Law School Discussion

Nine Years of Discussion
;
Discussion Discussion
Resources Resources

Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Messages - jacques

Pages: [1]
1
1L job search / Re: Top of the class and rejected by every employer?
« on: February 11, 2009, 02:09:42 PM »
Wow, thanks, Stole Your Nose, for telling me that. I wasn't sure that I had the 1L position in a firm correct, and what you've said explains even more to me, then.

I don't think, and I didn't intend to come across as such, that because my grades were good, the "offers should be rolling in." Rather, I had at least assumed that my good grades would be sufficient to pique the interest of local firms, at least enough for an interview. Coming out of Louisiana, I know I have an at-least uphill battle in leaving the state, but I've thus far only applied to local firms.

I certainly don't intend to argue the ranking of my school relative to the nation's other Law schools. I read in a paper last semester that we had been ranked "in the top tier," so I took that at its word. If either of our sources were wrong, it really doesn't matter to me right now, when I'm only looking locally.

At this point, though, I guess I'm just tired of beating my head against the wall worrying about it. And perhaps that's a large purpose of 1L Spring OCIs; to teach you to handle failure when it seemed very likely you'd succeed. There are a few firms left this semester. If it doesn't work out, I'll do something else.

2
1L job search / Re: Top of the class and rejected by every employer?
« on: February 07, 2009, 02:07:09 PM »
I just read vap's reply; I don't know if the other 1Ls are getting interviews and I have only a broad guess as to who is ranked ahead of me to ask them. So I'm left guessing on my own as to that, I suppose.


3
1L job search / Re: Top of the class and rejected by every employer?
« on: February 07, 2009, 02:04:40 PM »
Thanks for the input thus far. I suppose I should clarify. I was not #1, but was just outside of the top 10%. My resume was reviewed by the Career Services office (and the grade/rank are on there :) ). My school is LSU's Paul M. Hebert school, which is a top tier school (sorry, I don't know what the T14/T1 designate). It requires us to take a summer semester after the first year because upon graduation we have the standard JD and a DCL (Diploma of Civil Law, allegedly analogous to a Bachelor of Civil Law, but that remains to be seen).

I agree that with the economy in the shape it's in with no end in reasonable sight, things will be rough, so that necessarily drains the market. However, I thought that 1Ls, while certainly not indispensable by any stretch, were regarded as a necessity because we can be, more or less, kicked around for much lower pay than any other possible applicant.

I'm finding myself far out of my league with the "firm chasing" that seems to be inherent in the notion of 'networking.' Admittedly, I had thought that generally, firms -look for- the top-ranked students. But, at least on my end, it appears that it really doesn't matter.

Monday, I'll stop in at the Career Services office and ask them a bit about it. I suppose, in the summer, it's back to stripping for me, then.  ;)

4
1L job search / Top of the class and rejected by every employer?
« on: February 07, 2009, 01:02:58 AM »
I was at the top of the class the first semester, so I thought it likely that some of the firms to which I applied would at least request an interview, but thus far, every one has rejected my bid. Of course, I know it's not -me- they're rejecting, but I must be missing something about this process.

I'm enrolled in a law school which requires that 1Ls take a summer semester the first year. The local firms know this, and so it necessarily limits even further the firms willing to "split their summers" with the 1L pups. Before we had received our grades, we were informed that a 1L getting a summer job is fairly uncommon, and realistically, those at the top are usually the ones who get any work.

Our school's Career Services uses Symplicity to manage firms interested in interviewing 1Ls. Using Symplicity on the appropriate dates, I went through and sent my resume to each firm that is interviewing 1Ls this semester. Thus far, only one has not rejected my bid-because they haven't made their selections yet. I'm quite sure that they will also reject my bid; even the firm with the relatively "loose" standards of top 25% rejected me.

To be sure, I don't know anything about the process. With the Symplicity application, there's no space to send a cover letter or a transcript (unless the transcript is specifically requested), so I had assumed that all the firms were looking for was a pile of resumes to "skim the top" as we had been told.

Clearly, I've got something wrong about the process or what I should have done (At least for Symplicity, it's too late; all the 1L-seeking firms have spoken). Can anyone enlighten me? I'm clueless about this. Thanks!

Pages: [1]