Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions Forum

[Kilpatrick]

Damn it! Who are you people?

I have no idea who you are. Your username simply baffles me.

But anyway, I'll +1 what Kilpatrick/blurbz said about OCS. I, too, got a gigantic spreadsheet along with three "helpful alumni who are more than willing to answer questions about that market." None of them responded to me. I don't expect OCS to find my job for me, but the whole office has been very frustrating for me.

I ate at Black Dog this summer; I think it's overrated. *runs for cover*

blasphemy

[Corwin]

Damn it! Who are you people?

I have no idea who you are. Your username simply baffles me.

But anyway, I'll +1 what Kilpatrick/blurbz said about OCS. I, too, got a gigantic spreadsheet along with three "helpful alumni who are more than willing to answer questions about that market." None of them responded to me. I don't expect OCS to find my job for me, but the whole office has been very frustrating for me.

I ate at Black Dog this summer; I think it's overrated. *runs for cover*

It costs like 8 bucks a person (the price it costs it eat at Panera) and it's damn good BBQ. Impossible to be overrated

[SaintClarence27]

OCI has some changes up now in simplicity. Anyone know what "select" means under invitations? Most of mine are still pending...

[blurbz]

Select = The employer chose to interview you.

Alternate = The employer put you on a shortlist and you'll get an invite if people cancel their interviews.

Pending .....I can't use an "=" here because I'm not 100% but I think it's a soft rejection. I've talked with a few people and we have different pending lists so I don't believe that those firms haven't finished putting in their info yet. My best guess is: Pending = Ding.

[SaintClarence27]

Great. I have a lot of soft rejects, then!

[blurbz]

Well, don't concentrate on those, concentrate on your selects!

[blurbz]

So maybe I was wrong: one of my "pending" just turned into "select."

Edit: And my other pending turned into "not invited."

[SaintClarence27]

All of my pending were "not invited." My top 3 were selects though, so there's that. Do you know what the procedure is for "alternate?"

[blurbz]

This is conjecture, but I assume the alternate lists are ranked/tiered so if a spot opens up it'll turn into a select that you can schedule. I'd keep watching it, right up until the morning of. I know I will!

[normn3116]

Hey all, rising 3L here. I'd be more than willing to offer perspective from someone who's not at the top of the class. To give you a little background, I'm above median, but outside of top 1/3. I managed to snag a 2L position from a small suburban Chicago firm that conducted OCI, but the understanding is the firm won't know if they can make me an offer until spring 2012...hence, it's back to the grindstone for me.

I also figured I would chime in on the OCS issue, and try to do so civilly. I completely understand that they are not supposed to find us a job. The way the office ran in the past 2 years, however, has been below most people's expectations. A great "for-instance" is the use of the word "network." Whenever we go into the office, we're always told to "network" to find positions. At no point are we ever told how to network, especially without sounding like some sad pathetic law student looking for a job. Some people are born knowing how to do it--others aren't, and could use some "professional development."

What I ask from Career Services is a little-league baseball analysis. We, as law students, have all swung and hit the ball off the tee (getting into a T25 school, keeping with it, not losing our minds, etc.). A great many of us have never played baseball before (those, like myself, who went straight from UG to LS without a real job). We need our coach (Career Services) to point us in the direction of first base, and tell us, "there. Run there." In the past, we were just told to "run" without any real direction.

I do have higher hopes for the new people, especially Greg. I already know of 3 people who have gotten 2L positions (in June, no less) as a direct result of his work. Any other questions, I will try and answer as timely as possible. Look forward to seeing everyone in a couple weeks!!

[Paraflam]

Hey all, rising 3L here. I'd be more than willing to offer perspective from someone who's not at the top of the class. To give you a little background, I'm above median, but outside of top 1/3. I managed to snag a 2L position from a small suburban Chicago firm that conducted OCI, but the understanding is the firm won't know if they can make me an offer until spring 2012...hence, it's back to the grindstone for me.

I also figured I would chime in on the OCS issue, and try to do so civilly. I completely understand that they are not supposed to find us a job. The way the office ran in the past 2 years, however, has been below most people's expectations. A great "for-instance" is the use of the word "network." Whenever we go into the office, we're always told to "network" to find positions. At no point are we ever told how to network, especially without sounding like some sad pathetic law student looking for a job. Some people are born knowing how to do it--others aren't, and could use some "professional development."

