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Title pretty much says it all. Rising 3L at a strong regional targeting patent work. This includes a couple or scenarios. One is a few firms I interviewed with at OCI and wasn't offered after a callback because I didn't have the requisite experience in their fields at the time, but will by the time OCI comes around again I will have gained that experience. For example, these firms employ a lot of EE's, but I have a different background.

The other scenario would be firms where I have gotten to know a partner (in some cases, the managing partner) throughout law school, and would be very interested in their firm if the opportunity arose.

How do I go about reaching out without saying "hey I expect to get an offer from my current firm, but I'm very interested in your firm as well. Since you know me, I hope you stick me at the top of the pile?" Is there a way to do this without it being obvious I'm just trying to leverage them for a job?

Bump

It's going to be obvious either way, but for scenario #2, why not just ask the partner to coffee or lunch and talk generally about their firm and all that. They all know it's OCI/job hunting season and that 99% of the reason a law student asks a partner for their time is because they want a job (even if the conversation never explicitly goes there because that's just how it works socially).