Kirkland & Ellis LinkedIn Forum

[Rehnkist]

God forbid a firm partake in the heinous activity of *checks notes* traditional marketing. Ya'll some weird motherfuckers.

Literally haven’t posted in a billion years but came out of hiding to say 10000% agreed.

You folks need to let people live their lives. Sheesh. Stop hating that people are succeeding and excited to share their news with *gasp* their fucking professional network. (And no, I’m not at Kirkland. And also, no, I didn’t post anything when I got my offer a few years ago.)

I, for one, can't wait for the first LinkedIn post on being nominated to a cabinet position.

It's tacky and dumb. I recognize that it's the new way of self-marketing in a world that runs on Instagram filters. But that doesn't make it any less tacky and dumb.

So if I create a post saying “I’m thrilled to be joining the summer associate class at ABC law firm,” that’s tacky. But if I update the work experience section and LinkedIn automatically gives everyone a notification to congratulate me on starting a new position at the firm, is that tacky too? Or should I not update anything ever.

Don’t get me wrong. I think the “humbled and honored because my grandma came to this country and dreamed of this life for me” posts are extremely stupid. But also, if it’s just one self congratulating post about a pretty major milestone, I think we can let it slide.

Totally agree. This is what LinkedIn is for! It's not my style, mostly because I'm superstitious and don't want to update anything until I get the first check, but whatever, do your thing, get your clout. For some reason I do find the whole "incoming" thing to be a bit silly compared to a short post sharing the news, but again, whatever. Moral of the story is just spend less time on LinkedIn if these things really bother you I suppose.

[hdr]

I get the importance of sharing career updates, but there's no need for K-JDs to boast to their non-existent professional networks about how humbled and honored they are to join such a distinguished group of attorneys as a summer associate at XYZ firm. Congrats on being on the winning end of some arbitrary decision-making in a hiring committee? Plenty of students strike out at OCI and face an uncertain career future, especially now, so these types of LinkedIn posts seem a bit inconsiderate.

[blair.waldorf]

I've seen law students making these posts for many different firms. I haven't noticed Kirkland being represented more than other firms.

I think the posts are kind of tacky, but if it makes the poster happy, then go for it.

I 100% agree with the person who said they'd be uncomfortable with their firm asking them to post something specific on social media.

[Anonymous User]

There is so much dumb shit posted on LinkedIn that complaining about posts that are actually “This is my next job” seems strange to me. Just never log on to LinkedIn if even those bother you, because it only gets worse from there.

[lawlo]

It only really bugs me when it is obvious OCI isn't over. I look down on people who post this type of stuff then. It's a bad look.

[Anonymous User]

I get the importance of sharing career updates, but there's no need for K-JDs to boast to their non-existent professional networks about how humbled and honored they are to join such a distinguished group of attorneys as a summer associate at XYZ firm. Congrats on being on the winning end of some arbitrary decision-making in a hiring committee? Plenty of students strike out at OCI and face an uncertain career future, especially now, so these types of LinkedIn posts seem a bit inconsiderate.

humbled and honored to share that my law professor/firm alum parent's plans for me have worked out (again)

[supermario26]

So many bitter people on this page who clearly struck out in law school or hate watching other people succeed and be happy about it.

[2013]

What a lot of people are failing to recognize is that these students have no other Avenue to humble brag about their offers. I see these posts regularly, roll my eyes, and like the post because it is a professional accomplishment that should be shred.

On the firm side, most firms normally give offer gifts that market the firms and students wear/carry them everywhere. This is the covid equivalent of that branding/marketing/advertising. So it doesn’t surprise me that firms would encourage summers to post firm logos with their SA offer post.

It’s smart. Somewhat tacky? Maybe. But people are talking about K&E summer associate LinkedIn posts, so it’s doing something right.

[Anonymous User]

So many bitter people on this page who clearly struck out in law school or hate watching other people succeed and be happy about it.

Or who view public bragging negatively, which characterizes, like, most religions common in America. The entire idea of LinkedIn is off-putting and a little sad to me, but people publicly posting how excited they are about a summer job 5 months in the future is strange. I am all for supporting my friends, but I would rather do it with a celebratory dinner or something.

[Sackboy]

The entire idea of LinkedIn is off-putting and a little sad to me, but people publicly posting how excited they are about a summer job 5 months in the future is strange. I am all for supporting my friends, but I would rather do it with a celebratory dinner or something.

Isn't the entire idea of LinkedIn to connect with professionals in your field? Not sure why that's off-putting or sad.

