You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Search for:. Bidding Deadlines. Some also asked for cover letters and references. The substantive and formatting suggestions I received during my thirty-minute meeting made me feel like I was in the last scene of an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition episode. As for cover letters, reach out to current BC students working as summer associates at the relevant firms, and talk with them about what it is that defines their respective workplaces.
OCI Preselects. After you submit your bids, the wait to hear back may take longer than you expect. Once you do know which firms you will be interviewing with, reach out to BC students who worked as summer associates at those firms for their insights they likely will have just finished their jobs and will be more available than recent grads who will be studying for the bar. In addition, use resources like NALP and Chambers to research facts and statistics that will paint a clearer picture for you about each firm with which you will interview.
First-Round Interviews. Treat each interview the way you would an exam; prepare, prepare, prepare. C on the otherhand was a tad slower but I received all of my callbacks within a week from my D.
C screeners. This is not to say that there is a hard and fast rule that New York is fast and D. C is slow, but that is the general rule. Well your not out of the woods yet, but you are now in serious consideration for summer employment with a law firm. The good news is that the most significant thinning of the herd occurs at the screener level, so if you made it past that you have a solid chance at getting an offer. My initial idea on callbacks was not answering the calls when the interviewer called.
I quickly realized that the interviewers were not scheduling the callbacks, just notifying me that I had a callback and that I would receive a scheduling email from a secretary. Once you receive a scheduling email try your best to set your callback quickly and get your interview in within a week.
Be prepared to offer a couple of different dates, you can try for Fridays but I found that Fridays are poor interview days for most firms because many of the attorneys are out of the office on Fridays. If you are doing callbacks with multiple firms in a different city try your best to schedule them on back to back days. A callback firm will usually offer to pay for one night in a hotel room and transportation to the area and back home.
One firm will not pay for multiple nights in a hotel. A typical callback interview can last between two hours and a half-day. Sometimes the firm will take you out to lunch at the end of the interview. During one of my callbacks I had coffee with several associates before the rest of my interviews, during another callback I had lunch at a restaurant a the end of the interview and at another one I had an unbelievably awkward lunch with the other callback interviewers and some of the associates at the firm.
Discuss reimbursement issues when you schedule the interview, and follow all procedures and guidelines very carefully. Firms take notice when students take advantage of the reimbursement process; student abuse of the callback reimbursement process can also reflect poorly on the Law School.
If you are making your own arrangements, ask for suggestions as to price range, and ask what hotels the firm prefers you use. Many have commercial rate agreements with nearby hotels and prefer that you stay at one of them.
If you do not have a credit card, it is probably time to get one; they are often required in order to check into hotels, even when the firm will be paying the hotel directly. Credit cards are also generally useful for reimbursable expenses because you can defer costs until after the firm has reimbursed you.
Keep receipts for all expenses relating to your callback. Instructions for how to use this form can be found here. Use this, or an alternate if the firm provides one, to summarize your expenses. As soon as possible, send the receipts with the form and a brief cover letter which can also explain anything about your request that is not apparent from the form to the recruiting coordinator at the firm.
NALP employer members prepared an Open Letter to Law Students that contains lots of helpful advice on preparing for, scheduling, an obtaining reimbursement for callbacks. It is well worth your time to review it. When you see two or more employers for callbacks on a single trip, the cost of your trip is typically split among them, with one, the host firm, making most of the arrangements. You should disclose the fact that you are seeing additional employers in the area for callbacks to the law firm paying for the trip.
They do not find these disclosures odd or indicative of your level of interest in their firm. They expect qualified candidates to be interviewing with multiple employers and it is common industry practice to share expenses in these situations. If they learn of your other interviews from a source other than you, they may question your integrity. Provide the names of all the additional firms you will be interviewing with to the firm s paying for your trip.
They seldom have a problem with arrangements of this kind, but they may ask any other firms you are seeing to contribute to the cost of your travel. Large firms which are paying for your travel directly may also prepare any paperwork necessary to divide the costs of your trip among other employers you visited on the same trip. The host firm will reimburse you for any out-of-pocket expenses and later settle accounts with the other firms you visited.
If you are splitting expenses among several employers and they do not offer to do the paperwork for you, prorate your expenses and send a letter to each employer listing its share.
The NALP form addresses expense-splitting among multiple firms. This is not a problem, but you may only ask the employer to cover expenses they would pay if you were not spending additional time in the area. You are, of course, responsible for making travel and reimbursement arrangements for your callback interviews.
However, if you have difficulty getting reimbursed, or other issues arise, contact the CDO; we may be able to help you communicate more effectively with the firm, or provide other guidance. Whether you accept an offer or decline it, you should do so in a gracious, professional and timely manner.
The mechanics and timing of these rules are discussed below. Firms often will let you know of an offer informally by email or telephone , then follow up with an official offer letter.
It is typical to hear about an offer within a few days or up to a week after a callback, although for offices with very small summer programs, longer waits are quite common. A call or reply email to the person who told you of the offer, simply stating that you received the message, that you very much appreciate it, and that you will be in touch with them soon, is appropriate.
Accepting an offer is simple: respond by telephone or email to the person who made the offer. The firm will send you an acknowledgement of your acceptance, detailing the terms of your employment. If, on the other hand, you decide that an offer is not right for you, decline it as soon as possible.
Make sure you exercise this option early in the fall because most law firms are done with OCI recruitment before the fall semester ends. During the waiting period, you can also send a follow-up email to your prospective employer. In fact, this could possibly help your chances of being given an offer because you will appear enthusiastic about the position.
Enthusiasm is a trait that employers love to see in a prospective employee. I recommend sending this out two weeks after your interview. You can send this email to the HR manager or maybe even directly to the associate who interviewed you if you had a strong connection with this individual. If you receive a response, then abide by this response carefully.
If no one responds after two more weeks have passed, then I think you should be safe sending another follow-up email at this point. Looking for some help to do your best in law school?
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