Any Tips for a Lateral Callback? Forum

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Any Tips for a Lateral Callback?

Post by Anonymous User » Tue May 07, 2019 10:56 pm

I have a callback coming up for a lateral move and it's my first lateral callback (and indeed my first biglaw callback since law school, because I clerked and went bigfed after). Any tips for the callback stage?

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Re: Any Tips for a Lateral Callback?

Post by Anonymous User » Tue May 07, 2019 11:18 pm

the biggest shock I had with my first lateral CB was how much the interviews focus on the job and your experience/expertise. My interviews weren’t like the generic oci callback interviews I was used to. So just be prepared with specific experiences/examples for why that specific job.

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Re: Any Tips for a Lateral Callback?

Post by Anonymous User » Fri May 10, 2019 2:35 pm

I'm actually relieved to hear that it won't be like the law school-style callback that was more general/generic questions. Thanks!

Any other tips/tricks/recommendations out there?

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Re: Any Tips for a Lateral Callback?

Post by Anonymous User » Fri May 10, 2019 4:20 pm

Anonymous User wrote:I'm actually relieved to hear that it won't be like the law school-style callback that was more general/generic questions. Thanks!

Any other tips/tricks/recommendations out there?
Depends on your practice and year. Mine were all very general with only some experience based questions, but I'm fairly junior.

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Re: Any Tips for a Lateral Callback?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon May 13, 2019 10:55 am

FWIW - I'm a 4-6th year in a somewhat niche practice area.

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Re: Any Tips for a Lateral Callback?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon May 13, 2019 11:39 am

Mine were a mix of general "feel you out" and targeted questions. Examples of the targeted questions: tell me about your most complex deal, tell me about your experience during xyz deal, what kind of responsibility do you typically have on deals

Make sure you have a ton of questions for the firm as well. Large part of my interviews was me just asking questions

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Re: Any Tips for a Lateral Callback?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon May 13, 2019 11:47 am

Be prepared to explain why you are looking to leave your firm. In a positive way. I have had several interviews over the past year and I've gotten this question from every prospective employer, whether firm or in-house.

If you're in a niche practice area, be prepared for the interviewers to personally know and name drop one or more partners you currently work for and ask about your experience working with them specifically.

Also, know what kind of work your firm is doing in the area, beyond your own personal list of matters. If they ask if you were involved with a certain matter your firm did, you want your response to at least show you keep up with your practice group's major news.

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Re: Any Tips for a Lateral Callback?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed May 15, 2019 1:49 pm

Thanks for the advice, all! Took what you all said under advisement, and I will see where the chips fall.

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