T30 Bottom 50% URM. No-offered at OCI. Advice? Forum

[Mike Carlil]

Guys,

I was hoping to get some brief advice here about how to approach my employment search 2L year. I’m a URM at a T30 southeast school (think Wake, UNC etc.) I really screwed up last semester and right now I’m sitting at a 2.9 gpa. Needless to say, I’m mortified by my gpa and absolutely terrified of my future. I experienced and am continuing to experience all kinds of terrible emotions over my situation.

I took 4 years to work in finance before coming to law school. Due to my prior work experience I was able to get a solid paid internship at the CFTC in D.C. this summer and I also worked as a research assistant for a professor. I’m doing a secondary journal but no moot court/trial team. I’m also doing other extracurriculars at school like honor court and clubs (not that employers actually care about this, just trying to provide context).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I was no-offered at OCI.

I’m from Charlotte and my goal is to go back to work at a BigLaw satellite firm in Charlotte (Cadwalader, Dechert, Winston & Strawn etc).

What level of screwed am I? Is it over for me? Needless to say I’m going to have to crush this semester if I’m going to have any hope of getting a 2L SA, if that’s even possible at this point. Should I just start mass-mailing now? Any hope for the 3L hiring market?

Any advice would be much appreciated. I am in a truly dark place right now and would welcome any help or advice that anyone could provide.

[LBJ's Hair]

I would have been mass-mailing in like, June, were I in your shoes. Start now.

[Anon-non-anon]

All is not lost. Yes, I would start mass mailing.

Working for gov office that is actually relevant to what big law does and relatively few people know about it is great. That way you can sell yourself to a particular practice group at a firm that might be hiring 3Ls for a specific need, which is prob your best bet. So your internship will be helpful, and your pre-law experience may be too. Customize cover letters and even if you dont get a SA position, try again for specific practice groups 3L.

[Yea All Right]

Sorry to hear about your situation. I recommend mass mailing, as the other posters said, but also expanding where you're willing to work and at what kind of place. To be brutally honest (but only so that you know the odds you're up against), I'm guessing the biglaw satellites in Charlotte are likely smaller offices that hire only a few summers. For example, I know Dechert's Charlotte office is like 20 people and hires only 1 or 2 summers a year. And when their summer classes are smaller, firms tend to want candidates with higher GPAs given the lack of spots. So you'd likely be really limiting yourself by focusing on biglaw satellites in Charlotte. Of course, send a mass mail to them, but the chances of success aren't high unfortunately.

If you don't start in biglaw, you can always start at a smaller firm, in-house, or in government and build up skills in a specific practice area that allow you to lateral into biglaw later. Or maybe you don't do biglaw at all - it's not the end of the world. Most of my colleagues aren't happy and are just here because of the paycheck.

You got this. Good luck.

[lavarman84]

Biglaw probably isn't going to happen for you this summer. You can massmail and go for it, but that's just me being honest. If it doesn't, working in a government role in a niche field that biglaw handles might be your best option this summer. Getting biglaw as a 3L is very difficult and usually comes down to them needing attorneys for specific practice groups. If you can sell that niche experience and improve your GPA, you may have a chance.

But realistically, biglaw straight out of law school is going to be difficult for you. But biglaw isn't the end all be all. Network, work hard, pass the bar, and you should end up with something.