First, chatting with a candidate in an informal social setting will give Quinn recruiting lawyers a better idea of what that candidate’s truly like — and whether they want to be stuck in a conference room with that candidate on a Saturday night, prepping for a trial — than a 20-minute, stilted conversation in a hotel room. Second, it spares QE lawyers from having to do screening interviews that would fall into the “utter waste of time” category. Third, to the extent that this system gives extroverted and aggressive types an advantage (since they’d be the best at working the room during a “fun and freewheeling party”), it may select well for the traits that Quinn Emanuel wants in its litigators. Introverts and shrinking violets — and people not in the top 10 percent of the class, except at Harvard and Yale — need not apply.
In its outside-the-box quality and emphasis on interacting with candidates outside of the artificial interview context, the plan Quinn outlined reminded me of the firm’s famous Deer Valley resort trip. Back in 2007, instead of holding standard callback interviews at the firm offices, QE took selected students on an all-expenses-paid weekend trip to a luxury resort in Deer Valley, Utah (more details here, here, and here).
I reminded John Quinn of the Deer Vally experiment from 2007. He wrote back:
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We may do a deer-valley like thing again — people liked it. Yield was about the same as call backs to the office. We think students like to see the office — so challenge is how to combine the big off site group event + visit to office. We have been puzzling over that.
Quinn Emanuel lawyers solve harder puzzles constantly for their clients, so we’re sure they’ll come up with something innovative on this front as well.
Readers, what do you think of Quinn Emanuel’s new approach to on-campus recruiting? Is it brilliant, or boneheaded, or somewhere in between? Feel free to share your views in the comments.
[FN1] “CHECK YOU” is not a typo. See here — the inspiration for the second entry in our ongoing ATL lawyer meme contest.
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Perspectives on Fall 2011 Law Student Recruiting [NALP]
Law Firm Recruiting Volumes Inch Up, Making Modest Gains After Recession-Era Declines [NALP]
On-Campus Recruiting Increased Slightly Again in 2011, But Summer Associate Classes Stay Small
[ABA Journal]
The Am Law 100, The Early Numbers: Revenue, Profits Surge at Quinn Emanuel [Am Law Daily]
Quinn Emanuel Says It’s Not the Worst Sweatshop — Really [The Careerist]
High-Powered Lawyers Wear Flip Flops [The Careerist]