OCI Strike-Out --> Success Stories? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Posting for a friend. Looking for some positivity and tangible examples of what worked. Not looking for abstract advice, he already knows how to mass mail and that now it'll be a matter of luck and what firms happen to need what at the last minute. Super specific advice that we don't already know (e.g., XYZ firm is known to hire late) would also be helpful!

[TUwave]

Posting for a friend. Looking for some positivity and tangible examples of what worked. Not looking for abstract advice, he already knows how to mass mail and that now it'll be a matter of luck and what firms happen to need what at the last minute. Super specific advice that we don't already know (e.g., XYZ firm is known to hire late) would also be helpful!

I struck out, worked for a state gov't agency for 18 months after law school then lateralled to a V25 HQ in my hometown where I'm now a 5th year. Just keep grinding.

[cam1992]

The best advice I can give is to tell your friend to really focus on his or her grades. I had a terrible first semester of law school (lower T14), but I was able to turn it around and graduated in the top 15 percent of my class. In the Spring of my 2L year I secured a position with a regional firm in a very specific group. I did not have experience with the practice group, but I was hired largely based on the dramatic improvement I had in my grades. I know the hiring partner also noticed that I took a very difficult schedule as a 2L, and that I did very well in classes traditionally known to be very difficult.

My other advice would be to network with professors. After I struck out, a professor basically told me I would hate biglaw and that I was "lucky" to not be on the "conveyor-belt" to big law. He recommended I go to a smaller firm where a close friend of his worked. I did not listen and basically ran myself into the ground trying to get to big law. Two years into big law I was completely miserable, reached out the professor, and, long story short, got a job at the smaller firm he recommended four years ago. The professor was correct and I am SO much happier here.

[Anonymous User]

Struck out at OCI, hustled hard through OCI, got a 2L summer job at a federal agency. Managed to look appealing enough to land a clerkship for a federal judge who likes public service.

Develop good relationships, get good grades, and don't say no to opportunities

[Anonymous User]

Struck out at OCI, struck out at mass mail, struck out at 3L recruiting. Got a job after graduation, after taking the bar in fact. Started with the rest of the class year and you'd never know.

[Anonymous User]

Posting for a friend. Looking for some positivity and tangible examples of what worked. Not looking for abstract advice, he already knows how to mass mail and that now it'll be a matter of luck and what firms happen to need what at the last minute. Super specific advice that we don't already know (e.g., XYZ firm is known to hire late) would also be helpful!

Struck out in OCI. Lower T-14, 3.1 GPA. I buckled down with mass mailing and went down a list of firms, actively looked up firms, and was able land a SA in a secondary market where I don't have ties, and received a return offer. I think my offer came through early in September after realizing I was going to strike out. If you want to try 3L OCI, I highly recommend apps to firms in secondary markets. A SA is more helpful IMO to trade up, which I'm currently looking into

[Anonymous User]

Struck out at OCI at a T2 law school. Ended up getting a job in October from mass mailing. Firm is a somewhat less prestigious V100 firm but still great pay and sophisticated work and I could not be happier.

I know of at least ten of my law school classmates who struck out at OCI and had positions in big law (some in V10 firms) within two years of graduating.

[Anonymous User]

Struck out at OCI, ended up working for a govt agency 2L summer. While all my classmates were being wined/dined and living fabulous lives I was buying chicken sandwiches at the underground cafeteria and watching my bank account go down to negative. There would be informal summer associate mixers at bars downtown, which I'd skip because I didn't want to hear about how great everybody's summers were going.
Then the great recession hit, and I graduated with no job and no prospects. Many of those same classmates got laid off as first years. We were all desperately searching for something at the same time, but of course nobody was hiring. After almost two years of resume gap, I found a job at a very small firm paying $55k a year (in a big city, peanuts) doing franchise work and tiny M&A transactions. Job market started to improve after 2 years and I found a job doing similar but larger scale work at a V50 firm in a totally different city that I had no ties to. I was working for a single terrible partner (job opening existed because he'd go through associates like wet tissues), and I lasted about a year before he fired me. But I now had big firm experience, and used a recruiter to find a job at a V10, where I landed on a great team with great partners who mentored me, put me on important clients and gave me significant responsibility. I am now an equity partner at this firm and I grossed over $3 million this past year. Never give up.

