The Undecideds
No, I'm not talking about the Ohioans who do that dial-o-graph thing on CNN during the debates.* I'm talking about the 2Ls still holding offers. There's considerable traffic on ATL on the subject. Here are my brief thoughts. And as a caveat, these are my personal observations, not my firm's policies, preferences, etc...just what I would do if I was a 2L under the new rules.
This is the first year under the new rules. Previously, you had until Dec. 1 to accept or decline. Although you were supposed to narrow the number of offers you had open by certain dates, e.g., only two offers open by Nov. 15 (I think), in practice, this was not and could not be enforced, and most acceptances happened on the last couple of days.
Under the new rules, there is no set deadline for all firms and offerees as it depends on the date of the offer letter + 45 days. Combined with an earlier and earlier recruiting season, this means most offers are accepted or rejected at an earlier date than late October/November. This means firms know that they have reached a certain critical point for their summer hiring much earlier, perhaps even long before your own personal deadline to accept/decline. It is with this backdrop that I think we should view stories like the Akin Gump offer withdrawal.
Second, the reason for the new rule is to give some sort of an enforcement mechanism to people declining offers in a timely manner. Remember, the majority of NALP's student constituency is not as fortunate as Boalties when it comes to job offers. There's considerable pressure to get those who are fortunate to make up their minds quicker. Even some of your classmates, judging by some comments, are not having as much of a success as they imagined. So be considerate, and let the firms that you're not interested in know as soon as you can. If you are interested, let them know and keep in contact with the firm.
***
*But if you are curious about the undecideds in this election, watch this.
This is the first year under the new rules. Previously, you had until Dec. 1 to accept or decline. Although you were supposed to narrow the number of offers you had open by certain dates, e.g., only two offers open by Nov. 15 (I think), in practice, this was not and could not be enforced, and most acceptances happened on the last couple of days.
Under the new rules, there is no set deadline for all firms and offerees as it depends on the date of the offer letter + 45 days. Combined with an earlier and earlier recruiting season, this means most offers are accepted or rejected at an earlier date than late October/November. This means firms know that they have reached a certain critical point for their summer hiring much earlier, perhaps even long before your own personal deadline to accept/decline. It is with this backdrop that I think we should view stories like the Akin Gump offer withdrawal.
Second, the reason for the new rule is to give some sort of an enforcement mechanism to people declining offers in a timely manner. Remember, the majority of NALP's student constituency is not as fortunate as Boalties when it comes to job offers. There's considerable pressure to get those who are fortunate to make up their minds quicker. Even some of your classmates, judging by some comments, are not having as much of a success as they imagined. So be considerate, and let the firms that you're not interested in know as soon as you can. If you are interested, let them know and keep in contact with the firm.
***
*But if you are curious about the undecideds in this election, watch this.
Labels: OCIP/Employment
posted by Armen Adzhemyan at 11:25 AM
21 Comments:
Do you moonlight for the CDO? They made the same observations this morning to in an e-mail to 2L's.
While general concern for community welfare probably motivates most students to pull the trigger, the implicit threat (use it or lose it) might be scary enough to motivate the stragglers.
There is a third reason, though. If you are fortunate enough to face this decision, accepting an offer and putting the agony behind you will do wonders for your peace of mind. It's sort of like peeling a band-aid or breaking up, in that drawing out the process is a misery multiplier.
"Previously, you had until Nov. 1 to accept or decline."
Last year, the 2-Ls had until December 1.
Fixed. Nov. 1 is the deadline to accept a permanent offer following your summer.
I accepted my offer before I even got the letter in the mail. Was that a bad idea?
I second Patrick's comment--drawing it out will not make you feel any better! Making a decision is the best thing you can do right now.
Matt,
You mean after you got a phone offer but before you got your official offer letter?
Yes, of course. I didn't call a firm I was waiting to hear from to accept an offer. Although that would have been fun. I should have done that.
While I'm sure that's what Matt meant, I think it would be a great idea to accept or reject a "phantom" offer much like firms send rejections following "phantom" interviews.
"Dear [Firm],
It was a pleasure meeting with all the attorneys. But unfortunately, due to the large number of firms extending me an offer, I cannot accommodate them all. It is with great regret that I must inform you that I am declining your offer to join the summer program in 2009. I wish you the best of luck in your future legal career.
Best,
[2L]
I am so going to do that! And I'm signing each letter, "Matt."
I was thinking of something more along the lines of:
Dear [Firm],
It was a pleasure meeting with all the attorneys last week. Due to the large number of firms extending me an offer, I cannot accommodate them all.
Accordingly, I'd like to accept your offer to join the summer program in 2009, even though I have not yet received my offer letter in the mail. I look forward to working with you this summer.
Best,
[2L]"
"What was all that one in a million talk?"
[The reference makes sense in my head]
Gee Armen, the "law-student-rejects-firm-letter" joke is so original! ROTFL! Where do you come up with this stuff?
From highly original nitpicking anonymous comments.
Shouldn't you be billing, Armen?
So now you're copying ATL comments? Shouldn't you be source collecting?
Do we have any idea what percentage of 2Ls don't yet have offers that want them? Maybe a nuts and boalts poll would be helpful. I'm surprised ATL hasn't done one yet. Maybe you could beat them to the punch.
4:35, I can appreciate a desire for more information. But I think some opaqueness is warranted in this situation.
Assume that there are only a handful who do not yet have offers. How crappy would you feel if you were one of those people? And we can't forget that those holding an offer will not benefit in any practical terms from such a survey. So the only way this survey would be beneficial is if there is a substantial number of boalties without an offer and they found out that wasn't the case. A sort of, "it's not you, it's the economy" type of consolation. But if that was the case, anecdotally, stories would be floating around, again, making the survey near useless. I just don't see the benefit.
But Patrick is the 2L and the survey god, so it's his call.
*WAS the case.
I'm sorry, but I would not feel very comfortable with that survey. It is hard for me to see how it is my business, and it is easy to see how it could hurt the feelings of classmates who may already feel anxious and vulnerable. It will also freak the living hell out of the 1L's, who are receiving their CDO orientation as we speak.
If you are curious though, you can probably get a pretty good sense by asking around in Zeb.
Does the lack of activity on this post suggest that there might not be that many people without a single job offer?
No. Those people have better things to do, like finding a job.
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