How Does Legal Hiring Work in Law School?

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>Hi everyone, </p>

<p>I've been reading that law school students have to apply for jobs and attend something called OCI (On-Campus Interviewing) during the summer of their 1L year in law school. </p>

<p>Do you guys happen to know of the timeline that this takes on? Do students have to worry about that during the first two semesters when they're tyring to concentrate on studying? Or do people just wait until the summer and spend all their efforts on it then? What is the process like? Any light you can shed on this would be greatly appreciated! </p>

<p>I'm asking as a complete newbie on this, but just wondering about it as I'm researching the law school process.</p>

<p>Thanks so much in advance and have a great weekend!</p>

2

<p>OCI takes place usually in September. I started mass mails in July. It can be a bit tricky because you’ll be doing all your OCI activities while also doing your 1L summer activities, but everyone seems to manage.</p>

3

<p>This runs differently at different schools. There’s also huge variation in how much of the class can expect to get an offer through OCI (from close to 100% to under 5%). All law schools have career centers with professional staff to guide you. You won’t be able to meet with them before November 1 of your 1L year, but as soon as you are able, GO, and take their advice. They know what works and doesn’t work at that school.</p>

4

<p>Oh, what about federal clerkships too? </p>

<p>I know they are very very tough positions to obtain and very prestigious. </p>

<p>Do these also get decided by your first-year grades? And exactly how high in your class rank doy ou have to be to obtain one?</p>

5

<p>Some judges care a lot about your 1st year grades. Others look at everything. As to how high you need to be, it depends on your school. A third of Yalies get Art III clerkships and it goes down fairly steeply from there. You can look at [url=&lt;a href=“http://www.lawschooltransparency.com/]LST[/url”&gt;http://www.lawschooltransparency.com/]LST[/url</a>] for school specific stats.</p>

6

<p>Federal clerkships are extremely tough positions and are very prestigious. These are decided on a judge-by-judge basis, but they include consideration of your grades. The timing varies a bit, but often will include 1L and 2L grades. Coursework (as in, which classes you take) are also quite important, and you will send a writing sample</p>

<p>The major thing will be whether you have a professor who will vouch for you, and who has a reliable track record when it comes to making recommendations to judges.</p>

<p>Required class rank varies from school to school and is never the sole criterion. USN 2009 had a blog post on output percentages.
[Which</a> Law School Grads Get the Most Judicial Clerkships? - Morse Code: Inside the College Rankings (usnews.com)](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2011/04/28/which-law-school-grads-get-the-most-judicial-clerkships]Which”>http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2011/04/28/which-law-school-grads-get-the-most-judicial-clerkships)</p>

<p>The BCG report indicates that 36% of YLS took clerkships in 2012 (this seems low to me), 22% of HLS, 11% of CLS, but note that these are not exclusively federal clerkships.
<a href=“http://www.bcgsearch.com/pdf/BCG_Law_School_Guide_2012.pdf[/url]”>http://www.bcgsearch.com/pdf/BCG_Law_School_Guide_2012.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;