[Anonymous User]

I struck out at OCI. Didn't receive an offer until after I took the bar. Worked at a couple of V100 firms before going in-house. My advice would be to take a lot of bullshit seminar courses as a 3L to boost your grades. If you're on a journal, write a couple of articles to build your resume. Also focus your courses (and journal articles/notes) on a speciality practice area (e.g., securities, tax, etc.) to show firm recruiters you are a fit for openings in those practices. Lastly, network as much as you can.

Don't feel demoralized. Everyone I knew that struck out at my lower T-14 eventually found good jobs. Feel free to apply to clerkship, federal gov't and mid-law gigs. Do a quick year or two at any of these places and you'll be able to lateral to big law with relative ease.

Lastly, you can tack on an LLM to your JD (at some schools), which will give you another chance at OCI as you'll be extending law school by another semester. I know many people that did this as well.

[Anonymous User]

Struck out at OCI, ended up working for a govt agency 2L summer. While all my classmates were being wined/dined and living fabulous lives I was buying chicken sandwiches at the underground cafeteria and watching my bank account go down to negative. There would be informal summer associate mixers at bars downtown, which I'd skip because I didn't want to hear about how great everybody's summers were going.
Then the great recession hit, and I graduated with no job and no prospects. Many of those same classmates got laid off as first years. We were all desperately searching for something at the same time, but of course nobody was hiring. After almost two years of resume gap, I found a job at a very small firm paying $55k a year (in a big city, peanuts) doing franchise work and tiny M&A transactions. Job market started to improve after 2 years and I found a job doing similar but larger scale work at a V50 firm in a totally different city that I had no ties to. I was working for a single terrible partner (job opening existed because he'd go through associates like wet tissues), and I lasted about a year before he fired me. But I now had big firm experience, and used a recruiter to find a job at a V10, where I landed on a great team with great partners who mentored me, put me on important clients and gave me significant responsibility. I am now an equity partner at this firm and I grossed over $3 million this past year. Never give up.

Jesus this is the story right here. And it sounds like Massachusetts cause the state building cafeteria has FIRE chicken sandwiches.

[Anonymous User]

Struck out during OCI, continued to network / apply all over. Worked for a fed agency 2L. Got several interviews 3L year and accepted an offer at a V10. Going on 7 years there.

Echo the advice to keep networking / hustling, make as many contacts as possible.

[Anonymous User]

I struck out at OCI despite being slightly above median at a T14, and got nothing from mass mailing. I kept applying to job listings through career services and eventually got an interview via a resume request from a small office of a V20 firm that hadn’t filled the summer class size it wanted due to people turning down offers. Ended up getting the job. The resume request was posted in late September and I got the offer in mid-October, so later in the hiring cycle than your friend is now.

I’d also note that this was about 10 years ago and now I’m a well regarded senior associate likely to make partner in the next couple of years. Tell your friend that striking out at OCI means nothing about their ability to be successful as a lawyer.

[Anonymous User]

OCI wasn't great for me, hah. I was slightly below median at a T1. Struck-out during OCI. I was able to secure a SA at a midlaw firm back in my home market, which was cancelled due to Covid. However, was able to stay in contact with this group and was eventually given an offer from them post graduation sometime but prior to the Bar. During that time I had sent out loads of applications to numerous cities and firms of all sizes. I was able to raise my grades to essentially median (like a 3.2 something), but very few firms even wanted to talk to me outside my home market. I'm still at this firm and am doing quite well here.

[Anonymous User]

Struck out at OCI at a T14 and was able to find something at a V50 just after I graduated

Best advice is to keep applying and work with your career office. I was able to land several biglaw interviews in my 3L year and post-graduation. Many firms will continue to hire to address specific need, although it was often the case that they were hiring only for a specific practice group.