UT Law Provides More Evidence That Rising 3Ls are in Trouble
Rising 3Ls at the University of Texas School of Law received a rather matter-of-fact message from their career services office:
OCI Process OverviewEmployer registration closes July 1, 2009. The number of scheduled interview rooms is down overall from last year, with a drop of about 45 percent for employers seeking 3Ls.
That’s not so surprising, is it? Just your average, everyday email explaining that recruitment for 3Ls has FALLEN OFF OF A FREAKING CLIFF!
Arguably, more 3Ls than usual will be forced into 3L interviewing (unless you really believe, contrary to some observers, that offer rates will be around close to 100% for current summer associates).
More job seekers + Fewer employers = Recipe for disaster.
After the jump, UT tipsters weigh in.
As you can well imagine, the reaction from UT law students has not been great this morning. One tipster points out:
45%?!?! And so matter of fact about it like we’re just talking about the weather. Not that it could be helped, I’m sure. It’s a crap economy everywhere. Go class of 2010!
Another tipster has a more proactive approach:
I’m happy I have a couple of months to get in shape. By the time I return to campus, I’ll be ready to defend my interviewing slots with my fists.
And of course, there’s this:
This would never happen in Texis!
Rising 3Ls at UT Law should not feel too bad. This is probably happening all over the country. I’d show up for 3L OCI as ready as possible. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “there are too many pigs for the teat.”
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FIRST!~!!
EMBRACE THE HORROR!!!!!!
YOU'RE ALL GOING TO STARVE!!!!!
I just unfriended UT Law's facebook page because of its liberal bias. I'm creating a new UT Law facebook page with less liberal douchey views.
time to rethink the "t14" cut-off
This rising 3L is gonna go slit her wrists. Don't even say rising 2Ls have it the worst. At least you all have a year for the economy to recover.
positive proof that the class of 2010 is the true lost generation.
Class of 2009 escaped by their the skin of their teeth.
And yet Kash grosses over $25,000 a month.
Welcome to the End Times
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5 - you win. your life sucks the most.
I could care less about UT rising 3Ls.
-GULC rising 3L
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Aw, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. Forfty percent of all people know that.
Forfty percent? Impressive.
And yet Kash has an 8 track player and color TV in every room! I mean, what gives?
I thought the Texas legal market was immune to the recession (thanks to oil prices, which after a brief dip are rising again).
All that shit you talkin dead - coffin
Light the weed - coughin
New crib - loftin
where's that? Austin
where's that? Texas
what's in front? Benzes
what else? Lexus
whose 3500 sq ft wife is that? Mr. West's
I applaud the candor. Guess they not only grow em bigger in Texas, they grow them smarter too.
Helpful hints for UT 3Ls interviewing with OOS firms:
(Just remember the 3 Os):
1. Obama: Praise him early and often in your interview;
2. Oklahoma: Stress how much more deserving Bradford was over McCoy in the Heisman race; and
3. Ostrich: Belongs in a hamburger, not on boots.
--From your liberal yankee friend
I applaud the candor. Guess they not only grow em bigger in Texas, they grow them smarter too.
17, Rick Ross album goes hard!!!
how many firms really interviewed 3Ls anyway? 45% could be that instead of 9 firms now only 5 firms interview 3Ls....
I'm a jobless rising 3L at Michigan and I want to kill myself.
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Wow. I'm curious what the numbers are for other schools.
I'm pretty sure that, at least at UT, if you didn't have a job going into 3L OCI, you were screwed. It's just worse this year because more people will be in the "no-job" pool. At least firms aren't getting our hopes up this time around.
Suck it, UT!
SMU, bitches!
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6-
we'll see
-c/o 2011
Apparently at the University of Texas
They know exactly what the facts is.
Perhaps the pigs can suckle Ellie's teats...
I would still rather be in the class of 2010 than the class of 2009. 3Ls still have a full year to adapt and make themselves marketable to smaller firms (perhaps consider taking family law this year) AND they don't *really* need a job until August 2010 so there is plenty of time for hiring to pick up.
