Job Searches, Small Law Firms

Tips For Applying To SmallLaw Jobs

Be interested. Be coachable. Nail the basics. Good luck!

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hire me girlMaybe you actually want to be in SmallLaw. Maybe you’d rather be in Biglaw but didn’t have the grades or go to the right school. Maybe you don’t know SmallLaw from Shinola and you’re sending out your résumé to every firm in the phone book. However you got to this point, you find yourself applying to SmallLaw. Here are some tips to hopefully help you get noticed.

If you’re a lateral, SmallLaw wants to know you can handle client matters yourself, particularly if you’re lateraling from Biglaw. For all we know, you could have been a small cog in the Biglaw chain and have been doing research projects for a senior associate, who then formulated your findings into correspondence with the client. We want to know you can handle everything having to do with a particular client matter yourself. In short, that you can take a matter and run with it.

If you’re a new grad, SmallLaw wants to know you’re interested in the firm’s practice area, and that you’re coachable. On the first point, don’t have a general cover letter. It’s always going to boil down to choosing between a couple of people, and I’ve broken ties before by seeing who had the most tailored cover letter. You have to make a decision: corporate or litigation? In SmallLaw, we’re looking to either add something to our practice or to plug a particular hole. If I get 12 passable résumés for one open corporate position and seven of these have a cover letter that specifically mentions an interest (or better yet, experience) in corporate law, there’s no real reason to take another look at the other five résumés. Just don’t have the time.

Now a word on the coachability point. People who think they know everything tend not to take instruction very well, which can be an issue in a small firm environment (and won’t help a person in Biglaw either). This can be somewhat pronounced in SmallLaw, because we might get people who feel SmallLaw is beneath them. Suggesting (or outright saying) in an interview that you learned everything you need to know in law school or during your summer jobs is not going to win you any points with an interviewer. Much better to be humble. Even clinics: clinics are great, yes, students get a chance to try out what they’ve learned, but it’s still not the same, so there’s going to be a learning curve no matter what. We want to know you understand that, and that you’re coming in eager to learn.

Also, if you’re a new grad or even interviewing for a summer position, try to have something legal on your résumé. You’re working in a law firm part-time during the school year. You were a paralegal before law school, or worked at some justice group. You were a legal reporter. You followed the O.J. trial (okay, now I’m dating myself). Something.

I know I’m not the only not-exactly-brilliant interviewer in SmallLaw. My intention is always to ask deep, probing questions, but then the interview time comes and inevitably there are 50 different things going on that morning, and I have all these thoughts whirring in the back of my head during the interview… “I wonder what time the client expects the purchase agreement?” “Did I remember to change that one provision in the LPA before it went out last night?” “Is my website developer the least responsive person on the planet, or just in the Northern Hemisphere?” “I really, really need to be working on that purchase agreement.” So I default to rattling off the person’s jobs and extracurricular activities, and asking the person to comment on each. Thus there should be at least something on there that’s legal-related, otherwise I may not find out enough about you to make you an offer.

Lastly, in the interview itself, nail the basics. Show up on time. Dress professionally. Make eye contact. If it’s a Skype interview, have enough sense to reserve a room somewhere so you won’t be disturbed. Don’t eat anything during the interview, and yes, I have had people bring food to an in-person interview and then eat while I was interviewing them. Don’t talk about the interviewer’s accent (it’s best not to go there). Don’t curse or tell off-color jokes, no matter how funny they are. Do come prepared with questions, though if we already covered something, don’t then go ahead and ask the question anyway, otherwise it makes it seem like you weren’t paying attention. Do send a typo-free follow up email.

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With that, good luck. Take it from me: SmallLaw is a great place to be.

Gary J. Ross founded Jackson Ross PLLC in 2013 after several years in Biglaw and the federal government. Gary handles corporate and securities law matters for venture capital funds, startups, and other large and small businesses, as well as investors in each. You can reach Gary by email at Gary.Ross@JacksonRossLaw.com.

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