Why does OCI matters so much? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I m currently a senior, applying to LS in a month.

I want to go to Cornell law for some personal reasons, but my gpa is too low (Way blow 25%) due to my previous major. (Above 75% LSAT)
The plan was go to a T2 school for the first year, study hard, get a good grade and transfer. However, I saw some posts saying you might not got to participate in OCI, or might be disadvantaged in OCI as a transfer. It seem like everyone agree with OCI is very important. (Sorry I don't have any knowledge of it). What does OCI do anyway? I goggled it but is still confusing.

If OCI determines your second year summer internship, why would it affect your future job hunting? Would you get a big law job any ways if you get a good grade and get on a journal at your transfer school?

I know this sound so much like a newbie post but I actually am, so.

I just need to know because if there are so many problems with being a transfer student then I have to reconsider my whole plan.

[lavarman84]

Probably the wrong forum but I'll answer the question. Most people want to do biglaw. Biglaw firms generally interview at OCI. You can get interviews outside of OCI through mass mailing but it's much tougher.

It's also difficult to get offers as a 3L for biglaw firms. Many biglaw firms offer 100% or near 100% of their 2L summer associate class. So the advantage of OCI is that it gets you (or can get you) an offer to work as a summer associate with a biglaw firm who typically offers 90% to 100% of their summer associates full time associate positions at the end/after the summer.

By not participating in OCI, you miss out on the easier to get interviews and have to rely on mass mailing which is very hit and miss.

I don't recommend going to a law school you don't intend to graduate from. 1L grades are very unpredictable.

[jphiggo]

Flame

[thesealocust]

You're asking the right questions - but keep researching!

(1) All law school courses are graded on a strict curve, and students are lower ranked schools only have marginally less impressive credentials as a whole than top schools. Going to a lower ranked school and transferring is an abysmally bad plan - there is no reason to expect you will place in the top 10% of your class (or better) and have the chance to move up.

(2) OCI is the recruitment process for major law firms - the hiring process happens in the fall before 2L starts, then students spend the summer between 2L and 3L at the firm, and then most firms give full-time employment offers to most of their summer class. It's by far the most direct path to employment after law school, and also the highest paying. If you can't get a job from OCI, it's likely you'll have a more challenging job hunt and be looking for jobs with much lower compensation.

To give you a sense of scale:

Every year roughly 40,000 people attend law school, and the bureau of labor statistics estimates there are about 30,000 entry level legal jobs. Major law firms hire about 5,000 summer associates, and those positions tend to lead to $160,000 starting salaries. Of those 5,000 summer associates, about half come from the T14.

[Traynor Brah]

This plan is really ill-advised (not trying to be a dick, we're here to help you -- this is a really bad idea), and it shows you need to spend some time networking with attorneys in real life (i.e. asking people in interesting jobs who have similar backgrounds as you to get coffee), reading books about law school/the profession (to name a few, "Don't Go to Law School (Unless)," "The Lawyer Bubble: A Profession in Crisis," "24 Hours with 24 Lawyers: Profiles of Traditional and Non-Traditional Careers," etc.), and you should also spend a lot of time reading around this website (not just the forum but the front page materials) and other admissions/law school resources. Read up, talk to some attorneys in real life, and come back! We'll help you get a good plan together.

[Anonymous User]

OP here.

Thank you so much for the help. Yeah the plan seems really bad right now. I will figure something out by the next month, try to get into a school that I actually like.

Every year roughly 40,000 people attend law school, and the bureau of labor statistics estimates there are about 30,000 entry level legal jobs. Major law firms hire about 5,000 summer associates, and those positions tend to lead to $160,000 starting salaries. Of those 5,000 summer associates, about half come from the T14.

If I can get myself into a T20 school, such like GW,Emory or WUSTL, is there any chance I can land big law during OCI?

And

talk to some attorneys in real life, and come back! We'll help you get a good plan together.

Thank you for the honesty, I will ask around more. My mom is a prosecutor, and my mentor has his own firm, so I actually know many lawyers, however think of it I never really had any conversation about law school with them

[lavarman84]

OP here.

Thank you so much for the help. Yeah the plan seems really bad right now. I will figure something out by the next month, try to get into a school that I actually like.

Every year roughly 40,000 people attend law school, and the bureau of labor statistics estimates there are about 30,000 entry level legal jobs. Major law firms hire about 5,000 summer associates, and those positions tend to lead to $160,000 starting salaries. Of those 5,000 summer associates, about half come from the T14.

If I can get myself into a T20 school, such like GW,Emory or WUSTL, is there any chance I can land big law during OCI?

And

talk to some attorneys in real life, and come back! We'll help you get a good plan together.

Thank you for the honesty, I will ask around more. My mom is a prosecutor, and my mentor has his own firm, so I actually know many lawyers, however think of it I never really had any conversation about law school with them

Yes. Plenty of chance. Can you raise your LSAT, though? Might be worth a retake depending on how high it is.

You can get biglaw at schools like GW, Emory, Fordham, WUSTL, etc. It's just harder than at t14 schools.(they don't dig as deep into the class)

The other big thing is that it's much easier to transfer into the t14 at a school like WUSTL. But like I said, don't go into law school planning to transfer. You never know how it'll pan out.

[Traynor Brah]

No offense, but I don't think either of them are good people to get advice from. Especially if you want to do the big firm thing. Reach out to people whom you do not know who work in the kind of jobs you want, in the city you want to be in (note that you will need to do more independent research before you will be able to figure that out. Most likely, you are going to want to start things out with a big firm job/you are going to need to do that if you go to a Cornell, for example).

[instride91]

OP here.
If I can get myself into a T20 school, such like GW,Emory or WUSTL, is there any chance I can land big law during OCI?

Yes, there is definitely a chance. I go to a T20 and landed a biglaw gig. However, your chances are much higher at certain schools (T14, T6, T3). Ranking matters.

You can see what percentage of each school's class ends up in biglaw by going to LST reports:

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/

[A. Nony Mouse]

OP, the legal employment forum is restricted to people who are currently in law school. The Ask a Law Student/Grad forum is available for questions from people not yet in law school, but there's no anonymous function there, and you've posted anonymous here. So I'm locking this - if you would prefer it moved and placed under your username, PM me, and I can do that.