Kilpatrick wrote:^^ 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.