Everybody who is going to be an associate or who has already worked as a summer associate should come back to post their experiences in this thread. I think it would be not only interesting but informative for those who are convinced that BigLaw is the way to go.
i've done two biglaw firms and one legal aid internship. willing to answer any questions you might have. going into biglaw next fall, but at a firm i didn't summer with.
Does that mean you did the 3L OCI? How did that go over and did you have to explain why you were interviewing as a 3L?
Also, did you truly enjoy your experience? What market are you going to? What type of law are you going into?
THanks!
The general concensus that I found from friends at other schools as well as my own is that OCI as a 3L is significantly more difficult than OCI as a 2L. Relatively speaking, firms are more willing to hand out summer associateships than they are to hand out full time associateships. Additionally, at the 3L OCI level of the game, the firms are by and large looking to fill a specific spot. "We have an opening in our securities transactions department, what is your experience with securities transactions?" To which if you reply, "sorry I haven't yet been exposed to securities transactions" then you will likely hear "well thank you for your time."
So firms tend to be very specific during the 3L OCI in who they are looking for. Not all firms are like this but it appears that the majority are. At lesat they are in NY, I can't speak for other markets. During 2L you didn't have to be a specialist in anything, just have decent grades, moot court, law review, ivy league school, whatever gets you in the door. At the 3L level its a different story.