Transfer students and OCI

[rene_descartes]

Hi everyone

Thanks for being helpful on this board. If you are a transfer student (for class of 2011), how has your experience been like with the Fall OCI? I transferred to a public law school ranked between 40-43. I figured my job prospects at a nationally recognized public law school would be better than at my T3 school with an IP focus. As a transfer student, things have not been easy for me.  I missed a bunch of Fall OCI deadlines and my best shot is through resume-collection rounds. My school is part of the NLSC (national law school consortium) and the chicago and san francisco interview programs are both cancelled. It's quite a bummer as there are very few firms showing up this year at both OCI and these interview programs. There are people who told me I am in a very bad position as a transfer student and that I didn't make enough of a jump from T3 to the 40's.

I have been writing targeted cover letters to the various firms I'm interested in so I have also been directly targetting firms on my own. Another thing I should tell you is I am an IP person and I'm more interested in IP boutique firms than in large firms. Many of these boutique firms do not interview on campus anyway. By directly targeting firms on my own, can someone tell me if I'm on the right track? What advice will you offer me? I would like to hear some helpful advice.

[NeverTrustKlingons]

OCI will be rough for EVERYONE this year -- I'm at a T14 and we are dropping firms left and right.  Many who aren't dropping might just be showing up to save face and not planning on hiring from our school.

What advice are you looking for?  Yes, targeted writing is good.  You should also target the public sector simultaneously.  There are no "backup plans" or "surefire" things.  At least you're not at the T3, where many of your former classmates will not be finding legal employment.

[big - fat - box]

I seem to recall you transferred to UMD, is that right? Anyway, resume collections aren't usually likely to yield anything. Direct writes are better but ITE, it's a crapshoot. If I were you, I would start thinking about who has legal work in your practice area that would be willing to take on an intern, even if that means working for low pay or no pay. Your best strategy overall will be to start networking so that someone who already works in your practice area can help you out down the line for post-grad jobs. Good luck.