Increasing Prevalence of Pre-OCI Interviews/Offers Forum

[John_Luther1989]

I'm curious as to what people make of what appears to be the increasingly common use of pre-OCI interviews (usually straight callbacks) to fill decent portions of summer classes among the more "desirable" firms and offices. Anecdotally -- I can really only speak to conversations I've had with people in the 2014-2017 -- it appears that more and more offers are being made this way over time. I know that at my T6 most black/latino candidates who took some initiative came into OCI with 1-2 offers. Thus far this summer, the same thing is starting to happen again, but now has expanded. While not as successful, a decent number of non-diverse rising 2Ls have secured pre-OCI offers and the class group as a whole seems to be getting the offers for a fairly wide range of locations, though still mostly NY.

Do people think this trend will continue and, if so, will OCI become less and less relevant and recruiting essentially starts earlier and earlier?

Personally, I don't think we're too far from a situation where -- for at least the top schools -- a very sizable portion of positions are filled before July even hits. Frankly, I wouldn't be shocked if a couple years from now some people are getting jobs in May either off 1 semester of grades or right after 2nd semester grades come out.

[Anonymous User]

I don't see schools ever going as far as hiring 2L SA's with only one semester of grades. Way too much can change between semesters for people, and it is too risky for firm reputations. Someone can be top 15% first semester and drop down to top 40-50% the next semester. No desirable firm wants that.

A lot of this might be selection bias too. You're at a T6, and drawing from pools of diverse candidates with probably decent to good grades. These are highly, highly desirable candidates for law firms, they know these kids will have lots of offers, and if they give them one earlier chances are better that they'll go with them over someone else. I would argue though that the majority of people in big law firms aren't those who had multiple offers, but those with 1,2, maybe 3 offers at most. These are kids from the rest of the T14, T20, top %s at other Tier 1 schools.

What's the incentive to hire early for the law firms once you get out of the top candidates at the top 6 schools? Sure they won't spend as long recruiting, but the candidate pool they'd have access to would drop significantly. Qualified out of state candidates would have to shell out travel expenses for one simple screener interview, because firms aren't wasting money on screeners, and a lot of people wouldn't even bother trying at that point. OCI exists because it's good for the law students (don't have to go anywhere, tons of employers in one spot) and for law firms (continued good reputations with schools who will steer students to those firms; access to lots of qualified students and filter out those who aren't getting CBs in a day rather than over a few weeks with individual applicants)

Some NY firms do this because they can get away with it and still get literally the BEST candidates, but I'd say you'd be hard pressed to find this happen in significant amounts anywhere else.

[Foghornleghorn]

There are a "fixed" number of Top 10% law students from the T14. Every top firm wants them. If you have those credentials OR are a URM/ offer some sort directly relevant WE, you might also fall into this category. At the top end of the market, firms are fighting over the talent. (Whether or not top grades correlate with top performance is another story). A V10/etc. has an incentive to make an offer to a blue chip early in the hopes that he/she will accept and skip OCI.

[Anonymous User]

Would you consider a "diversity" candidate thats top 1/3 at a t14 to be a blue chipper?

[pancakes3]

Would you consider a "diversity" candidate thats top 1/3 at a t14 to be a blue chipper?

Are you drowning in pre-OCI offers?