Biglaw, Job Searches, Law Schools

Fall Recruiting Follow-Up: Part II

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[Ed. note: Once again, we apologize for our technical difficulties.]

As everybody is starting to realize, fall recruiting is not going as well as it has in the past. In Part I of our recruiting roundup, we told you which markets are making it tough on summer associate applicants. Today, we’ll talk about law schools.

If you had to pick one clear loser during this year’s recruitment process, it would have to be Harvard Law School:

Basically, life is not particularly good for Harvard 2Ls these days: 1) OCI Call Backs have all been doled out to other (earlier) schools’ students; and 2) the H-P-LP-F system leaves current Harvard 2L’s at a disadvantage (in terms of misery) to their younger classmates.

Difficulty + Harvard = Open mockery from everyone else:

Dear Harvard students,

We had earlier OCI programs and took your jobs. Sorry.

Sincerely,

State school students with multiple v5 and v10 callbacks

Interviews didn’t start at HLS until September 18th, and it’s pretty clear that the late start has hurt applicants. Remember how differently the economy looked just one month ago. On September 12th (before Lehman was thrown down with the sodomites), the Dow closed at 11,421. By September 17th, the Dow was down to 10,609. And right now you need an electron microscope to read the DJIA (9,220 as of 12:30 EDT).

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Update: DJIA closed at 8,579 today.

Tomorrow is the last day for HLS OCI. It’s a bad time to have bad timing.

HLS’s response and stories from other schools, after the jump.


HLS is apparently reacting to the bad news from their students. Career services sent out this email earlier this week:

As OCI comes to a close, we want to remind you that we are here to help you in any way we can as you continue to explore OCI employers during callbacks or consider alternative approaches to the job search. With respect to callbacks, we are offering the following programs next week to make sure you are as prepared and confident as possible:

* Successful Callback Interviews – Tuesday, Oct. 14th at noon (Ropes Gray) …

* Callback Q & A – Tuesday, Oct. 14th and Wednesday, Oct 15th at 5:00 p.m. …

Friday is the last day of OCI. We’ll have a much clearer picture of how everyone is doing in the next few weeks. While we expect that most of you will do fine and have several options, we recognize that some of you may be completing OCI with fewer options than anticipated as a result of the economic slowdown. We are committed to assisting you throughout your job search and are taking the following steps:

* I have asked my staff to come in on the Columbus Day holiday (Monday, October 13) so that we can be available to help anyone with their job search. We will present the following program — Next Steps: Conducting an Outside OCI Job Search – Monday Oct. 13th at noon. Lunch will be provided at this program;

* Advisors will be available for walk-in appointments on Monday afternoon to provide you with a personalized game plan for your job search;

* We are compiling lists of non-OCI law firms in various markets throughout the country. In particular, we are identifying non-OCI law firms where HLS alumni are working. Students will be able to access these resources and contact these additional employers;

* We will be collecting resumes of students still seeking jobs and will create regional resume books to circulate to employers that participated in OCI and still may be seeking to hire students for their summer programs (watch for an email about the resume books on Friday);

* We will inform OCI and non-OCI employers about our new videoconferencing capabilities for remote interviews and that we can easily accommodate additional on-campus interviews; and

* We are creating a webpage specifically for students continuing their job search beyond OCI that will link to all relevant job search resources.

I encourage you to take advantage of all of the resources available to you at OCS. We are committed to helping you realize your career goals and are with you every step of the way.

Mark Weber

Assistant Dean for Career Services

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Mark Weber is working hard.

But HLS students are not the only ones suffering:

Leaving aside the HLS part of this, I don’t think we can deny that OCI is going less well than other years this year.

I’m at CLS – most people who did OCI have offers by now, but several don’t. That’s not the way it was for the current 3Ls.

Even if it isn’t a total bloodbath, obviously recruits were expecting better heading into the fall:

Well, as a 2L at Chicago, I can say that it has been terrifying this year. Sure, I’m middle of the class, no journal, but I expected a LOT more than 3 callbacks (one ding from those 3). I still haven’t heard on callbacks from about 3 firms, but I think there are plenty out there like me. It’s just that we don’t talk about it much to avoid making either ourselves or the other party to the conversation feel unexpectedly bad. Sure, maybe the whole system needs to change, but who wants to be in the wringer when it does? Not me.

But a main UofC competitor claims that things are just fine in the upper Midwest. A Northwestern tipster tells us:

I’m a 2L at Northwestern, and I have been very successful with Fall OCI.

So far, I have had ten call-backs and currently have ten offers. Firms include Latham, Kirkland, Winston, McDermott, Katten, and Jenner. I was very pleased to be so successful. I limited my job search to the Chicago market, and I think it has paid off. It has been a very easy sell to firms wanting to know my interest in Chicago. Furthermore, every firm has consistently noted that though the economy is affecting things in general, it is not as significant an issue as it is in other cities.

I know that my classmates who are applying in Chicago have been similarly pleased with the Fall OCI process. In fact, it seems like Kirkland must have offered the entire 2L class. Some of my friends who are applying in other cities have also had great luck; however, I have heard that Denver and D.C. have been hard to break into.

Students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School are also claiming success:

Penn does seem to be doing well, Im a 2L and from what I’ve heard at least people seem happy, pleanty of V10-20 offers etc. to go around.

2L at U. Penn., middle of the class, only looking in NYC, 31 OCIs, 12 callbacks, took 8, so far 7 offers and haven’t heard from the last. Granted, I was not looking at V20 firms because I don’t want to spend every night this summer on a boat cruise or at some other forced social event, but I am still pretty happy about my stats. Go Penn!

Even if you drift outside of the T-14, the going is difficult, but there are still opportunities:

Heard from many folks who were Top 25% at Fordham and they did great – 20-30 callbacks, 5-10 offers (after some callbacks cancelled by the student), all V30 or better, most V20-V1. I was top 33% myself and got a V20s firm, but that was mostly luck and a resume that fit the firm’s environment well. In previous years top 33% at Fordham was almost guaranteed a V80 or better firm, but now many of us are struggling. Median-range at Fordham used to have hopes at Vault but now that’s simply not happening. The economy is killing us.

Many friends of mine at Brooklyn Law who are top 33% are gettling absolutely nothing.

A personable top 50% at Cardozo has already given up hope.

But outside the top tier? You might be in serious trouble:

Top 20% at Tier Three with LR and moot court. Only 1 OCI (DuaneMorris) that wasn’t JAG. Mailed out over 100 resumes, no interviews there either. Our Top 10% aren’t even getting offers. One offer in the entire 2L class, and she’s numero uno.

If you have a job already: congratulations. Just be tactful about where and how you celebrate — your friends may not be so lucky.

Earlier: Fall Recruiting Follow-Up: Part I

Open Thread: How is the Fall Recruiting Season Shaping Up?

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