Top Law Schools

Hi Everyone,

I am at the stage in my career/at my firm where I feel like I'm actually hurting my career by staying here. There is no training, mentorship, professional development, etc. I went through a recruiter before but now want to cold-apply to biglaw firms through writing a tailored cover letter, and including my resume and transcript to the recruiting contacts at specific firms. Has anyone had success in doing something like this? Like a full offer came from this?

Please advise. Getting desperate here.

thecatgoesmeow wrote:Hi Everyone,

I am at the stage in my career/at my firm where I feel like I'm actually hurting my career by staying here. There is no training, mentorship, professional development, etc. I went through a recruiter before but now want to cold-apply to biglaw firms through writing a tailored cover letter, and including my resume and transcript to the recruiting contacts at specific firms. Has anyone had success in doing something like this? Like a full offer came from this?

Please advise. Getting desperate here.

I know the feeling Re the above. I really do.

That being said, frankly, this isn’t the way to job search for non-government positions.

Well to back up, unless you’re fed d court then circuit court, nobody is going to see your resume, freak out, and like make a position that didn’t exist before. The exception, I suppose, is if you apply to a large enough firm that entertains particularly impressive law clerks without other experience and then would work you in that way.

So the first thing is you need an open position. But, aside from government, I think that directly applying to open positions typically doesn’t work.

So what do you do? Pick 20 firms you want to work at, and make a spreadsheet. Cold email somebody who shares something in their background (preferably alma mater) and ask to network (but don’t use that word) at each firm. Make it so you have one internal contact at each firm and do this BEFORE there’s a position posted.

Once there’s a position posted, email them and ask them to submit you.

To the extent that you aren’t able to get to every firm in time, find a recruiter you trust to fill in the gaps. Even though recruiters cost firms money, they’ll get you interviews. Direct submissions typically won’t.

Good luck.

^ I disagree with some of the above. I applied to open positions and received 5 callbacks and 2 offers.

I think there is a huge misconception that firms like internal referrals. Yes, compared to paying a recruiter they’d rather pay their associate; however, sometimes hundreds of people apply to some of the more junior level positions. And from my experience, firms have no problem hiring someone from that pile of applications.

If your referral is some hot shot partner who speaks highly of you, that may differ. However, having a second year associate submit your resume so they can get that referral bonus isn’t going to help you.

You mentioned training, so I’m assuming you’re a second year, which is still pretty junior.

Anonymous User wrote:^ I disagree with some of the above. I applied to open positions and received 5 callbacks and 2 offers.

I think there is a huge misconception that firms like internal referrals. Yes, compared to paying a recruiter they’d rather pay their associate; however, sometimes hundreds of people apply to some of the more junior level positions. And from my experience, firms have no problem hiring someone from that pile of applications.

If your referral is some hot shot partner who speaks highly of you, that may differ. However, having a second year associate submit your resume so they can get that referral bonus isn’t going to help you.

You mentioned training, so I’m assuming you’re a second year, which is still pretty junior.

Okay I agree that “doesn’t work” is too harsh. Of course it works sometimes. That said, it’s easier to get rejected without an interview (I think) from a direct apply than from an associate or partner referral, particularly (in the case of the associate referral) if that associate is mid to senior and has a bit of a relationship with the recruiting coordinator.

If your credentials are lights-out (lateraling from similar firm, maybe throw a top 10% and a fedclerk or a t14 in there) then yeah, maybe don’t even bother networking and skip right to the direct applying part

But if you’re trying to climb up in the biglaw ladder or break into a small but prestigious boutique then, in my opinion, networking is the play

thecatgoesmeow wrote:Hi Everyone,

I am at the stage in my career/at my firm where I feel like I'm actually hurting my career by staying here. There is no training, mentorship, professional development, etc. I went through a recruiter before but now want to cold-apply to biglaw firms through writing a tailored cover letter, and including my resume and transcript to the recruiting contacts at specific firms. Has anyone had success in doing something like this? Like a full offer came from this?

