Rescinding Offers

[Bouzie]

People aren't going to post the firms on ATL because its fairly easy to figure out who the blabber is and no one wants to @#!* her or his career.  I had a V50 firm call and dissuade me from accepting an offer b/c their class was full, but was careful to say that their offer was still good.  Definitely glad that I accepted another offer, though.

[lflyer]

Number of students seeking biglaw and number qualified and worth a firm competing for are two totally different things. Just because someone at Cooley wants biglaw, doesn't mean they will get it.  Good economy or not.

Also, with regards to "when every firm does something it isn't scrutinized as much," while I agree with that statement, it has still yet to be shown that many firms are rescinding offers.  There are rumors of it, but nobody has yet to mention a firm doing it by name and it's been nothing more than the usual gossip.

Obviously alot of people who want biglaw aren't qualified, but I think its likely that there are more people out there that could bring something to the table in a big law firm (either now or in the future) than people who get biglaw jobs.  If not, I'd still say there is a mass of students out there who really are not all that distinguishable from one another.  Some will get biglaw and some will not.  I agree with your statement to an extent, but I find it hard to believe that there are exactly as many qualified students out there as open SA positions, unless you define qualified students by the fact that they landed SA positions.  Whichever way you slice it, I think demand (even quality demand) will always outpace supply and that tends to give the firms power (guess I did learn something in antitrust).

You are obviously right about no hard proof on the rescinding of offers.  I don't really know if/when we would get such proof though.  I'd say ATL info is suspect and I really don't see the mainstream media getting interested in the plight of the law student/lawyer anytime soon so I guess we are somewhat stuck with rumor mill at the moment. 

[NYU2010]

Who knows, in this economy anything is possible

[nealric]

You are obviously right about no hard proof on the rescinding of offers.  I don't really know if/when we would get such proof though.  I'd say ATL info is suspect and I really don't see the mainstream media getting interested in the plight of the law student/lawyer anytime soon so I guess we are somewhat stuck with rumor mill at the moment.
 

The goal of our summer associate program in New York has always been to make permanent offers to all of our summer associates. The size of our summer class is set with the accomplishment of this goal in mind. This year, we have had an unprecedented positive response to our summer associate offers. In order to remain true to our goal, at this point we cannot accept any further students into our summer class of 2009. This email is to confirm our prior call providing you with this same information, as we wanted to let you know as soon as possible so that you could make other plans for the summer. We were extremely impressed with you and we believe you will be successful in your legal career. We wish you the best of luck.

Best,
David
David H. Botter
Hiring Partner
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

[TheDudeMan]

We've all seen that by now lol. 

That is one firm.  One out of hundreds.  I'm sure there are a few others, but I imagine not many.

[mike4488]

I personally wouldn't want to go to a firm that didn't rescind offers if they were oversubscribed.  If they don't rescind it diminishes the quality of the summer program, they are going to have to no offer people at the end of the summer, etc.

[nealric]

Wouldn't you rather go to a firm that bites the bullet and gives offers to everyone despite being oversubscribed, and then makes up the difference in the next year?

[TheDudeMan]

Wouldn't you rather go to a firm that bites the bullet and gives offers to everyone despite being oversubscribed, and then makes up the difference in the next year?

That's the best way, but for this to happen, a cut-off point has to be achieved.  They can't "bite the bullet" paying 5+ associates they didn't anticipate.

[nealric]

Why can't they hire 5 more associates than they suspected?

I can understand why some firms wouldn't want to- but many firms have done just that.

[TheDudeMan]

Bc first year's don't make the firm money.  In fact, generally second years don't either.  It's a big investment and in bad economic times a dangerous one.  Especially if work is slow.