How to get a job, 2013 style
By 
I’m posting this for its sociological interest. The topic being addressed is how to get a summer associate position (SA) after your second year of law school, via on campus interviewing (OCI) if you have middle of the class grades at Michigan (i.e., a top ten law school). Getting a 2L SA through OCI in the weeks just before the beginning of the second year of law school (and then a subsequent offer of post-graduation employment) is pretty much the only way to get a job as a lawyer that pays enough to justify what has become the cost of attending the typical law school. (Michigan’s annual cost of attendance is now around $70,000). BTW the answer to the question “how do you get an SA via OCI at a non-elite school if you have less than top of the class grades” is “you can’t.”
Note: OCI interviews at Michigan, like at most top schools, are distributed via a combination of interviewee bids and a lottery system. Interviewees select up to 50 firms they want to interview with, and the firms decide which students they’ll interview, on the basis of the students’ resumes and first year transcripts. Interview slots still available after this process are then distributed by a lottery system.
I was median after 1L, and now I’m SAing at a v-30. I made an aggressive plan, stuck to it, and now I received multiple offers in DC (no connection) and my home market (secondary) and a few in random places.
1). If you have a 1L summer job (whether firm, pro bono, judge, whatever) figure out a way to interact with attorneys at big law firms. Be blunt with your boss: “I want you to help me set up 1 lunch/ week with a lawyer at a big firm. Can you help me with this?”
2). Find “double” alumni. Find every attorney who went to both your undergrad and Michigan. Write them a two or three sentence email asking to speak with them on the phone. Remember, networking doesn’t work well when a law student calls up some random attorney the week before OCI; it’s just too transparent.
3). Ask you whole family if they know any lawyers. Ask your whole family if they know anyone who may know a lawyer. Set up phone calls and lunches.
4). If you have a 1L SA, unearth one or two very, very specific niche areas of law that are related to your job. These areas should be things that 1Ls do not study, things that 1Ls do not generally know about (e.g., FCPA, CFIUS, trade remedies, government contract petitions). Do an assignment in that area (or multiple assignments in those areas) you unearth. Use http://www.chambersandpartners.com/USA to find the firms that are ranked highly in that practice area. Before OCI, send an email cover letter and your resume directly to that area’s PRACTICE GROUP HEAD. The cover letter should be direct and confident: “I do X. I’ve learned through speaking with other attorneys that your firm has an excellent practice in X. I absolutely, 100% want to do X because X is the greatest fucking thing in the world. I want to talk to you about X.” People who practice in some random, regulatory area never get emails like this. They’ll be excited that their group is getting attention. Since nobody typically gives these groups attention (unlike lit., m&a, finance), the group probably doesn’t make a lot of we-want-you-to-hire-this-guy-for-an-SA requests, which means that the other partners will likely oblige if the group pushes to hire you.
5). I spent a lot, lot, lot of time on my resume. In fact, someone at a v-10 said it was the “best looking” resume she’d every seen. I used a book called Resume Magic and another called Knock ’em Dead Cover Letters. I had three different people in career services look over my resume and my cover letters. I had my legal writing professor look it over. I had my 1L SA boss look it over. I spent $200 on stationary from http://www.crane.com. (get “ecru white” for letters, but get thank you cards with a little more flair, make sure the envelopes match the paper.) I hand addressed and hand stamped every envelope. I made sure the water mark was facing the right way. I made sure I was writing on my stationary with the “right” kind of pen. I dropped a handwritten thank you card in the mail box the day after I met someone. I sent them to everyone that helped me or anyone who talked to me.
Basically, everything about reading my resume and cover letter was a pleasant experience. The paper felt nice in their hands. They noticed that every single detail was perfect. I didn’t do this, but if you have the money why not spend money on a professional resume consultant? How many should you send out? As many as you have time for.