I also don't get why it's that strange to post about a new job (let's not downplay it as a summer gig when everyone is getting offers) that's a few months off. High schoolers post about their acceptances into Duke or Brown or whatever school like 8 months before they show up on campus sometimes, and that's seen as totally normal. It's a milestone, and people are excited to share.

[Anonymous User]

So many bitter people on this page who clearly struck out in law school or hate watching other people succeed and be happy about it.

Or who view public bragging negatively, which characterizes, like, most religions common in America. The entire idea of LinkedIn is off-putting and a little sad to me, but people publicly posting how excited they are about a summer job 5 months in the future is strange. I am all for supporting my friends, but I would rather do it with a celebratory dinner or something.

Yes, it is a little sad. It's sad that some people need to build a professional network because they were not from a well-connected family and worked mostly retail job before law school; Yes, it is a little sad that first-gen professionals/lawyers, need to have a platform like this to boost their visibility; Yes, it is a little sad that people are happy with what they have achieved and do not always have a family/supporting network to cheer them on.

And yes, I am that poor first-gen law student who went to HYSCCN, got a v10 job and am not ashamed of sharing it!

[bajablast]

So many bitter people on this page who clearly struck out in law school or hate watching other people succeed and be happy about it.

Or who view public bragging negatively, which characterizes, like, most religions common in America. The entire idea of LinkedIn is off-putting and a little sad to me, but people publicly posting how excited they are about a summer job 5 months in the future is strange. I am all for supporting my friends, but I would rather do it with a celebratory dinner or something.

Lol and some people would rather celebrate by making a LinkedIn post, do you seriously not see how subjective this is?

[Anonymous User]

Yes, it is a little sad. It's sad that some people need to build a professional network because they were not from a well-connected family and worked mostly retail job before law school; Yes, it is a little sad that first-gen professionals/lawyers, need to have a platform like this to boost their visibility; Yes, it is a little sad that people are happy with what they have achieved and do not always have a family/supporting network to cheer them on.

And yes, I am that poor first-gen law student who went to HYSCCN, got a v10 job and am not ashamed of sharing it!

Yeah, me too, and I managed to do it without LinkedIn, mainly because getting into HYSCCN is not generally a matter of connections and from there getting a V10 is basically 0% connections and certainly 0% visibility. I am having a hard time understanding how any of what you posted bears in any way on the comment you responded to.

Again, I am not quite sure what class of people you are speaking of that managed to get an offer at K&E while having literally no friends or family at all but somehow an emotionally fulfilling LinkedIn following. How many hands will I need to count such individuals?

[Anonymous User]

Lol and some people would rather celebrate by making a LinkedIn post, do you seriously not see how subjective this is?

And others may celebrate by going on a cocaine and hooker binge or erecting billboards to themselves around the city. Since when can we not judge the choices of others?

[bajablast]

So many bitter people on this page who clearly struck out in law school or hate watching other people succeed and be happy about it.

Or who view public bragging negatively, which characterizes, like, most religions common in America. The entire idea of LinkedIn is off-putting and a little sad to me, but people publicly posting how excited they are about a summer job 5 months in the future is strange. I am all for supporting my friends, but I would rather do it with a celebratory dinner or something.

Yes, it is a little sad. It's sad that some people need to build a professional network because they were not from a well-connected family and worked mostly retail job before law school; Yes, it is a little sad that first-gen professionals/lawyers, need to have a platform like this to boost their visibility; Yes, it is a little sad that people are happy with what they have achieved and do not always have a family/supporting network to cheer them on.

And yes, I am that poor first-gen law student who went to HYSCCN, got a v10 job and am not ashamed of sharing it!

This is what I have learned from the pandemic and why people should probably not get upset about anything shared on social feeds period. There's a lot of lonely people out there and this could be one of the few ways they can connect.

[supermario26]

So many bitter people on this page who clearly struck out in law school or hate watching other people succeed and be happy about it.

Or who view public bragging negatively, which characterizes, like, most religions common in America. The entire idea of LinkedIn is off-putting and a little sad to me, but people publicly posting how excited they are about a summer job 5 months in the future is strange. I am all for supporting my friends, but I would rather do it with a celebratory dinner or something.

What does religion have to do with any of this? What a stupid point. And why are you anonymous anyway?

People want to build their brand. If those people think that posting about joining an AM Law firm helps build the brand, more power to them.

[bajablast]

Lol and some people would rather celebrate by making a LinkedIn post, do you seriously not see how subjective this is?

