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Entries in Firm Recruiting (5)
2L Foot in Mouth Disease
MeghanInterviews are awkward. I don’t care if you have a 3.9 and are rumored to be Editor in Chief Elect of Law Review, they’re awkward for you too. And let’s be honest, law students aren’t exactly known for their superior social skills. So here are a few suggestions for when the pressure to perform gets you down.
1. My experience this summer solidified my interest in pursuing the corporate route. Oh, your firm only does litigation? Well what was so valuable about my job experience this past summer was that I was exposed to all the different facets of the legal career. So I now feel confident that my skills would be best served in a business litigation setting, representing the larger corporations in all aspects of legal challenges, you know, pursuing the corporate route….
2. How do I like Boston? It’s not my favorite city. Your entire extended family, and your wife’s entire extended family are from here? Well, then you of course know the power of this city and how it can grow on you. It was not my favorite city at first, but I am still shocked at how much I have come to really love Boston. It takes a hold of you….
3. I don’t really think of BC as a Catholic law school. You can either take advantage of the religious presence at the school or not. You recruit at BC specifically because of the Jesuit influence? Oh the Jesuit influence is in every classroom and I haven’t missed a weekly mass yet….
4. I didn’t attend a single football game. Your son is on the team? I was so busy in the library studying that I just couldn’t make it to a game. But that’s what is great about the second year of law school, right? I can finally make it to those games and cheer for BC!
5. The Supreme Court issued important decisions this summer? Right, like they do every summer….of course they did, I was joking. Really important issues, very significant. It will be interesting to see what happens to the 5-4 balance after this presidential election….
6. Why did I go to law school? Well I obviously wasn’t going to make any money on Wall Street in this economy. Yes, I know this position is unpaid. Serving the public, doing something relevant for the community fulfills me more than any paycheck can….
7. I am so excited about the prospect of working at Girvin & White. You work for Williams & Wilson? Um, ha, it’s been such a long day!
More Lawyers, Less Jobs?
Justin Pope, an education writer at the Associate Press, wrote an article this week that never ceases to get law students’ attention at Boston College Law School: the legal job market. With the ABA’s recent accreditation of the Charlotte School of Law and Elon University as the 199th and 200th accredited law schools in the United States (technically they have provisional accreditation), Pope reminds readers that only a few law school graduates actually earn those nose-bleed salaries.
BCLS Ranked #20 for Big Firm "Go-to Law Schools"
In the latest edition of the National Law Journal’s “Go-to Law Schools” rankings, BCLS came in at #20. The rankings are a self-validating accompanyment to the NLJ 250 list, which ranks law firms by the total number of attorneys employed at each. BCLS sent 96 members of the Class of 2007 to the nation’s largest firms for employment, representing 36.8% of the 261 alums from that year.
The 2008 rank represents a four-place drop from last year’s edition when BCLS placed at #16 with 39.1% of the Class of 2006 employed at NLJ 250 firms.
A related article in this month’s National Law Journal analyzes the economics of picking a law school based on one’s career interests. Of note to the ever-controversial USNWR Law School Rankings, the authors publish a table of law schools ranked by the percentage of student body receiving half to full-tuition scholarships and/or grants.
While many of the 25 most generous schools listed are Tier 3 or 4 schools that may require implausibly high GPA/class rank to maintain those scholarships, or public schools which already have lower tuition costs for in-state residents, a couple of schools ranked above BCLS in USNWR appear to be achieving their improvements in the rankings, at least in part, by buying the best students they can.
24.9% of students at Vanderbilt (USNWR Rank 15) and 22.8% at BU Law (USNWR Rank 21) reportedly receive half to full-tuition scholarships to entice their matriculation.
BC Misses the Cut in Vault Top 25 Rankings
Though Vault called BCLS “underrated” last year, the self-described “most trusted name in career information” publishing group left BCLS off its 2008 Top 25 Law School Rankings.
NALP Changes Offer Holding Policy to 45 Days
In a decision early last month, the NALP board of directors reportedly changed the length of time students may hold summer associate offers. NALP’s web site continues to post the old system of a maximum number of held offers allowable tied to calendar dates. Under the new system, there is no limit to the number of offers a student may hold at any one time, but all offers will lapse after forty-five days.
Eagleionline Question of the Day: Who benefits more under this new system: students or employers?