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I'm a 1L and was told by my career counselor to leverage any family connections I have. Well my late dad was a partner at a midsize firm and had partner friends in other big firms. So I cold emailed his old best friend and said I'd like to get lunch with him and discuss the practice of law and just catch up (I knew him as a kid). He's a head litigator at a big firm. He said sure. During the lunch how do I tactfully inquire about spending 1L summer at his firm? It's about 250 attys so I'm pretty sure this would be considered a 1L SA. Or how do I tactfully inquire about other jobs he might be able to refer me?

The key is that you never bring it up.

zot1 wrote:The key is that you never bring it up.

This. Do not make it seem like you are trying to get a job out of him. He knows you have to go through the job process. Ask him about his practice, ask about the firm, talk about your interests, and hopefully he likes you enough to help you out later on

Agreed. Be patient, reminisce, etc. If there is a job to be had, he will almost certainly bring it up on his own.

Just ask for suggestions on how to look for a job, what he and his firm looks for at OCI, etc. If he wants to hook you up either with a job or mentoring he'll let you know.

SemperLegal wrote:Just ask for suggestions on how to look for a job, what he and his firm looks for at OCI, etc. If he wants to hook you up either with a job or mentoring he'll let you know.

I like the question "What can I do now to make myself attractive to law firms both at OCI and at graduation?"

If you ask that question and then just shut up for a few minutes, he'll start with the obvious (GPA, law review, etc.) and end up talking about more interesting stuff.