David Bernstein, Orin, and David Lat offer some useful tips to law students inteviewing with firms. I would add one more: do whatever you can to convey the impression that you're enthusiastic about taking a job with the firm (without lying, of course). In my case, I lost out on many offers from major DC firms during my first fall interview season because they suspected, based on my resume, that my real goal was to become an academic and I didn't make much of an effort to convince them that I had a genuine interest in practicing law at a firm.
The next year, I made a special effort to display more enthusiasm and study up on the fine points of the various firms' practices, and did much better. The academic thing still cost me some offers because, well, I really did want to be an academic and the firms weren't stupid enough to completely ignore that! But it was much less of a problem once I showed them that I had a real interest in their work too.
Even if practicing at the firm of Larry, Moe & Curley is not really your idea of a dream job, when interviewing with them try and act like it is. Perhaps it's an obvious point, but I'm one of many students who didn't get it until chastened by painful experience.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Law Student Interview Tips:
- My Funniest Law Firm Interview Story:
Who doesn't dream of being a Dewey, Cheathem &Howe associate?
Seems to me that having practiced at a firm, for at least some period of time, should be a prerequisite for being a law professor. How can academics who have never actually practiced law in a real-world situation truly prepare students to practice law?
As any law school will pompously tell you, they aren't trade schools. As any law firm or law student will tell you, when you get out of law school, then it's time to learn how to practice law.
and his response:
VSPVECM:
". . . and one other thing: if they give you a call-back interview and take you to lunch, don't order anything that has tentacles!"
BDEMTCM (apparently genuinely shocked, surprised and dismayed) : "You mean XXXX didn't make me an offer simply because I had the squid marinara? It was the daily special, for god's sake, and it was pretty good! How was I supposed to know that I wasn't allowed to order what I wanted for lunch?"
Your writing sample can be critical. In our office, it is frequently the first document that is reviewed. If your writing sample is up to snuff, we look at your resume.
Treat every interaction with the firm as part of the interview. My secretary schedules interviews with attorney applicants, and she reports how the applicants handle themselves on the phone.
Finally, be gracious if you don't get the job. The second choice applicant for one position may get the first call for the next opening.
In fact, sometimes I think candidates hurt themselves by trying to convey an interest in what we do. For example, sometimes candidates read our website or media materials and know we have a prominent white collar practice. In an effort to show that they "fit" with what we do, they tell me that they know we do white collar defense and they really see that as what they want to do in life. That statements makes me think, "great, we have more associates who want to do white collar than we can employ there, and here's someone who will either look down their nose at doing my commercial litigation cases or will leave the firm if we can't get them a steady diet of white collar." Often though, I suspect the candidate would be happy doing my type of work but are trying to market themselves as fitting their conception of what we do.
Professor Somin is right, though, in saying that you wouldn't want to profess a life-long desire to teach law if you're trying to get a summer associate job, or if applying for an associate job answering the dreaded "where do you see yourself in ten years" by saying "as a law professor."
This is for the time that someone asks you "To what do you attribute your success in law school?"
DO NOT, under ANY circumstances, say "I don't know... I guess it's just not that hard."
Even if it's the truth -- you must lie. Make something up. Say you have really effective study habits, that your family is filled with attorneys, that you take good notes, that you have found that a good night's sleep works wonders for the GPA. Say whatever you have to, just DON'T TELL THE TRUTH if it all came easy to you.
Your interviewer might have busted her ass for each and every B+ that eventually landed her at the big firm. She will be pissed. Visibly irate. Her voice will raise. She will argue with you, and her co-interviewer will be embarassed at her behavior.
You will not get the job.
Bascially, my advice to anyone is make law review, and coast by with a 2.0 GPA. You'll get a hell of lot more offers than a guy who is Top-15 who thinks law review is a waste of time and thinks doing real litigation is a lot more interesting.
Amen brotha. Law review is the ticket. If you didn't make it, no good firm will hire you.