What I ask from Career Services is a little-league baseball analysis. We, as law students, have all swung and hit the ball off the tee (getting into a T25 school, keeping with it, not losing our minds, etc.). A great many of us have never played baseball before (those, like myself, who went straight from UG to LS without a real job). We need our coach (Career Services) to point us in the direction of first base, and tell us, "there. Run there." In the past, we were just told to "run" without any real direction.

I do have higher hopes for the new people, especially Greg. I already know of 3 people who have gotten 2L positions (in June, no less) as a direct result of his work. Any other questions, I will try and answer as timely as possible. Look forward to seeing everyone in a couple weeks!!

Know of anyone who got a biglaw SA position?

[blurbz]

Know of anyone who got a biglaw SA position?

Yeah, there are plenty of people who have biglaw SA jobs right now. I can name a bunch, and I don't even know that many rising 3Ls.

[Kilpatrick]

^^ Yeah, that's a weird question. Of course some people at Illinois got BigLaw. The better question is what about everybody else?

To normn3116 - thanks for answering questions. Good luck to you in getting a permanent offer from your current firm or finding something else after graduation. What would say most people in your class did this summer? Was it mostly smaller firms? Government work? Do you know anyone without any kind of legal job for the summer?

[TCScrutinizer]

I know who Nancy Botwin is, because I remember the USS BP thread, other than that, I have NO idea. You all will recognize me as the second-oldest rising 2L in the class.

wait, i thought i was the second-oldest. how old are you?

I'm 32 in less than a month. I was kind of guessing.

I know at least three rising 2L's who are older. :p

[SaintClarence27]

I know who Nancy Botwin is, because I remember the USS BP thread, other than that, I have NO idea. You all will recognize me as the second-oldest rising 2L in the class.

wait, i thought i was the second-oldest. how old are you?

I'm 32 in less than a month. I was kind of guessing.

I know at least three rising 2L's who are older. :p

Wow, I have to find out now.

[oldtimer]

Well I have you all beat and I'm not even sure what I'm considered... A Rising 0L???

I figured my screen name would be appropriate considering all of the "youngsters" in law school in general. I guess I was right.

[mez06]

Hey for all the current students, could you state a brief timeline of when you actually do OCI? May sound silly, but I'm a bit confused. Do you go place your bids in the summer of your 1st year and then actually do thru OCIs your Fall semester of your 2L year?

And then is there an additional (smaller) OCI during the Fall semester of your 3L year? Thanks for the clarification!

[Kilpatrick]

Hey for all the current students, could you state a brief timeline of when you actually do OCI? May sound silly, but I'm a bit confused. Do you go place your bids in the summer of your 1st year and then actually do thru OCIs your Fall semester of your 2L year?

And then is there an additional (smaller) OCI during the Fall semester of your 3L year? Thanks for the clarification!

We placed our bids in mid-July and OCI starts August 15. You could begin bidding July 15 but at that time journal results weren't out yet so there was no point. It doesn't really matter when you bid as long as you do it before July 25. You get unlimited bids so you can choose to submit your resume to as many employers as you wanted. I submitted to 26 but I know other people did more.

Then August 3rd at about midnight we got the list of which employers selected us for interviews. You could either be selected, picked as an alternate, or "pending." Every "pending" I had, then turned into a "not invited" although Blurbz had one that turned into a select. No idea how the alternates thing works.

August 4th at 9am you could start scheduling your interviews. The time that it said on Symplicity you could do this was noon. The people who actually signed on at noon to schedule interviews found that a ton of people had already signed up, and might have taken the interview times they wanted. Never trust the times on Symplicity! Obsessive checking is necessary.

The interviews are spread out over three days - August 15, 16 and 17th. From what I've heard anecdotally you can find out about callbacks as soon as the day after OCI or not until mid-September, depending on the firm.

There are several different OCIs but the one from Aug 15-17 is the main one. The bulk of employers are there including 99% of the BigLaw employers that are coming to campus. There are smaller OCIs that extend into September but they tend to be small firms or government jobs and there's only like 4 or 5 per session.

There is no separate OCI for 3ls, the firms just say what class level they're hiring for. Some of the firms I am interviewing at also have 3ls interviewing.

