Interview Lunch Spots: 'Not Everyone Likes Meat'

The halcyon days of summer have passed. Gone are the epic lunches and frequent happy hours with eager summer associates. By the time September rolled around though, many were relieved to get back to work and not feel obligated to while away the hours talking to law students about the merits of firm life.

But now it’s October. And law students will be entering your life again soon. It’s interview season!

Which means more talk of firm merits, and more importantly, more lunches. During a recent online chat with Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema, one lawyer chimed in with a helpful hint for interviewers: Be sensitive to interviewees’ diet limitations.

Washington, D.C.: Tom… I’m an attorney at a huge D.C. law firm… [T]his is interview season. My colleagues and I will be taking hundreds of potential associates out for fancy lunches this fall. And I’m always shocked to hear the places my colleagues sometimes venture for these lunches, and more shocked to see their jaw drop when they realize their choice might not have been welcomed by the interviewee. I adore Rasika [Ed. note: Up-scale Indian restaurant in D.C.], but I would never take a job candidate there. That’s just unfair. Some people don’t like spice; others might be thrown off their game by an ethnic menu. As a vegetarian, I am particularly sensitive to the issue (I remember interviewing at several law firms that took me to the Capital Grille [Ed. note: D.C. Steakhouse] where the only thing on the menu I could eat was the $7 green salad – and consequently half the interview discussion awkwardly revolved around my dietary preferences). I’ve also been tipped onto celiac disease – which a shockingly large number of my colleagues have. So basically, when taking someone on an interview lunch, I pick innocuous, unoffensive “standard” food…. So, to all you attorneys doing interview season right now, think a little about where you take the candidate!!

Tom Sietsema: Good advice re: business meals. Not everyone likes meat, or something foreign, or A Fancy Experience.

We disagree with the Washington, D.C. lawyer. Our thoughts:

  • Interviewers, the restaurant is part of the challenge. If interviewees are totally flustered by an ethnic menu and show it, that’s a sign. Don’t hire them.
  • Interviewees, don’t be a vegetarian. Meat tastes good. [Ed. note: Kash speaks as a reformed vegetarian.]
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  • Interviewees, if you are a vegetarian, don’t make it a big deal. We checked out Capital Grille’s menu; D.C. veggie lawyer could have gotten some French onion soup too. Ordering a $7 green salad is a martyr’s move. No one wants to hire a martyr.
  • If you need to choose a restaurant, use ATL’s handy guide, compiled this summer: ATL Round-up: Where the Lawyers Eat Out.

    Another legal lunch comment from the Washington Post food chat, after the jump.


    A lawyer reminisces about a partner being a jerk at her interview lunch:

    Mass Ave, DC: The comment from Washington about taking law school candidates out to lunch brought back memories. For some reason, the year I interviewed, lots of firms took me to The Palm [Ed. note: Another D.C. steakhouse]. My most memorable lunch was when I arrived at The Palm with 2 partners and we were told their oven had broken and they were only serving cold lunch choices. One of the partners carried on like they had just told him his car had been repossessed – and stormed out with the other 2 of us in tow. He marched us about 5 blocks away (I recall the distance because I was in heels) to someplace that had a working oven, but continused [sic] to fume about the injustice of it all through lunch. Needless to say, I did not choose to work at that firm. Moral of the story – sometimes its just not all about the food.

    Tom Sietsema: Great story. And sometimes “It’s not all about you,” right?

    Was Tom Sietsema bringing the snark here? Because this was not a “great story.” We like the partner’s gumption. He should storm out if an expensive restaurant has a broken oven. And interviewee should wear shoes that allow her to walk five blocks without the need to complain about it.

    Tom Talks Shop [Washington Post]

    Earlier: ATL Round-up: Where the Lawyers Eat Out

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