The Law Student Guide to Applying to Firms
This is for law students applying to law firm jobs. Although MacKay & Agents doesn’t work with student candidates, here’s some advice we wish we’d gotten:
Don’t rely too much on OCI, especially if you aren’t a top student/at a top school. You might get one OCI interview. It might get canceled. It isn’t over.
Don’t assume that you can’t get a 1L summer associate position. While these are indeed rarer than 2L positions, they exist, though you may need to apply quite broadly (see #3 and #4 below).
Apply broadly (geographically). You may have a target market or markets, but the more ground you can cover, the better shot you’ll have at ending up at a firm. This is particularly important if you’re not at the top of your class, or if your law school doesn’t send a huge number of graduates to law firms. I recommend making a list of all the places you could stand to live for a year or two, then building a list of firms in those locations. There’s a myth that you need “ties” to get hired in a secondary market. Rather, you need to be able to convincingly convey why you’re targeting in a particular location.
Apply broadly (in terms of size and prestige). Applying only to Vault-ranked firms is not a strong approach if you aren’t a top student and/or at a top school. The AmLaw 200 is a great resource for big firms. The NLJ 500 provides a much deeper list of large firms, but even it is far from complete. There are also many lists floating around of the largest firms in specific regions, states and cities. Finding and digging through these lists is laborious, but they can be extremely helpful resources.
Take the long view. Your first firm will almost certainly not be your last. If you’re less than satisfied with your first firm—due to the work, the money, the location, or some other reason—keep in mind that you will have opportunities to upgrade. It would be great to graduate from law school and step into your dream job, but most lawyers aren’t so lucky. If you have to keep working towards the job you really want, take heart, and consider how far you’ve already come.