This would never happen in Dallas.
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Guys in my high school used to suckle Elie's teats all the time. It was no big deal...
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Elie does not have teats, he has moobs.
@16
Energy in Texas these days is all about natural gas which thanks to some new drilling technology is now plentiful and thus the price has tanked.
The ship be sinking...
I suppose that I should know the answer to this question, but is the University of Texas School of Law accredited by the American Bar Association?
For those rising 3Ls, just get a job, any job. Prestige doesn't matter at this point.
22: I interviewed with a medium-sized Dallas firm that doen't have an SA program so only hires from 3L OCI.
Oh, so you COULD care less, #11? It reassures me to know that some degree of caring, at least, exists in your cold, black, Washingtonian heart: http://c-pol.com/Fun/Caring_Continuum.jpg
What is a "moob?"
There were always very few firms interviewing 3Ls at UT OCI. Basically no Texas firms interviewed 3Ls through OCI. This is, in fact, a case of 4 firms deciding not to interview 3Ls.
45: man-boob
The end of Biglaw? Well, I don't really think that the end can be assessed as of itself as being the end because what does the end feel like? It's like saying when you try to extrapolate the end of the universe, you say, if the universe is indeed infinite, then how - what does that mean? How far is all the way, and then if it stops, what's stopping it, and what's behind what's stopping it? So, what's the end, you know, is my question to you.
We need a post on how much 2L OCI will take a hit this fall. From what I hear it is going to be ugly.
Texas got thumped today
Think outside the box people, there is more to life than Big Law. And let's face it, after reading the comments on here, who really wants to work at a firm anyway? Good luck everyone, be creative- sure you may not make more than $80,000 your first year out, but defer those loans, do something that may serve you in the long run.
Don't wait for the recovery of Big Law. It has been on life support for a long time and I think it is time we let it go. Go solo, team up with a few classmates. Not every company can afford to pay $750 an hour for legal advice. Why do you want to spend 7 or more years supporting a bunch of cranky old men who spend their days playing golf - in the hopes that you will be that grouchy old man in 50 years and that a new group of suckers will be supporting you?
Wake up! That business model is dead. Time to invent a new one.
Good luck
the 2l oci email was not overly optimistic either. 18% down from the firms that are coming.
What is a "Mystal?"
For the UT class of 2008 (Fall 2007 OCI), there were about 100 employers interviewing 3Ls, about 60 of which were law firms.
Click your heels Dorothy and repeat after me: there is no 3L market. There is no 3L market. The # of 2L's hired by AmLaw 200 firms will be down 40% 2009 v. 2008. That's the grim reality. Peace. Out.
-38 The card says moops. Moops.
NO SHIT! Did we need UT Law to tell us this?
Moop? Kyle's band on southpark??
My "firm" will be interviewing UT 3L's next month. Those who can demonstrate excellent hand-eye coordination and are mechanically inclined will have a shot at being hired. Love, Billy-Bob's Lawnmower Repairs
57 - please take your idiocy back under your rock and watch the severance clock tick down. [Hey, how's that blog coming? Pretty popular, is it?] The rest of us have work to do.
57-- are you for real, or are you just needing the link for LMGTFY? Because, I swear to God, 57, this pop reference is the first entry when you Google it.
BTW--lots of comments removed by moderator on this thread. What could be worse than Elie's Moops?
57 here. Sorry about that post--now I get it. Never was much of a Seinfeld fan.
What is LMGTFY?
Posts 57, 59, 60 and 61 were brought to you by Powdermilk Biscuits. Made from whole wheat raised in the rich bottomlands of the Lake Wobegon river valley by Norwegian bachelor farmers; so you know they're not only good for you, but pure. They give shy people the strength to get up and do what needs to be done. Heavens they're tasty and expeditious.
62 - well said...APHC FTW!
