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1L here. After contacting law school alums I landed two information interviews with v50's in two weeks. Both were partners and had these meetings set up right away after I asked advice about transferring (to which they said no need). How helpful can these meetings be to the 2L job search? Anyone have great success from this or just blah. And also, any tips would be much appreciated.

Anonymous User wrote:1L here. After contacting law school alums I landed two information interviews with v50's in two weeks. Both were partners and had these meetings set up right away after I asked advice about transferring (to which they said no need). How helpful can these meetings be to the 2L job search? Anyone have great success from this or just blah. And also, any tips would be much appreciated.

I got my 1L summer job at a V50 in large part due to an informational interview with a partner who then asked if he could forward my resume on to their recruiter. It was clear he put in a good word for me, which I believed played a large part in "making the cut" for a screening interview. However, once you get the interview, it's all on you, but informational interviews are a great way of getting the initial interview. Good luck!

It's networking bro. It's very helpful, for a number of reasons. For example, you'll know more about the firms that you're going interview with your 2L fall than most of your classmates, which will help you to show a genuine interest in the firm. If you click with some of the partners who you meet, and keep in touch with them, some might go to bat for you. That is, it won't get you a job, but if they are on the hiring committee, they might try to get you votes from the rest of the hiring committee. Furthermore, it might get you some screening interviews outside of OCI that you might not have otherwise gotten. Try to do as many information interviews that you can during your 1L year--it can only help.

bump for success stories? tips? waste of time?

I did 5-6 of these. Ultimately they turned out to be a bit of a waste of time, but it's a good way to meet potentially cool people, see the inside of law offices, and generally get a feel for the life and a free meal, so you may as well.

Callbacks were 2x/3x easier for me if I had an earlier information interview. I just had more things to talk about and had better firm-specific questions to throw out there. It was worth it for that, if anything.

cookiejar1 wrote:Callbacks were 2x/3x easier for me if I had an earlier information interview. I just had more things to talk about and had better firm-specific questions to throw out there. It was worth it for that, if anything.

bump to add details. I was emailed by someone from HR to provide her with resume, transcript, writing sample prior to the "info interview". I am being interviewed by 2 partners who are alums at my school. Is that normal that they would ask for resume transcript etc?

Who knows - it might be an impromptu interview for the summer or they might just be collecting your information for future reference. Just go to the informational interview and enjoy yourself!

For what it's worth - I've been asked for my resume several times but typically so that the alumni associate/partner could give me tips or have something in front of them to talk about. Never was asked for a writing sample pre-OCI/formal application though - that one is strange.

I have an academic semester internship via an informational interview that I would have never gotten otherwise.

Anonymous User wrote:

cookiejar1 wrote:Callbacks were 2x/3x easier for me if I had an earlier information interview. I just had more things to talk about and had better firm-specific questions to throw out there. It was worth it for that, if anything.

bump to add details. I was emailed by someone from HR to provide her with resume, transcript, writing sample prior to the "info interview". I am being interviewed by 2 partners who are alums at my school. Is that normal that they would ask for resume transcript etc?

This sounds to me like they are pushing you to straight to CB status, which is great. Anytime you can have alums or someone who has an interest in pushing you, who is doing so, you should follow it through with enthusiasm. At minimum, this will be a good experience for you to get under your belt that you can mine later to inform your more "normal" interviewing experiences. I went through a series of these opportunities back when I was interviewing, none panned out to a job, but all helped me snag my ultimate job. Feel free to PM for more details.