Having emerged from a Halloween-caused sugar coma, many 1Ls see that it is now November, meaning that December 1st will soon be upon them. For those who are not dealing with the unique stress of being a first-year law student, the first day of the last month of the year (assuming that you abide by the Gregorian calendar) signals nothing more than a confirmation that you will be inundated with holiday muzak, wherever you go, for the foreseeable future. But for 1Ls, December 1st is a vital date because it marks the beginning of the summer job search season — or the date when you should have submitted, preferably at 12:01 a.m., all of your job applications — or something else entirely.
When I hold my initial one-on-one meetings with 1Ls, no topic arises more frequently than that of December 1st and no topic is the source of more confusion for students. By the time 1Ls come into my office, they have heard a mixture of truths, half-truths, and never-truths that bounce around the walls of the law school.
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So, what does this date really mean in the legal recruiting cycle?
We’ll start by returning to a familiar place for this column, National Association for Law Placement’s (NALP) Principles and Standards for Law Placement and Recruitment Activities. In this case, the relevant section is Part V.D.2., which states:
Recognizing that opportunities to learn about professionalism, professional development, and the legal profession are appropriate early in law school and recognizing that law schools will differ as to whether and how to include prospective employers in career development activities, educational and professional development contact with 1Ls is permitted at any time at the discretion of the school. Prospective employers and first-year law students, however, should not initiate contact with one another and employers should not initiate formal one-on-one recruiting contact with one another, including applications, interviews, or offers to first-year students, before December 1. Appointments with candidates for interviews should be established for a mutually convenient time so as not to unduly disrupt candidates’ studies.
Does this mean your 1L summer job search has to be put on hold until the last of the leftover Thanksgiving turkey has been consumed? No. While the highest level of the U.S. government has seemingly forgotten how to read the plain text of a provision, that does not mean we all have to follow suit. A close read of V.D.2 reveals that 1Ls should[1] not “initiate formal one-on-one recruiting contact” with firms. But that merely means that a 1L cannot send in a formal application, i.e., a cover letter and résumé explicitly asking for a summer associate position. Similarly, law firms cannot officially interview 1Ls for a summer position or extend offers until December 1st.
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So what can an enterprising 1L do between now and December 1st to put them in the best position to land a summer position? Pretty much anything and everything.
During my time at Vanderbilt, I have come across students whose December 1st strategy is to have hundreds of applications sitting in their draft email folder, stay up until midnight on the 1st, and then click submit until they pass out from exhaustion. This is not the best idea.
I often analogize this strategy to taking a giant fishing net and dragging it along the bottom of a river. Yes, you might catch some fish, but you are also likely to catch some old license plates, or kitchen appliances, maybe even a rusted, abandoned car. The 12:01 mass mailing strategy is also extraordinarily time intensive, and it is not as if the first year of law school is known for providing students with a lot of downtime.
So what should 1Ls be doing during the month of November? First, do your research. In the first part of my award winning[2] four-part series on Fall OCI, I discussed how rising 2Ls could research the firms coming on campus. That advice applies for 1Ls as well. Check out the NALP Directory to find what firms hire 1Ls. Read as much as you can on the firms which interest you. Talk to the 2Ls and 3Ls about their experiences both getting a position at that firm (especially if it was as a 1L) and working there. Second, network. As noted above, Part V.D.2. only prohibits 1Ls from directly applying to a firm before December 1st. This does not prohibit reaching out to attorneys at the firm and finding out more about the work they do and their path to the firm. As noted in my previous networking opus, reaching out to alumni of your law school is second only to having friends or family working at that firm. Law firms are very big into advertising themselves — after all, everyone needs clients — so most firm websites will not only list all of their attorneys but also give you the opportunity to search by law school alma mater. Rather than sending out 100 applications on December 1st, send out 100 emails during November to law school alumni practicing at the firms you which to work. I can almost guarantee you that the latter will yield greater results.
An important caveat to this entire discussion is that the December 1st timeline only applies to NALP firms, i.e. Biglaw. If you are interested in a summer position with a smaller firm, or something outside the firm context — which is advisable since most 1Ls will not get law firm summer associate positions — the application season is like the Wild West, there are no rules, apply at will.
While the December 1st timeline can often cause a lot of confusion among 1Ls, it is unnecessary. Reviewing the NALP guidelines shows that while you cannot formally apply for a job until Thanksgiving is well behind us, there is much you can do to help you become one of the lucky few to be a 1L Biglaw summer associate.
[1] It is also important to note the use of the word “should” through this provision of the Principles and Standards. While I would not recommend blatantly violating the guidelines NALP has set forth, at the end of the day, these are just recommendations. There is no NALP police force that will arrest you for violations, nor a NALP judiciary to deprive you of your liberty.
[2] Self-given awards still count.
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 [email protected].