And others may celebrate by going on a cocaine and hooker binge or erecting billboards to themselves around the city. Since when can we not judge the choices of others?

Lol, you sure can judge bud, but you look like an idiot. We're talking about linkedIn posts for Christ's sake, not cocaine.

[Pennoyer v. Meh]

I'm noticing this a lot more this year compared to last year, for firms that aren't just K&E. It annoys me, but I don't like the tone of anything on LinkedIn--every post seems like someone angling for kudos or whatever--so whatever I guess. Do what makes you happy.

[2013]

So many bitter people on this page who clearly struck out in law school or hate watching other people succeed and be happy about it.

Or who view public bragging negatively, which characterizes, like, most religions common in America. The entire idea of LinkedIn is off-putting and a little sad to me, but people publicly posting how excited they are about a summer job 5 months in the future is strange. I am all for supporting my friends, but I would rather do it with a celebratory dinner or something.

Yes, it is a little sad. It's sad that some people need to build a professional network because they were not from a well-connected family and worked mostly retail job before law school; Yes, it is a little sad that first-gen professionals/lawyers, need to have a platform like this to boost their visibility; Yes, it is a little sad that people are happy with what they have achieved and do not always have a family/supporting network to cheer them on.

And yes, I am that poor first-gen law student who went to HYSCCN, got a v10 job and am not ashamed of sharing it!

This isn’t LinkedIn. You don’t have to write like that.

[Anonymous User]

Didn't mean to start a thread slamming people who post job updates on LinkedIn. Was curious only because the posts were coming disproportionately from K&E. I did a quick search on LinkedIn for a few firm names and there were far more posts announcing acceptance of K&E offers over the last couple of weeks compared to, e.g., S&C or DPW.

[Anonymous User]

ETA: I find the linkedin posts and promotional stuff distasteful for reasons I can’t fully articulate, but I suppose that’s ultimately why Kirkland will end up eating the fancy white-shoe firms for lunch.

Ding ding ding. White shoe lawyers/firms are doing a lot of pearl clutching, because this isn't how things *should* be. Meanwhile, K&E is growing their revenue, profit, footprint, etc. faster than anybody else by operating like a corporation and not a prestigious old school law firm.

I actually think you're right about this. I have a lot of people in my network who are still in college (I do a lot of mentoring and outreach) and also seeing what they like, but these posts are pretty similar to the posts that interns going to Deloitte, PwC, EY, Goldman Sachs, Amazon, Facebook, Tesla, etc. are making.

[wldecisions]

As much as I cringe at these SA update posts, I just tell myself that's the whole point of Linkedin.

What really got me was when a similar post from HLS FedSoc's president-elect popped up on my feed. It was so on brand.

[sophocles]

What is the point of even having a LinkedIn profile as a typical BigLaw associate? I can understand it if you're a solo practitioner or otherwise someone that benefits from having what is essentially a marketing page readily available on Google. In that case, you're probably focused on volume-based client origination, and LinkedIn is probably at least marginally useful for that. I'd certainly have one if I were in that line of work. But what benefit does LinkedIn offer someone that isn't concerned about originating clients—or at least clients that don't make hiring decisions based on your LinkedIn profile? So recruiters may more easily contact you at a future point in time? I deleted mine a while back because, as discussed in this thread, it became a giant circlejerk of self-congratulation with typical, gamified social-media attributes. But maybe I'm just biased. For the record: I don't think less of others for being on LinkedIn—we're all trying to make it in this world.

[Anonymous User]

There is something to be said for the "LinkedIn is literally designed for this kind of self-promotional BS" line of defense. People are just using LinkedIn the way it's supposed to be used.

Even conceding that, though, there are still gradations of obnoxiousness -- e.g., posting in the middle of OCI about your SA vs. posting it a month or two later; or e.g., making a short post about your SA vs. changing your title to "Incoming Summer Associate at [Firm]".

There's not much to say other than: people are free to use LinkedIn how they see fit, and other people are free to judge them for their choices. I mean, sure, law school gunners are technically using law school classes the way they're "meant" to be used: engaging in Socratic discussion, testing out hypos, yadda yadda. But that shouldn't prevent the rest of us from rolling our eyes when they act like that.

[Anonymous User]

Did the firm ask them to post?

Not only does the firm ask, but I've heard (secondhand) that they give them a handout on what to say in their post.

I got an offer (accepted) from K&E and didn't get any guidance on what to say. K&E is huge--there's going to be a lot of variation between offices/practice groups.