm at a crossroads. I'm so behind in my classes but at the same time, I don't know if I should be hustling for the job search.

This sucks.

Apply to jobs on simplicity, get your clerkship stuff together, set up a meeting with career services, and call in any imaginable connections you have

mr.hands wrote: Apply to jobs on simplicity, get your clerkship stuff together, set up a meeting with career services, and call in any imaginable connections you have

OP here
I have no connections.
Clerkship is out for me. I don't have any relationships with professors that are strong enough so that they'd go to bat for me (I've only been to office hours a few times).
Career services hasn't been much help at all. Reading between the lines, I can tell they're basically saying I'm f*cked.
I'm applying to jobs on simplicity. I'm mass mailing a few in-house positions but it seems there are only a few.

Any idea where I should hit for biglaw (or if I should still continue mass mailing biglaw)?
I've mailed all of the V100's for NY and other major markets where I have ties. I hit some of the NLJ250 for NY, and smaller markets.
Is it even worth sending out to secondaries where I have no ties to (ie: Texas, Florida, etc.)? Or should I focus on grades?

FYI: I median at T14 if that makes a difference

If you're median at T14 you aren't fucked. Find 2 professors whose classes you did better than average in , give them your resume, get letters of rec . Then apply to state clerkships in your home market.

Even if they're useless, talk to CSO. You don't have anything to lose. You just beds something at this point. Why on earth wouldn't you meet with them?

mr.hands wrote:If you're median at T14 you aren't fucked. Find 2 professors whose classes you did better than average in , give them your resume, get letters of rec . Then apply to state clerkships in your home market.

Even if they're useless, talk to CSO. You don't have anything to lose. You just beds something at this point. Why on earth wouldn't you meet with them?

How competitive would I be for biglaw after a state clerkship?
Also, if I go for a clerkship, wouldn't I have to give up 3L OCI + need to find something for 2L summer anyway? (Sorry I'm not familiar with the process).
Also, how come I need to apply for clerkships now instead of 3L year?

Anonymous User wrote:

mr.hands wrote:If you're median at T14 you aren't fucked. Find 2 professors whose classes you did better than average in , give them your resume, get letters of rec . Then apply to state clerkships in your home market.

Even if they're useless, talk to CSO. You don't have anything to lose. You just beds something at this point. Why on earth wouldn't you meet with them?

How competitive would I be for biglaw after a state clerkship?
Also, if I go for a clerkship, wouldn't I have to give up 3L OCI + need to find something for 2L summer anyway? (Sorry I'm not familiar with the process).
Also, how come I need to apply for clerkships now instead of 3L year?

I misremembered your situation, thought you were a 3L. (I'm mixing these threads up). Yeah you definitely aren't fucked.

Meet w CSO, keep mailing, and make relationships w professors now in anticipation for next year. Go to office hours, sign up to be a TA/RA. Fed clerkships aren't out for post grad. I know of several people who missed big law and got district court clerkships post grad.

You need to start this process now though. Mailing, meeting CSO, connecting a profs, trying to create connections in your home market, etc .

Clerkships hire fairly far in advance - people now apply for after graduation as 2Ls. Some judges want to see three semesters of grades, some hire earlier. For state clerkships, look at the Vermont guide to state clerkships (your CSO can point you to it and give you the password) - if I remember a ton of states hire in the spring of 2L, but there are some that hire during 2L summer and maybe a few that hire in 3L fall.

I know people who got biglaw out of state clerkships (and who didn't do biglaw their 2L summer). It's not a given at all, but it can happen - most likely in the same state. The people I know who did it hustled like crazy - they spent most of the year of their clerkship making connections/hustling (joining/going to Inns of Court, going to CLEs, having coffee with whoever'd talk to them, joining local bar associations, volunteering to do stuff for those bar associations).

People also did fairly well getting state government gigs out of state clerkships (no idea if that's something you're interested in, of course).

I struck out. Since I am a transfer, my CSO told me to 'reevaluate my plan' after fall semester grades come out.

Will firms be annoyed if I just mass-mail them again?

bsktbll28082 wrote:I struck out. Since I am a transfer, my CSO told me to 'reevaluate my plan' after fall semester grades come out.

I had the same experience a couple years ago and CSO also told me to try again after fall grades (and tried to talk me out of even trying for big firms going forward). I ignored the advice and networked my way to a 2L summer associate position (didn't receive the offer until March). I leveraged that into a V5 offer from mass-mailing as a 3L (again, when CSO had told me not to waste my time).

Everyone has a different experience and not everyone is as fortunate as I have been, but I agree that you should keep pushing as hard as you can until you have a job. Keep chasing your dream jobs while devoting equal time to less prestigious and more realistic options. It will work out in the end, but getting from where you are now to where you end up is going to be a daily struggle until things work out.

Anonymous User wrote:

bsktbll28082 wrote:I struck out. Since I am a transfer, my CSO told me to 'reevaluate my plan' after fall semester grades come out.

I had the same experience a couple years ago and CSO also told me to try again after fall grades (and tried to talk me out of even trying for big firms going forward). I ignored the advice and networked my way to a 2L summer associate position (didn't receive the offer until March). I leveraged that into a V5 offer from mass-mailing as a 3L (again, when CSO had told me not to waste my time).

What kind of networking did you engage in during this process? Did you leverage older connections, go to school functions, etc.?

bsktbll28082 wrote:Will firms be annoyed if I just mass-mail them again?

What exactly do you have to lose?

BigZuck wrote:

bsktbll28082 wrote:Will firms be annoyed if I just mass-mail them again?

What exactly do you have to lose?

Wait.
You mean mass mail them even after you got rejected?
Wouldn't it hurt your chances for 3L OCI if they get annoyed by you?

Anonymous User wrote:

BigZuck wrote:

bsktbll28082 wrote:Will firms be annoyed if I just mass-mail them again?

What exactly do you have to lose?

Wait.
You mean mass mail them even after you got rejected?
Wouldn't it hurt your chances for 3L OCI if they get annoyed by you?

I guess I didn't read it closely enough, I thought they were talking about emailing firms where there has been radio silence

If it was a ding I would probably wait until this summer to try again