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Question:

Are certain types of work experience (prior to law school) more valuable than others in landing Biglaw jobs? I've heard / read that WE can be beneficial for OCI, etc. Does this apply to all WE generally? Are certain jobs, e.g. finance or management consulting, more beneficial? Is it about prestige or relevance?

Background: Current undergrad wanting to work for a year or two before law school to both save money, as well as help post law school employment prospects.

I appreciate the help.

T25 here.
I know a couple of middling people landed biglaw without great grades. They had banking/finance experience and worked at bank of america, PWC....

1L here.

Only two overly helpful categories I can think of.

1. Banking. Specifically I-Banking or any group on the M and A side of banking is awesome.

2. If you are going for IP it usually helps a ton to have some experience in the technical field you have a degree in.

Other than that all WE is equal.

oopos

There isn't a hard and fast rule but generally (in order):

Something ultra prestigious — but why would you go to law school. I don't believe many, if any, of these people actually exist.

Something applicable to a practice they do a lot of (ex. engineering for patent; finance for corp; tax accounting for tax law)

Something that makes you look smart, hardworking, and accomplished. This means substantive work. I'd throw Teach for America in here just because the selection process is hard, teachers in general probably wouldn't count.

A normal, careerish type job. Office drone, teacher, police, paralegal

Flamish non jobs that rich girls get. Party Planning, interior decorating, anything to do with art or theater, marketing unless it's at a good firm, anything to do with animals that doesn't involved cutting them open (in one way or the other).

Unskilled labor

Part time unskilled labor / retail

Anonymous User wrote:There isn't a hard and fast rule but generally (in order):

Something ultra prestigious — but why would you go to law school. I don't believe many, if any, of these people actually exist.

Something applicable to a practice they do a lot of (ex. engineering for patent; finance for corp; tax accounting for tax law)

Something that makes you look smart, hardworking, and accomplished. This means substantive work. I'd throw Teach for America in here just because the selection process is hard, teachers in general probably wouldn't count.

A normal, careerish type job. Office drone, teacher, police, paralegal

Flamish non jobs that rich girls get. Party Planning, interior decorating, anything to do with art or theater, marketing unless it's at a good firm, anything to do with animals that doesn't involved cutting them open (in one way or the other).

Unskilled labor

Part time unskilled labor / retail

I really don't think they look at WE this hard. Either it is prestigious and applicable or it isn't. Your categories are arbitrary.

After you move past the first category or two employers stop looking at WE and only care about grades.

shoeshine wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:There isn't a hard and fast rule but generally (in order):

Something ultra prestigious — but why would you go to law school. I don't believe many, if any, of these people actually exist.

Something applicable to a practice they do a lot of (ex. engineering for patent; finance for corp; tax accounting for tax law)

Something that makes you look smart, hardworking, and accomplished. This means substantive work. I'd throw Teach for America in here just because the selection process is hard, teachers in general probably wouldn't count.

A normal, careerish type job. Office drone, teacher, police, paralegal

Flamish non jobs that rich girls get. Party Planning, interior decorating, anything to do with art or theater, marketing unless it's at a good firm, anything to do with animals that doesn't involved cutting them open (in one way or the other).

Unskilled labor

Part time unskilled labor / retail

I really don't think they look at WE this hard. Either it is prestigious and applicable or it isn't. Your categories are arbitrary.

After you move past the first category or two employers stop looking at WE and only care about grades.

Yah man, I'd say its more about how you write about it than what you actually did. Anything can sound cool with a talented person behind the keyboard.

Desert Fox wrote:anything to do with animals that doesn't involved cutting them open (in one way or the other).

ITT: the subtle linguistic tell of somebody who has spent the better part of a year and a half mired in line-drawing problems and obnoxious people asking obnoxious questions about where to draw the line.

thesealocust wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:anything to do with animals that doesn't involved cutting them open (in one way or the other).

ITT: the subtle linguistic tell of somebody who has spent the better part of a year and a half mired in line-drawing problems and obnoxious people asking obnoxious questions about where to draw the line.

I find myself creating really pedantic distinctions and them feeling great shame for it.

Desert Fox wrote:

thesealocust wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:anything to do with animals that doesn't involved cutting them open (in one way or the other).

ITT: the subtle linguistic tell of somebody who has spent the better part of a year and a half mired in line-drawing problems and obnoxious people asking obnoxious questions about where to draw the line.

I find myself creating really pedantic distinctions and them feeling great shame for it.

It is a burden that we all must bear.

Anyway time to get back to eating peanut butter out of a jar and not studying.

Desert Fox wrote:There isn't a hard and fast rule but generally (in order):

Something ultra prestigious — but why would you go to law school. I don't believe many, if any, of these people actually exist.

Something applicable to a practice they do a lot of (ex. engineering for patent; finance for corp; tax accounting for tax law)

Something that makes you look smart, hardworking, and accomplished. This means substantive work. I'd throw Teach for America in here just because the selection process is hard, teachers in general probably wouldn't count.

A normal, careerish type job. Office drone, teacher, police, paralegal

Flamish non jobs that rich girls get. Party Planning, interior decorating, anything to do with art or theater, marketing unless it's at a good firm, anything to do with animals that doesn't involved cutting them open (in one way or the other).

Unskilled labor

Part time unskilled labor / retail

I'd add College Athlete somewhere around TFA. For something that most people look at like a job.