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I've heard of people getting offers before on-campus recruiting. Which V20 or V50 firms are known to do so? Anyone had experience getting an offer early? If so, did these come from attending the firm receptions in NYC/DC/SF/big cities, etc? Thanks!

I can't speak to specific ranges, but it's worth pointing out that having an offer pre-OCI can also impact how you perform during OCI so the benefits aren't necessarily limited to the offer itself.

I think pretty much all firms (with decent sized classes) will give pre-OCI offers (caveat being when your OCI is). Some of these offers are to formal legal assistants or others with a prior relationship with the firm. That wasn't the case for me.

My experience was that after bidding, I emailed all of the firms that I bid on but did not get interviews with basically saying "Hey my name is X, I'm a X at school X. I'd really like the opprotunity to interview with your firm, but unfortunately did not get an interview through my school's bidding process, etc." and attach a cover letter and resume.

Some firms ignored these, some firms said to drop by the hospitality suites so I basically chalked these up as losses. Other firms though actually tried to schedule interviews during OCI, so I got extra screeners this way.

The real wins are the places that will give you a phone screener and then just invite you straight in for callbacks. This happen with two firms for me, both of which I got offers from pre-OCI (V20, V30).

Stats at the time were lower T14, top 15%, LR. Consider myself a decent interviewer.

Without trying to sound like an asshole, I've now heard from many people that firms are moving quicker and quicker to try to lock up "top" candidates before other firms. I ultimately didn't accept either of my pre-OCI offers and am now at a V5.

Obligatory rankings are largely meaningless disclaimer (EXCEPT FOR NY TO 180K!!!!).

So seems like firms use pre-OCI interviews to lock in 'top candidates' and candidates at the cusp will get an advantage for showing interest early on.
But, what if you are a candidate with below-median GPA,(but with an impressive resume and decent interviewing skills)? Does it hurt your chances to get an offer/CB from the firm by doing pre-OCI? Is it more likely for you to get dinged during pre-OCI than at the actual OCI process?

Also, in terms of timeline how far ahead of the OCI does the pre-OCI screeners/CBs/offers begin?

If you know a partner at the firm you're interested in, how do you go about asking about this? I know our OCS explicitly has told us not to talk with firms pre-OCI, so I don't want to seem like I'm trying to be sneaky while simultaneously being sneaky.

Anonymous User wrote:I think pretty much all firms (with decent sized classes) will give pre-OCI offers (caveat being when your OCI is). Some of these offers are to formal legal assistants or others with a prior relationship with the firm. That wasn't the case for me.

My experience was that after bidding, I emailed all of the firms that I bid on but did not get interviews with basically saying "Hey my name is X, I'm a X at school X. I'd really like the opprotunity to interview with your firm, but unfortunately did not get an interview through my school's bidding process, etc." and attach a cover letter and resume.

Some firms ignored these, some firms said to drop by the hospitality suites so I basically chalked these up as losses. Other firms though actually tried to schedule interviews during OCI, so I got extra screeners this way.

The real wins are the places that will give you a phone screener and then just invite you straight in for callbacks. This happen with two firms for me, both of which I got offers from pre-OCI (V20, V30).

Stats at the time were lower T14, top 15%, LR. Consider myself a decent interviewer.

Without trying to sound like an asshole, I've now heard from many people that firms are moving quicker and quicker to try to lock up "top" candidates before other firms. I ultimately didn't accept either of my pre-OCI offers and am now at a V5.

Obligatory rankings are largely meaningless disclaimer (EXCEPT FOR NY TO 180K!!!!).

thanks for the advice! this is great