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People say you should have read up on the firm, their specialties, so that you can answer the "why us?" question, and also have an intelligent question to ask that couldn't be answered with a google search. E.g. Clifford is screening me tomorrow. I go to their website and its just vague mission statement type stuff. Where can I read more substantive stuff about them, like what their SA program is like, etc.

If you're asking this question the day before a screener, your entire career services office should probably be fired.

Anyway, use Chambers Associates/Partners, Vault, and, ideally, reach out to alumni from your school who work at the firm to get a better sense of firm culture, training programs, how deals are staffed, their practice areas, etc. Most screeners aren't particularly intensive in terms of requiring nuanced questions about the firm. You should, however, have a decent answer to "why this firm?"

The NALP directory will list their practices and how many attorneys in each office work in each department. If they have a lot of attorneys working in your area of interest that is a good start.

Chambers and partners will also lay out their specialties by individual offices. They also give "band" rankings based on the strength of each department. If an office has a band ranking in an practice area you are interested mention it in the interview as a reason you're interested in them.

Vault also has a large variety of nationwide rankings in practice areas, best law firms to work for, best summer programs, diversity, etc. That helped me create some questions to ask them.

As far as the company's website, almost all of them talk about their summer program in detail, but some might leave information out and you can fill the info gap with a question in the interview. The most important part of the company website in my opinion is researching the profile of your interviewer. They'll list their specialties, and usually some cases they've worked on. This will also help you learn who some of their clients are as well.

Another good place is Martindale. I didn't use this site much in my research though.

Also, the guy above me is correct. Your career services department sounds like they left you high and dry. How did you even know which firms you wanted to apply to?

TLS can have good info ...

How much are we really expected to know about each firm? For example, is saying that the firm has a highly ranked corporate practice, you like their assignment system, and they have great mentoring enough? Or is that not unique enough to each firm?

Anonymous User wrote:How much are we really expected to know about each firm? For example, is saying that the firm has a highly ranked corporate practice, you like their assignment system, and they have great mentoring enough? Or is that not unique enough to each firm?

Depends on the interviewer. I had one who didn't look at my resume at all and just started to chat with me about life experiences, another who went "by the book" in terms of interview questions.

I feel like generally the more experienced the interviewer or the longer they have been doing this, the less likely they are to ask you why a particular firm.

You are going to be totally fine. The extent of my screener research was generally two minutes on vault while waiting outside the door, and I converted better than half my screeners. Maybe try taking the whole "it is so hard to differentiate firms on paper; chambers, vault, etc. don't seem to say anything meaningful; what is unique of about x firm's culture/practice compared to its peer firms?/why is it advantageous to work here as opposed to x competitor?" angle.

Your interviewers will empathize with that because they've been through the same thing and faced the same issue. I think it's a better look than asking some obscure question about some meaningless feature of firm life just to show you did your homework.

When asked why this particular firm, just go with something like "well it certainly had a great reputation and has the kind of work I most want to do, but right now I'm trying to get a feel for various firm cultures and trying to ascertain what's going to be the best fit."

Shit works ime, didn't do really any research and got legit offers. Doesn't mean you should be reckless but I'm just saying knowing shit from the website is not a necessary condition for success.

Random Question... If a firm sends a generic email that they look forward to your interview tomorrow and at the end says to stop by their hospitality suite if you have time, should that be taken as virtually mandatory? Or is it really only if you have time?

Anonymous User wrote:Random Question... If a firm sends a generic email that they look forward to your interview tomorrow and at the end says to stop by their hospitality suite if you have time, should that be taken as virtually mandatory? Or is it really only if you have time?

I'd definitely go just as a precaution, worst case scenario you spend 20-30 minutes there but at least you show your face and more importantly, show your interested. I've read on here some firms are real stiffs about people showing up to their hospitality suites and make an effort to check who did and did not show up there.

Anonymous User wrote:Random Question... If a firm sends a generic email that they look forward to your interview tomorrow and at the end says to stop by their hospitality suite if you have time, should that be taken as virtually mandatory? Or is it really only if you have time?

Depends. Some firms don't care, some keep lists of who shows. Like the above anon said, you should go as a precaution.

If we don't wind up having time to hit all the hospitality suites, should we shoot recruiting an email apologizing for not making it? I have 10 interviews on tuesday, the same day a bulk of my firms have suites.

Also, does anyone know what firms definitely keep lists?

Anonymous User wrote: Also, does anyone know what firms definitely keep lists?

this isn't a thing. Hospitality sweets ~= reception