Please advise. Getting desperate here.

Why the desire to avoid the recruiter? I doubt that most biglaw firms are going to hesitate to hire you because they want to avoid paying the recruiter. Are you wanting to move from one biglaw firm to another? You said you think you're not getting the training, mentorship, professional development that you want...without a recruiter, how are you going to assess what places are likely to give you those things? A GOOD recruiter will have insights that you don't have and can't get through the interview process.

I had a friend who was a district clerk in a flyover district, applied to WLRK through their website, and got an interview and offer. He told me his cover letter was more detailed than normal.

Anonymous User wrote:I had a friend who was a district clerk in a flyover district, applied to WLRK through their website, and got an interview and offer. He told me his cover letter was more detailed than normal.

I feel like you're burying the lead here. Was he valedictorian or something? There must've been something else on his resume to gain any acknowledgment from Wachtell from a cold app

misterjames wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I had a friend who was a district clerk in a flyover district, applied to WLRK through their website, and got an interview and offer. He told me his cover letter was more detailed than normal.

I feel like you're burying the lead here. Was he valedictorian or something? There must've been something else on his resume to gain any acknowledgment from Wachtell from a cold app

Gotta agree here... Feel like theres an "oh by the way, he went to Yale" coming.

SomewhatLearnedHand wrote:

misterjames wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I had a friend who was a district clerk in a flyover district, applied to WLRK through their website, and got an interview and offer. He told me his cover letter was more detailed than normal.

I feel like you're burying the lead here. Was he valedictorian or something? There must've been something else on his resume to gain any acknowledgment from Wachtell from a cold app

Gotta agree here... Feel like theres an "oh by the way, he went to Yale" coming.

lol. He did go to Yale. I was still surprised he got in by applying online and from a district ct. clerkship, so I thought it was a relevant data point for the OP's question of if anyone ever has success bypassing connections or recruiters.

Anonymous User wrote:

SomewhatLearnedHand wrote:

misterjames wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I had a friend who was a district clerk in a flyover district, applied to WLRK through their website, and got an interview and offer. He told me his cover letter was more detailed than normal.

I feel like you're burying the lead here. Was he valedictorian or something? There must've been something else on his resume to gain any acknowledgment from Wachtell from a cold app

Gotta agree here... Feel like theres an "oh by the way, he went to Yale" coming.

lol. He did go to Yale. I was still surprised he got in by applying online and from a district ct. clerkship, so I thought it was a relevant data point for the OP's question of if anyone ever has success bypassing connections or recruiters.

Ah, see that makes sense. Although I guess the one positive takeaway for others is that, based on this anecdote, we know someone in the recruiting department is at least looking at the application, even if it's just to do a quick check on certain credentials. That's actually more than I thought they would do, I figured these folks get so inundated they just ignore cold apps.

misterjames wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

SomewhatLearnedHand wrote:

misterjames wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I had a friend who was a district clerk in a flyover district, applied to WLRK through their website, and got an interview and offer. He told me his cover letter was more detailed than normal.

I feel like you're burying the lead here. Was he valedictorian or something? There must've been something else on his resume to gain any acknowledgment from Wachtell from a cold app

Gotta agree here... Feel like theres an "oh by the way, he went to Yale" coming.

lol. He did go to Yale. I was still surprised he got in by applying online and from a district ct. clerkship, so I thought it was a relevant data point for the OP's question of if anyone ever has success bypassing connections or recruiters.

Ah, see that makes sense. Although I guess the one positive takeaway for others is that, based on this anecdote, we know someone in the recruiting department is at least looking at the application, even if it's just to do a quick check on certain credentials. That's actually more than I thought they would do, I figured these folks get so inundated they just ignore cold apps.

I was thinking the same thing as the most recent poster I’m quoting here. Maybe recruiting staff have certain hys or Latin-phrase buzzwords to scan for. Hell, maybe it’s automated