Law Schools

Everything You Need To Know About Fall Recruiting Season (Part IV: Offers)

If your primary goal coming into law school was to be employed by the time you left campus, mission accomplished. 

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I got an offer!

Today’s column marks the final entry of what turned out to be a four-part OCI series and will focus on the most exciting portion of the Fall recruiting cycle, the offer stage.  Interviews are behind you and hopefully you have received at least one offer.  If your offer tally does stand at exactly one, then your decision-making process should be relatively straightforward — I would urge you to consult with your school’s CSO if you are considering turning down your only summer offer.  However, for those fortunate students who find themselves with multiple offers, deciding which to accept — or in case of splitting your summer, talked about more below and something I strongly advise students to do if possible, which several offers to accept — is a remarkably important decision with an impact that could ripple throughout literally the rest of your life.

But while of definite import, the offer stage should be a time of celebration rather than trepidation.  If you find yourself unsure about a firm who has extended you an offer, the first step is to request what is known as a second look.  Once you have received an offer, the proverbial ball is in your court.  And unlike the ball you might receive from a Russian authoritarian, this ball is not likely to be fitted with a listening device.  An employer who has extended an offer has decided that you would be a good fit, and thus, are now trying to convince you of the same.  To help you along with your decision-making process, many, if not most, law firms will let you have a second look.  This allows you to revisit the firm without the nerves and fear that come with trying to obtain an offer.  It is a venue in which you can ask the questions you did not ask during your screener interview or your callback.  For example, even though Above the Law has turned a good majority of law firm compensation into an open book, there can still be lingering questions surrounding bonuses or base pay for firms that employ a black box compensation structure.  While these are not questions you want to ask five minutes into your initial screening interview, they are more than acceptable during a second look.  In addition to getting particular questions answered, you can also request to meet with certain types of attorneys at the firm you might not have met throughout the OCI process.  This can include members of a particular practice area, but perhaps more importantly, attorneys across the racial, sex, and orientation spectrum.  If you are curious what it is like to be a person of color, or a women, or LBGTQI  at a particular employer, ask to meet with someone who meets that description, or even multiple people.  This is not to say that no request will be denied.  Demanding a meeting with the managing partner of a Am Law 50 firm or asking questions which would get a full-time employee a visit from Human Resources are still out of bounds, but at the offer stage, employers are trying to woo you.  Take advantage of that.

If you find yourself juggling multiple offers, it is important to be cognisant of the rules governing law students and employment.  I have previously written about the National Association for Law Placement’s Principles and Standards for Law Placement and Recruitment Activities and indeed, if you find yourself in the midst of the Fall recruiting cycle you hopefully took my advice and thoroughly read them.  There are some more generalized statements applicable to students in Part III, but for the purpose of the offer stage, Part V is of the utmost importance.  Part V.A.3. states “[a] candidate should not hold open more than five offers of employment at any one time. For each offer received that places a candidate over the offer limit, the candidate should, within one week of receipt of the excess offer, release an offer.”  The implications are clear.  If you start collecting offers like its ammunition in Fortnite,[1] not only are your potentially harming your classmates by hoarding offers that might otherwise be extended to them, but you are in violation of the NALP Guidelines.  And while there is no NALP police force that will come and end your legal career before it gets started, your law school would be well within their rights to discipline you for a knowing violation of the guidelines.

Students are not the only party whose conduct is driven by the Guidelines during the offer stage.  Part V.C.1. States “[e]mployers offering positions for the following summer to candidates not previously employed by them should leave those offers open for at least 28 days following the date of the offer letter or until December 30, whichever comes first. Candidates should reaffirm these offers within 14 days from the date of the offer letter, if an employer requests such affirmation in its offer letter. Employers that have requested this reaffirmation may retract any offer that is not reaffirmed within the 14-day period.”  Furthermore, for those students trying to decide between BigLaw and the public interest realm, Part V.C.2. States “[c]andidates may request that an employer extend the deadline to accept the employer’s offer until as late as April 1 if the candidate is actively pursuing positions with public interest or government organizations. Candidates may hold open only one offer in such circumstances. Employers are encouraged to grant such requests.”  As with students, employers can be punished by a particular school if they are in violation of the Guidelines.  If you are not getting the full 28 days to consider your offer from a particular employer, or a firm is balking at letting you wait until April 1st to hear back from a governmental agency, let your Career Services Office know.

Finally, as hinted at above, if you find yourself with a number of fantastic offers and you are having a tough time making a final decision, try the King Solomon approach and split your summer into two (yes, I know for Solomon it was a ruse, but just go with me on this).  As mentioned earlier, by the time you have gotten an offer, employers want you to work for them.  In last week’s column on callbacks, I referenced how employers can become competitive with one another, which a savvy student can use to their advantage.  This is only heightened at the offer stage.  If letting a student spend half of their summer elsewhere, either with another firm or with another office of the same firm, means that firm gets you for at least part of the summer, confident in their abilities to impress, many employers are willing to grant such a request.  The plus side for the students is rather straightforward, instead of one postgraduate offer, you could have two.  While this means you have to make yet another decision, getting to choose where you want to start your practice after at least half a summer of experience is a far more educated choice than what you would be able to make during OCI.  While I was able to split my 2L summer, the opportunities to split appear to be dwindling, especially in certain geographic areas.  This is not to say that you should make a request to split, just that you should not be surprised if firms are unwilling.  Also, keep in mind that while you will hopefully get two offers, splitting means less time in either each office or with each firm.  The ability to full immerse yourself in a firm over the course of 10 weeks might be limited if you have only five weeks.

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If you are a current law student reading this having reached the offer stage with a golden ticket in hand, let me congratulate you for successfully navigating the Fall recruiting cycle.  While not exactly equivalent to “getting out of a Higgins boat on Omaha Beach,” Fall OCI can be a months long process that is both physically and emotionally exhausting for 2Ls who are about to start the year of law school where, according to the apt adage, you get worked to death.  But through a successful OCI, you not only have secured your job for this coming summer, but also what you likely will be doing after graduation.  If your primary goal coming into law school was to be employed by the time you left campus, mission accomplished.  That does not mean things can change with your employment status, or that you can take the next two years off, but if all goes according to plan, you have reached the mountain top.

[1] Note: I have never played a second of Fortnite nor am particularly sure what the game entails (like Goldeneye for kids born after 9/11?), but it is probably being played in law schools across the country and no one has ever accused me of not being willing to pander.

Nicholas Alexiou is the Director of LL.M. and Alumni Advising as well as the Associate Director of Career Services at Vanderbilt University Law School. He will, hopefully, respond to your emails at abovethelawcso@gmail.com.

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