Fall Recruiting Crazy Rumor Watch: Let Tier Two Grads Eat Tastykake

We regularly receive all kinds of wacky gossip related to the fall recruiting process. Some of these rumors are true, and some of them aren’t.
We found this rumor, about the Chicago office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, quite amusing:

“I heard from a friend there that during summer associate callbacks, only students from ‘good schools’ get lunch. E.g., Harvard, Northwestern, University of Chicago.”

“Students from Illinois, DePaul, etc. must starve. You should look into this.”

Loyola (of Chicago) 2Ls: What say you?
We looked into this rumor. Alas, it appears to be untrue.
More after the jump.


We contacted Morgan Lewis for comment. We received this statement, from a firm spokesperson:

We appreciate the opportunity to respond because this quote is incorrect. We do not distinguish among candidates in the manner suggested by the quote.

Our Chicago office is small. Whether attorneys from the firm take a candidate out to lunch depends on whether the candidate interviews in the morning or afternoon, but also on the availability of attorneys on the day of the interview. Because our office is small, we only recruit on campus at University of Chicago, Northwestern, and Illinois, and we do not have a large number of callbacks.

So far this year, we have interviewed one DePaul candidate in the office, and our attorneys did take her out for lunch.

Okay, so you might get a lunch if you interview with Morgan Lewis, subject to the availability of your interviewers.
At Akin Gump, maybe not:

I recently heard that Akin Gump’s DC office has stopped having call back lunches, and is offering their interviewees gift cards to Cosi instead. Is this a trend that is being followed at other law firms, or is Akin Gump just particularly cheap?

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Gift cards to Cosi? We like Cosi as much as the next guy, but that seems a bit chintzy. How about gift certificates for the Akin Gump Escort?
(We contacted Akin Gump for comment on this item. They did not respond.)
So, any thoughts on such a policy? To applicants to law firms, and the Biglaw attorneys who interview them: Do you enjoy callback lunches? Or are they just a waste of time?

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