LA Top 15% at T20 - struck out Forum

[Anonymous User]

14 screeners, including pre-select at some top firms, 1 CB, and 0 offers. Spent an hour mock interviewing with career services to see if I interviewing poorly, but nope, they said I was doing fine.

I have some solid WE as well. I just can't diagnose where I am slipping up. I don't have strong ties to LA, other than going to law school there (currently living at home on east coast). Could this be it? Just bad luck? Or maybe lack of journal shooting me in the foot?

[Anonymous User]

The job market this year seems off. Even though firms are making profits or doing well, the hiring has been rough for students. I'm based in NY and have been hearing similar stories. Any thoughts on why that is?

[Anonymous User]

Sorry to hear that. The reason could be that Covid makes firms wary of projecting too far into the future in terms of work flow, profits, etc. so they'd rather take a conservative approach. It's been a tough year, not much different than 2008-2011.

[Anonymous User]

Let’s look at this from firm management’s perspective. They could either hire a law student and incur expenses training them on basic things for a couple years, or they could hire a laid off BigLaw attorney with a few years experience (at a decent pay cut) or a BigLaw attorney looking to lateral who wasn’t laid off but who wants to leave their firm because other attorneys were laid off. Which candidate would a rational firm take? Clearly the latter two; there is just no actual reason to hire law students, and I suspect firms are just going through the motions for the sake of their reputations.
Looking through the threads, it seems even students at HYSCCN are striking out.

Look at mass mailing smaller markets that have an under-supply of lawyers. Check out the ABA’s profile of the profession regarding those markets.

[The Lsat Airbender]

Mass-mail is the only answer here. Go into 3L mode. You might not get an SA job this summer, but you have about 18 months to line something up so you can start your career on the right foot.

You do seem to be underperforming slightly but COVID and your lack of west-coast ties made for an uphill battle from the start. I wouldn't sweat it too much. 14 screeners means you've only looked at a sliver of the firms where you're a realistic hire.

[target_corp]

Mass-mail is the only answer here...COVID and your lack of west-coast ties made for an uphill battle from the start.

[Anonymous User]

Mass-mail is the only answer here. Go into 3L mode. You might not get an SA job this summer, but you have about 18 months to line something up so you can start your career on the right foot.

You do seem to be underperforming slightly but COVID and your lack of west-coast ties made for an uphill battle from the start. I wouldn't sweat it too much. 14 screeners means you've only looked at a sliver of the firms where you're a realistic hire.

Clerking is as good, if not an even better pursuit. Mass-mailing is definitely advisable, but it's not the only route.

Linking my story again because it's relevant here:

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=308687#p10459553

[Anonymous User]

14 screeners, including pre-select at some top firms, 1 CB, and 0 offers. Spent an hour mock interviewing with career services to see if I interviewing poorly, but nope, they said I was doing fine.

I have some solid WE as well. I just can't diagnose where I am slipping up. I don't have strong ties to LA, other than going to law school there (currently living at home on east coast). Could this be it? Just bad luck? Or maybe lack of journal shooting me in the foot?

That's a bummer, sorry to hear that. Did you feel like you had a solid story for why X firm? I've heard firms really pay attention to this question when making CB decisions.

[cui_j2]

14 screeners, including pre-select at some top firms, 1 CB, and 0 offers. Spent an hour mock interviewing with career services to see if I interviewing poorly, but nope, they said I was doing fine.

I have some solid WE as well. I just can't diagnose where I am slipping up. I don't have strong ties to LA, other than going to law school there (currently living at home on east coast). Could this be it? Just bad luck? Or maybe lack of journal shooting me in the foot?

That's a bummer, sorry to hear that. Did you feel like you had a solid story for why X firm? I've heard firms really pay attention to this question when making CB decisions.

Any tips on what they are looking for? How should we prepare for this question in general?

[megamunchers]

14 screeners, including pre-select at some top firms, 1 CB, and 0 offers. Spent an hour mock interviewing with career services to see if I interviewing poorly, but nope, they said I was doing fine.

I have some solid WE as well. I just can't diagnose where I am slipping up. I don't have strong ties to LA, other than going to law school there (currently living at home on east coast). Could this be it? Just bad luck? Or maybe lack of journal shooting me in the foot?

That's a bummer, sorry to hear that. Did you feel like you had a solid story for why X firm? I've heard firms really pay attention to this question when making CB decisions.

Not every firm asked me this question, but I thought I handled it well when it came up. Depending on the firm, I'd highlight a couple of practice groups that caught my interest and link the relevance of my experience to those practice groups. I also explained what I was hoping for in terms of size of firm/office and culture and why the firm might be a good fit for what I was looking for.

I also applied to firms on the basis of whether I was actually interested or excited about them, so I kind of doubt this is where I fell short.