Law Firm Receptions Forum

[Anonymous User]

Do you go to all law firm receptions where you're interviewing at?

What do you discuss? Do you stay for the whole time?

Do firms look badly on you if you don't go to their reception?

[Anonymous User]

Do you go to all law firm receptions where you're interviewing at?

What do you discuss? Do you stay for the whole time?

Do firms look badly on you if you don't go to their reception?

I don't know but how does one rack up 478 posts in 14 days. LOL.

[jcl2]

Do you go to all law firm receptions where you're interviewing at?

What do you discuss? Do you stay for the whole time?

Do firms look badly on you if you don't go to their reception?

I don't know but how does one rack up 478 posts in 14 days. LOL.

Are you talking to yourself?

[06072010]

None of this really needs to be anonymous. Yellow card to both anonymous posters. Further infractions lead to outtings.

[chipmunk]

Firms probably won't recognize that you didn't go to a reception, but if it comes up in the interview for some reason, and you say that you didn't go... it won't look good.

Anyway, why NOT go to a law firm reception if it's a firm that you're interested in? It gives you more opportunity to learn about the firm and make an impression, and more things to mention in the interview.

As for staying the whole time, this you should judge once you get there. Unless you have a very good reason for leaving at a certain time, you don't want to leave until you see other people start to trickle out, or unless it's very informal and no one will really notice.

What to talk about also depends on what happens when you get there. This will be more casual talk than in an interview, certainly, but you will want to keep a few questions about the firm on the back-burner. I like to keep the questions at these things lighter, though. For example, if you know someone works in the litigation department you might ask them if they've worked on any interesting cases lately. Who knows, though, you may just end up talking about football.

GL.

[nifer327]

I went to one last night and really enjoyed it. I got the opportunity to talk more informally about the culture of the firm and the type of work they do. Everyone that went was very social and friendly - so much so that I ended up staying the entire time unintentionally. If you are really interested in the firm you should go - you get a feel for the people that work there and a better sense of what the firm is really like.

[NewHere]

I'm ambivalent about this, and generally really didn't like going to these things, but here are a few experiences from last year's OCI process, pointing at opposite directions:

- I went to a reception for a firm I had an interview with the next day. I learned some things about the firm at the reception, met a few firm people, and was able to mention some of that during the interview. I'm not sure it made a large difference, but in any case I did get a callback (and eventually an offer). The reception may have helped me answer questions along the lines of "Why do you want to work for our firm?" convincingly: the mere fact that I went to the reception was a clear indication of interest, and it gave me some positive things to say about the firm that I couldn't have gotten off their website.

- A year earlier, with the same firm: a friend who interviewed there for a 1L summer job was told that they had waited to send out interview invitations until they saw who showed up at their 1L reception. (She had showed up, and got a job.)

- 2L OCI again: I had a screening interview with a firm that was out of my league, but as it happened it turned into one of my best interviews. That evening, there was a reception for that firm, and I dithered for a long time whether I should go or not. It had been a long day of OCI, I was exhausted, and really didn't want to talk to anyone. On the other hand, I was very interested in the firm and thought that showing up might improve my chances. In the end I decided that I could only do damage by going to the reception: I was tired, not in a good mood to speak to people, and the only thing that could happen is that I would undo any good impression I might have made during the interview. I didn't go. It did not keep them from inviting me for a callback, and eventually extending an offer.

Lessons from this? Some firms apparently care about who shows up. Other firms apparently don't. If you're really interested in a firm, even if they don't track attendance, showing up might give you a bit of help during the interviewing process. But if you feel like you can't do it, it's not necessarily terrible not to go.

[strawberryfanta]

None of this really needs to be anonymous. Yellow card to both anonymous posters. Further infractions lead to outtings.

I understand why the OP would want to be anonymous. The second post, not so much. But I've seen mods make judgments like these a few times when I think it's unwarranted, it's a bit unnerving to be honest. Sure it shouldn't be used for flames but perhaps the OP is insecure about these questions? Perhaps you don't understand but I, a fellow ridiculously insecure person, do. Geez man glad I won't have to use this forum for a while, I'd be outed a few times already probably. -_-

[waahrus]

i completely agree with the above. yes PK we get that you are a mod. yes you have outting abilities. but there's no need to wave that around like a d-bag as you've done many times. a simple "please do not post this anonymously next time" will suffice. it will make you a much more pleasant member of this forum.

[underdawg]

i don't get what the effing harm is either unless anon is fucking with people or being a d-bag

[hbb]

i don't get what the effing harm is either unless anon is fucking with people or being a d-bag

I like to know who's posting. With the Anon feature, you have no idea if the OP in this thread is a clueless OL, one of the regular posters you can count on to provide solid information, or one of the great many d-bags on this site. My answer to the OP's question might be very different depending on who I think he or she is. It seems like you'll likely get a better exchange of information here if use of the feature is limited to those posts that truly need it.

That said, it's mostly just irritating, like when the second poster in a thread quotes the OP's entire 4 paragraph post in their response, or 15 people post "tag" in a thread rather that subscribing.

edit: Sorry, hijacking a thread is pretty irritating as well. To address the OP's question, and get this back on track, I'd mention that one of the firms I worked with this summer viewed the reception as their main recruiting tool, and placed a really high value on students who were able to take the initiative and strike up conversations with the hiring partners. The other firm I was with seemed to just be going through the motions, hosting a reception just because that's what the other firms were doing. As others in this thread have pointed out, the importance of the reception is very firm specific.

[Anonymous User]

What else is the anon feature for?
I'm highly identifiable with my normal sn. I CAN make a new one for purposes of OCI/Callback period, or use this feature. I don't want firms to know I'm debating whether to attend thier receptions, especially since the fact that I'm asking this question means I think there is a chance that not attending (or thinking of not attending) can have bad consequences.

The first post is a perfectly legit use of the anon feature.

To address the OP (and why this post is anon, because I am similarly insecure about the process, and what information out on the web will possibly hurt me): I've been told by career services in no unclear terms that you MUST attend all receptions. Not attending WILL hurt you, because they DO keep track, and such information will be present at the hiring committee's decision meeting. Now, you may be awesome enough to get an offer/callback even without attending, but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt your chances. ITE, this is absolutely necessary. Unless you have a really great excuse (tired is not a good excuse), attend so long as you don't completely make a fool of yourself. There is no need to stay for the entire duration, or even be on time. If you suck at social situations, or are so tired you're afraid you'll slip up... then go late and exit early w/ an excuse, but you want the director of recruiting to be able to mark you off as "attended".