6). Learn how to wear your clothes well. I’m a bumpkin, so I checked out these books from the Ann Arbor library: Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion, Clothes and the Man: The Principles of Fine Men’s Dress, Gentleman: A Timeless Guide to Fashion, The Suit: A Machiavellian Approach to Men’s Style, Elegance – A Guide to Quality in Menswear, and Eminently Suitable. Based on what I read in those books, I bought a completely new interviewing wardrobe. I had my suit altered 4 times, until it was perfect. I wore my suit and shoes around to break them in before OCI, so I didn’t look like some guy who just bought his suit (even though I was that guy). Get your tailoring done at Vahan’s Clothing and Tailoring (two week turnaround). However, if you need something simple done very quickly (same or next day) go to “My Tailor in 2878 Washtenaw Ave, Ypsilanti, MI.” These are the two best places around. If you read those books, buy what you need, and get it tailored and re-tailored, you’ll look like a guy who’s spent time wearing suits and knows how to do it right.
I noticed that, in general, the Michigan guys were dressed worse than the male attorneys who interviewed them them. When your future career is on the line, why the hell are you wearing a J-Crew tie from high school, sleeves that are too long, and shoes with rubber soles?
7). I’m very nervous in interviews and very quiet in general. Not a type-A. The way to do well in interviews is to 1) practice and 2) trick yourself into looking down on the people who interview you. If you force yourself to have lots of lunches with attorneys and spend lots of time on the phone with attorneys, you’ll get better. I did. The second thing works for me. It’s kind of cruel. Whatever the person I’m meeting with has accomplished, I imagine the “next step” and imagine that they’ve failed at accomplishing that, then I tell myself I could easily accomplish that. Let me explain. I’m meeting with someone who went Stanford undergrad, went to Harvard law school, and is a partner. I think to myself, “Princeton probably rejected this guy, Yale Law didn’t take him, and how he’s pissed because he can’t make practice group head.” Then I think, “I could easily do those things.” Truth be told, I couldn’t do any of those things . . . lol. He’s way more accomplished than I’ll ever be. But by playing that mental game I start to view him as a peer or as an inferior. Then I’m not nervous, and I’m more relaxed, and he thinks I’m confident. Like I said, this is cruel; I am meeting with someone that has taken time out of their day to help me by having a lunch, or whatever. But it works for me. The following books helped me as well: Tiffany’s Table Manners for Teenagers, Never Eat Alone, How to Talk to Anyone, The Etiquette Advantage in Business, and Emily Post’s Etiquette.
(also, read the paper every morning. instant small talk material)
Final Thoughts:
OCI is not the time to cut corners. When you’re spending $180k on law school, it’s not unreasonable to spend $1.5-2.5k to make sure you look like a professional adult, it’s not unreasonable to spend too much money on stationary, it’s not unreasonable to buy a $100+ leather padfolio that doesn’t look like a piece of shit, it’s not unreasonable to have a tie shipped to you from Drakes of London because Drakes specifically makes tie lengths for men under 5’10’, it’s not unreasonable to buy an expensive pen to keep in your expensive padfolio. I put all these things on a credit card but guess what?, my first week’s summer paycheck covered it all. A good investment, IMHO.
Your grades and experience are what they are. You cannot change them at this point. What you can do is 1) make damn sure that you will project a confident, professional image at OCI, 2) make sure that immaculate, quality “materials” (resume, etc.) project that image as well, and 3) spend the majority of your time between now and OCI networking and learning how to network better.
Do you need to do any of these things? No. Do people at median not do these things and still get big law offers? Absolutely. Should you do these things if you have median grades and you want to do absolutely everything possible to increase your chance of getting an offer? Yes.
Image and confidence counts for more than people realize. I’ll end with this anecdote:
I didn’t get a bid for a Chicago firm I wanted. I went by their suite multiple times, but they couldn’t find a time to squeeze me in. I stood around until they left the room and I approached a senior looking partner in the parking lot. I said, “I’m _____ and I didn’t get an interview. I’m seriously interested in your firm’s _____ practice and I want to come out for an interview next week. I’d like you to fly me out Monday. What do you think?” He stared at me hard for a few seconds and then said, “Yes. What’s your name.” He hadn’t even seen my resume. I was WAY below their cut off but I ended up receiving an offer from the firm.