Hope this helps!

[normn3116]

^^ Yeah, that's a weird question. Of course some people at Illinois got BigLaw. The better question is what about everybody else?

To normn3116 - thanks for answering questions. Good luck to you in getting a permanent offer from your current firm or finding something else after graduation. What would say most people in your class did this summer? Was it mostly smaller firms? Government work? Do you know anyone without any kind of legal job for the summer?

Most people I know worked in either smaller firms, government agencies, or 711-required work (state's attorneys offices, things of that nature). For those on here who don't go the biglaw route, getting a 711 is a great idea. You actually get courtroom experience, approach in front of judges, argue motions, the whole nine yards. I actually managed to do 711 work as a result of my firm doing municipal prosecutions. I negotiated a few DUI pleas, but was not lucky enough to have anything go to trial.

The bottom line, everyone I know did something legal, but my guess is a lot of us will have no idea where we are working post graduation. I did, however, manage to snag one of those mythical 3L OCI interviews from a firm who's coming down and NOT looking for IP. Speaking of IP, that is one thing I have noticed has gone well. Most people I know who want to do IP are indeed doing IP.

For mez06, there is a MUCH smaller 3L OCI. It's rather strange, actually. My take is that if a firm is coming down to interview 3Ls from UIUC, they're not doing so just for show. Catch is, while there are still plenty of very qualified applicants (though I've really yet to meet anyone in my class who wouldn't be able to do the work), the all-stars from the class all have their biglaw jobs lined up. Therefore, where you might have been competing with them during 2L, not so much during 3L. There are always exceptions, but that's my take.

[normn3116]

Know of anyone who got a biglaw SA position?[/quote]

Paraflam, I do. I know of plenty, in fact. It is tough, don't get me wrong, but we do place people. Most people with those positions were top 10%, but there were some who were within top 1/3 but had very relevant pre-LS work experience or undergrad degree. My estimation is that somewhere between 20-25% got biglaw, but I could be wrong. I was in top 1/3 during 2L OCI, got plenty of screeners, but got beaten out by people with better grades.

[SaintClarence27]

Anyone know when we can bid for moot court? I was under the impression that it was a bidding situation - is that correct?

[NancyBotwin]

Anyone know when we can bid for moot court? I was under the impression that it was a bidding situation - is that correct?

I'm pretty sure you just register. I think they had told us though that you can still register for those up to a week or so after classes start, and that they'll have info sessions on them at the beginning of the semester before people register. I think.

[ChattelCat]

Anyone know when we can bid for moot court? I was under the impression that it was a bidding situation - is that correct?

I'm pretty sure you just register. I think they had told us though that you can still register for those up to a week or so after classes start, and that they'll have info sessions on them at the beginning of the semester before people register. I think.

this. you just register for whichever internal competition you want to. They have a big info session at the very beginning of the semester where last year's winners will give you the lowdown on the different moot court competitions that you can sign up for. Usually you can still sign up for moot court after the info session, but the drop date is super early - so if you're on the fence better to wait to register.

Then August 3rd at about midnight we got the list of which employers selected us for interviews. You could either be selected, picked as an alternate, or "pending." Every "pending" I had, then turned into a "not invited" although Blurbz had one that turned into a select. No idea how the alternates thing works.

From what I know the alternates are chosen by the firm in case someone turns down an interview. Our year career services would email you if there was a spot that opened up - I was seriously doubtful that this would actually happen but I did actually end up getting an interview as an alternate for one firm.

[mez06]

Norm & Kilpatrick...great info. Thanks for 'painting the picture'!

[Kilpatrick]

From what I know the alternates are chosen by the firm in case someone turns down an interview. Our year career services would email you if there was a spot that opened up - I was seriously doubtful that this would actually happen but I did actually end up getting an interview as an alternate for one firm.

I'm not holding my breath for any alternate spots to turn into interviews, but I notice on Symplicity that there are still slots open at a lot of firms. Are these empty spots, or are they just people who haven't signed up yet? I couldn't believe that there would be anybody who wouldn't sign up right away, but throughout the weekend there was still a slow trickle of latecomers. Were people waiting until the last minute to sign up during your OCI?

Also how did the alternate interview go? Do you know anybody who got a callback or an offer after being an alternate?