h Forum

[klw90]

h

[gregfootball2001]

What's up everybody? Long time lurker, first time poster. I hope this topic is in the right thread....if not, I apologize.

So, to get started, I was fortunate to end my first year near the top of the class. My school's career service has recently posted OCI dates for all the big firms in Atlanta. I meet the requirements in order to get in the door and get an interview. While this is great, I am a little concerned in that I really don't know what to expect, or how intense the interview will be.

I have interviewed before, but most of them have been laid back, more conversational style interviews. Is there anyone on here that can shed light on what these big law interviews will be like? And further, what I should do to prepare myself to be ready for these interviews?

Thanks in advance. Again, if this post is not in the right place, I apologize and will gladly move it to where it's supposed to be.

They're mostly conversational. You won't be asked to analyze a legal problem or anything (at least not at the screener, and not at 98% of callbacks). Did your school not have mock interviews? You can probably ask (and, if you're nervous, you probably should ask) your Career Services to set a mock interview up.

Be able to say something about every single line on your resume.
Be able to talk about your writing sample.
Be able to talk about the firm and the people interviewing you.
You don't have to know what type of law you want to do, but if you do, make sure that office does it.
Look at the website, especially the part about the summer associate program.
Be able to answer questions like "Why law?" and "Why Atlanta?" and "Why did you go to this school?"
Be able to talk about your 1L summer in an interesting way.
If possible, leave yourself a few minutes between interviews in case someone's running late.
Have a question or two for them.

[wlee1220]

What's up everybody? Long time lurker, first time poster. I hope this topic is in the right thread....if not, I apologize.

So, to get started, I was fortunate to end my first year near the top of the class. My school's career service has recently posted OCI dates for all the big firms in Atlanta. I meet the requirements in order to get in the door and get an interview. While this is great, I am a little concerned in that I really don't know what to expect, or how intense the interview will be.

I have interviewed before, but most of them have been laid back, more conversational style interviews. Is there anyone on here that can shed light on what these big law interviews will be like? And further, what I should do to prepare myself to be ready for these interviews?

Thanks in advance. Again, if this post is not in the right place, I apologize and will gladly move it to where it's supposed to be.

They're mostly conversational. You won't be asked to analyze a legal problem or anything (at least not at the screener, and not at 98% of callbacks). Did your school not have mock interviews? You can probably ask (and, if you're nervous, you probably should ask) your Career Services to set a mock interview up.

Be able to say something about every single line on your resume.
Be able to talk about your writing sample.
Be able to talk about the firm and the people interviewing you.
You don't have to know what type of law you want to do, but if you do, make sure that office does it.
Look at the website, especially the part about the summer associate program.
Be able to answer questions like "Why law?" and "Why Atlanta?" and "Why did you go to this school?"
Be able to talk about your 1L summer in an interesting way.
If possible, leave yourself a few minutes between interviews in case someone's running late.
Have a question or two for them.

That "Why Atlanta" answer is super important. Make sure you have a tight, well-thought out response to that. Atlanta firms care a lot more about ties than most other cities and they'll probably not offer you if they don't believe you'll really come.

On the "why did you go to this school" tip, idk if you're at a HYS/GA/Southern law school, but I was asked this at each of my interviews. I actually got shit from one partner about choosing to turn down a GA school during OCI.