OCIPin' on the Dock of the Bay
Open thread on the topic on the minds of most rising 2Ls (not me, the topic on my mind is the upcoming hockey season). I'll periodically republish this, to keep it on top. But to get things started, I'm dying to hear stories from 3Ls about how a firm came across in the interviews compares to how it was/is during your summer associateship. The potential jump in first year (and summer associate) salaries in the big 5 markets [link to be added later]. Firms to avoid, firms not to miss, etc. Yada yada yada. As I said, I'll periodically update as comments dictate.
UPDATE I: As promised, I now have cause to move this up with a few thoughts of my own. Yesterday at the LA Young Alumni shindig at the Standard Hotel I met an associate from this firm. The scoop: He's argued motions, manages an entire case, etc. And I quote: "It's better than doc review." And therein lies an important distinction that I want to draw between firms. Do you want associates to be your worker bees that go through documents for a year or two or three? Do you want them to work closely with partners on cases? Somewhere in between? Is it really true that people who work at MoFo (from partners on down) are always happy? That's all for now.
UPDATE II: Just wanted to move this post up in honor of phase I bidding and the B-line being down and out for the count.
UPDATE I: As promised, I now have cause to move this up with a few thoughts of my own. Yesterday at the LA Young Alumni shindig at the Standard Hotel I met an associate from this firm. The scoop: He's argued motions, manages an entire case, etc. And I quote: "It's better than doc review." And therein lies an important distinction that I want to draw between firms. Do you want associates to be your worker bees that go through documents for a year or two or three? Do you want them to work closely with partners on cases? Somewhere in between? Is it really true that people who work at MoFo (from partners on down) are always happy? That's all for now.
UPDATE II: Just wanted to move this post up in honor of phase I bidding and the B-line being down and out for the count.
Labels: CLR, OCIP/Employment
posted by Armen Adzhemyan at 10:57 PM
17 Comments:
May I suggest that you change the title of this post to "OCIPin' on Gin and Juice"? You know, for the sake of keeping it real?
What's more real than Otis? Suggestion noted, but overruled.
I won't name the firm, but I liked one well enough at OCIP to do a callback with them. Everything was going well but then they sent me out to lunch with a partner and a senior associate.
Convo turned to the senior associate lamenting the inability to do more business-development-type stuff because of the demands of rising billable-hour requirement.
Partner responds by launching into a smug, obviously well-rehearsed lecture about how there's X number of hours in a year, so if you are billing Y number of hours, say you sleep Z number of hours, you still have (some paltry number) of hours left to yourself! "That's a lot of time!"
Senior Associate looks on in horror. I declined the offer.
Sadly, it's not much help if you don't name the firm.
one tip: never EVER say the name of the firm during the interview. i have a great story where i asked, "why did you choose boies shiller" in my mcdonogh interview. flames. went down in flames.
aside from that, the summer is all about T.C.B.Y. -- This Could Be Yours.
second Tom's comment. an "avoid this firm" story is kind of useless if we don't know which firm you're describing. i understand the anonymity goal (obviously) but we'd all love at least a hint.
It wasn't meant to be an "avoid this firm" story, just funny. And kind of sad that that's a mentality you have to watch out for.
I probably have a few nuggets of wisdom, but bar study freak-out is currently taking up most of my time. I'll add more later, but one thing I noticed is that it is MUCH less competitive (usually, that is) to apply to the South Bay branch office of a firm, than to apply to their SF office. But, you have to give a good reason for going to the South Bay. It will also be much easier to get OCIP interviews with South Bay firms because people usually prefer the SF office.
One more thing: in my opinion, the most competitive market for Boalt students is LA-- seems like lots of Boalties want to go to LA-- I knew lots of people that were unsuccessful in that job market. I think this may have been because the SF market was still pretty soft when I went through 2L OCIP, so people were avoiding it.
I knew many more people that were successful in D.C. and N.Y-- plus it is MUCH easier to get those DC and NY interviews, because no one wants to leave CA. So, although the east coast firms may not, overall, hire a lot of boalties, I tend to think that is because of lack of interest, not lack of desire.
I'll be much more willing to dish dirt on particular firms once the bar is over.
Good luck on the bar.
No one's talking about CLR. Hmmm ...
For an interesting perspective on this question, peep past updates at http://anonymouslawyer.blogspot.com/.
On a related note, I can't link worth shit.
Hey, Anonymous at 11:17 - Are you saying that people are finding out about CLR?
Yes, people are getting called. But calls will go into next week, so don't freak out if you haven't heard anything by this weekend.
Really, Anonymous at 11:17? I really, really want to believe you...that just seems totally inefficient and kind of ridiculous. Why wouldn't they just call everyone on the same night? Why make people freak out without reason? It makes me feel very Groucho Marx "I wouldn't be a member of any club that would have me." In any case, 11:17, I had given up all hope, and you've restored a glimmer. Thanks.
I was told by someone who was told by someone who is involved that almost everyone who made it to CLR has been called. There is supposed to be something they need to do to sort out the last few slots, but that's it. So say your prayers, but don't hold your breath.
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