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Accept Your Offers Episode VI: A New Hope

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Over the weekend I suggested that Harvard Law students were not taking the fall recruiting “crisis” seriously enough. The school’s comments suggested to me that HLS saw itself as above the fray.

But whatever public face HLS is putting on the recruiting season, behind the scenes HLS OCS seems to be working harder than ever. A tipster forwarded this email from Assistant Dean Mark Weber:

Dear [Redacted]:

Thank you for participating in our Fall OCI Program. I hope you had a productive visit to campus this fall.

I am writing to let you know that we still have talented students who are seeking summer and permanent positions in Northern California. We understand the concerns facing all employers right now, but want to remind you that this can be a great opportunity to enhance your presence at Harvard Law School by hiring one of our students. I have taken the liberty to attach resumes of our students who are seeking employment in Northern California (link below). Also, if you would like to return to campus and interview additional students, we can easily accommodate your schedule to meet with students on campus or through our newly launched video conferencing facilities. Finally, remember that you can also post any employment opportunities in the HLS job bank which is exclusively available to our students and alumni. Click here to post a job.

I hope you will consider hiring additional Harvard students for employment with your firm. If you are interested in returning to campus or utilizing our video conferencing capabilities, please contact [redacted] And of course, please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can ever be of assistance to you or your firm’s recruitment efforts at Harvard. Many thanks for considering our students.

Sincerely,

Mark Weber

I spoke with Weber and he confirmed that this was a new tactic his office was taking:

In light of the current economic climate, I did send out the letter to employers a few weeks ago. I haven’t sent out a letter like that before, but given the favorable response we have received from employers, I think it is something we will do in the future.

Other law school responses after the jump.


The concern about offers extends to all law school tiers. Loyola Law School is also encouraging students to make their decisions quickly:

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Dear Students:

There have been reports emanating from the east coast that some law firms are finding their summer programs oversubscribed because more of their offers have been accepted than anticipated. In one or two instances, outstanding offers have been rescinded because the summer class had already filled up. In others, firms have contacted students with outstanding offers to inform them that the summer class is overenrolled and encouraged them to accept offers at other firms.

While we know of no local instances such as these, we think these reports should sound a warning to any student with an offer they have not yet accepted. There is a myth among students that accepting an offer before the deadline makes the student appear desperate. This is silly. In fact, accepting an offer sooner may heighten the student’s good will with the employer. It is foolhardy in this climate to take more time than necessary to make a decision about an offer.

To put it bluntly, students sit on offers at their peril. This is not the time to shop your offers or wait to see if a better one comes along. In addition to being in your own best interest to accept quickly, it may also assist other students who may then receive an offer that you turn down.

If you have questions or need help making a decision, you are encouraged to contact your career services counselor.

Graham Sherr, Esq.

Assistant Dean for Career Services

“Sit on offers at [your] peril.”

UNC School of Law had a conference call with firms to discuss the firms’ bald disrespect of NALP guidelines response to the economic situation:

To all 2Ls and 3Ls:

As you are aware, the current economic climate has an impact on the job market. Last week I was on a conference call with about a dozen hiring managers at large law firms around the country to discuss this very issue. None of them indicated they had plans to decrease hiring. However, many firms are seeing a faster-than-normal response in student acceptance of outstanding offers.

Some of you may have seen postings on legal blogs about students being advised by their law schools to accept offers quickly – before the employers fill their slots. While the employers on the conference call all thought the advice they saw on the blogs was overstated, we do think

that students with offers from large law firms should think seriously about not waiting until the last minute to accept them.

Many legal employers, particularly large law firms, give out more offers than they have slots because not all students will accept them. It’s always a guess on their part, but it’s an educated guess, based on years of experience. This year could be very different. Last Friday I got a

call from a firm who told me their slots all got filled by students who didn’t wait to accept their offers – prompting them to tell the remaining students with outstanding offers that the program was now full. …

Brian D. Lewis

Assistant Dean for Career Services

If I may paraphrase, the law firms UNC talked to said: “Don’t believe everything you read on ATL, except the whole thing about sitting on your offers. Only an idiot would be sitting on multiple offers in this climate.”

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And so it goes. Sitting on multiple offers continues to be a stupid thing to do in this market, but some students still believe that their feeble skills can match the power of the American economy tanking.

Every day we hear anecdotal evidence about additional law firms calling up 2Ls and encouraging them to accept somewhere else. Firms are not rescinding offers outright, but instead they are saying “accept with us at your own risk.” Don’t trust me? Trust Jesus. From Notre Dame Law School:

An alumnus at a major law firm phoned today and asked me to let you know that if you have offers from firms but have not yet accepted one of them, please do so. He said that he believes that some large law firms in major cities may withdraw offers that are pending. …

Gail G. Peshel

Assistant Dean for Students and Acting Director of Career Services

Accepting offers = Yub Nub.

Sitting on offers = Purple electrocution of your teeth.

Earlier: Accept Your Offers: Weekend Update

Accept Your Offers: Part the Fourth

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