63 - Right back at ya! Appaloosa Horse Club of Fort Worth rulz!
--62
Law school rankings be sinking...
UT to UTT
65--I think you be missing a T...(maybe it already sunk)
Fixt!
Law school rankings be sinking...
UT to UTTT
1) 3L hiring never really mattered at UT. UT's CSO could fulfill sufficient numbers through 2L OCI cattle calls to keep the administration happy. Those left out were often hustling for a job on their own.
2) 3L interviews will only start mattering this year, due to the likelihood of people not getting offers at the end of the summer. UT's CSO is going to bust ass to get 3Ls jobs, but who knows what's going to happen there.
3) UT feeds a huge % of the incoming class at almost all Texas firms. Texas firms normally take a large number of associates. (This will change.)
4) In its state, UT has no serious competition from any other school for Texas firms. The same is not as true for schools in large legal markets such as Cali & NY, other than H, S & C. (Yes, I left out Y.)
5) Firms in other states will have lower hiring needs as well.
5) UT's CSO actually was kind enough to send out this letter to get students to start looking for jobs now & busting their ass this summer at the jobs they do have. Most other law schools will have similar problems, but not pull the wool from over their students' eyes until the actual 3L OCI process starts.
Kudos to UT's CSO for actually donig something right for once.
Good luck to all UT students in the job hunt.
Hook 'em!
second 5) should be a 6)
-68
68....right on. It's rough out there, atleast UT is honest with their students.
65-67....don't think your schools are above reality....if the legal market is suffering that hits every school and rankings will not suffer as a result. Plus, atleast if post grad I have to live in a van down by the river, I get to do it in Austin.
hook em
68....right on. It's rough out there, atleast UT is honest with their students.
65-67....don't think your schools are above reality....if the legal market is suffering that hits every school and rankings will not suffer as a result. Plus, atleast if post grad I have to live in a van down by the river, I get to do it in Austin.
hook em
Is there a shortage of qualified U.S. lawyers and law graduates such that it is necessary to continue to grant visas to foreigners to come and practice law in the United States?
By some estimates, foreign representation in big law and top law schools is 10-20%.
would the word product of an indian firm be better than a 3L or 1st year? i doubt it, so if you cant find a job, setup shop and become a document monkey charging lower rates than the indians.
Last night I invited Kash to the Plaza for champagne and caviar.
73 - You assume the people who want a doc reviewer care about the quality of the product, rather than the cost. I doubt that's true. Also, how do you think one person with one shop will compete with a team of doc reviewers? The math doesn't add up.
This is not a great idea and I wish people would stop pushing it. It only distracts from the real problem.
I've decided that I need to get out of the country.
Big slumps usually end with a rise in exports. Is there any place that I can I export US legal knowledge, which is the one thing I am trained to do? Because I really don't want to ride the salaries to the bottom. I saw what happened in journalism, and it wasn't pretty.
I want to be in a foreign country, getting paid for something that will last a long time. I dont' think the doc review centers in India will be a good choice, because, at least from what I've seen, they have no reason to hire a lot of foreigners and the ones they do hire will be from big firms.
What else is there?
76:
Foreign attorneys represent 15% of Biglaw. Do the math.
Texas firms are beginning to contract finally. As an alum of UT I though the career services office was a complete joke and borderline useless. The only thing shocking to me about the email is that someone in the career services office knows how to send eletronic mail. For a top tier law school it treats its students very poorly.
77 _ Damn. It figures.
I can't figure this one out. I know it's never going to work out when salaries start going down and less qualified people are cleared to work. It didn't work in journalism, and it's not going to work in law. I really don't want to believe that all that training was just a waste. And I really love the law, to be honest.
Stupid legal field. Who'd have thought it would go the way of the automotive industry?
as others have said, this is pretty meaningless; 3L OCI has always been worthless at UT. Wait I take that back - this year Anadarko was looking for 'land-men' and Build-A-Sign wanted a store manager.