I was thinking I should probably write about what it's like to interview law students now that I'm on the other side of the table. Well, here's a little secret that law students should know, it is almost exactly the same as being the interviewee, and the advice you have been given so far will go a long way if you follow it. Here's my repetition of some of that advice, with the perspective of being part of the hiring process for the second year.
The Cover Letter, Resume, and Writing Sample
No mistakes. Especially if you are on a law journal. Check the fonts and margins on your resume to make sure they are consistent. I will hold mistakes against you.
Do not overstate anything. I do not really care if you are in the top 33% or the top 35%. I do care if you misstate it. I know how to look up the official class rankings, and I do. If you were president of some college society, great. If it was in high school, please say so. I'm not that impressed by either one, so don't risk making me mad by misleading me.
Your writing sample better not have errors. If it does, I don't even get a chance to consider if you can write well. If the first couple of pages have multiple "typos," incorrect citations, and misspelled words, I will quit reading. And I will quit considering you. I care about citations, and the partners look to me to tell them if your citations are done properly. I realize you may have written this paper for a first year writing class or the journal competition. Well, guess what? That was months ago, and you have had time to revise it and have lots of people edit and proofread it. If you didn't care enough to do that, I don't want to work with you. By the way, if your citations are poorly done, it will cause me to actually look them up on Lexis, and then I might find even more errors.
In general, in the cover letter and at the interview, please tell me why you want to work at my firm. You know this, so
please do it. Do a little research for both or our sakes. "I am
interested in the types of law listed on your firm website" is not the
most convincing way to do it either. When I was writing cover letters,
I did a mail merge, too. I get it. But, I wrote, "I am particularly
interested in . . . ," and then filled in two or three areas of law
from the website, using the same descriptions the firm used. If a firm
uses "business litigation," or "commercial litigation," or "civil
litigation," or whatever on the website, it can't hurt to choose the
same words. Especially because forcing yourself to go through that
step can avoid mistakes that could lose you the job. For example, if
your cover letter says you are interested in "civil defense
litigation," that will tell me that you did not look at our website
because that isn't how we would ever describe what we do, although it
may be one aspect of our broad litigation practice. But considering
the fact that we represent companies and individuals on all sides of
all types of litigation, your probably mindless use of that phrase
would have made me think you just want to do insurance defense and
might not be well suited for our broad practice.
A similar trick I used, that probably didn't count for much, but could
have helped was that when I said I was looking forward to being a part
of some firm's mentoring program, I referred to it by whatever cheesy
name they used on the website. It didn't kill me to have half a dozen
things that I personalized in each cover letter. I am shocked by the
cover letters that refer to our mentoring program when our website does
not mention anything about employment or mentoring at all. So be
specific in your cover letters, but only refer to things that you
actually know about the firm.
Our website doesn't have all that much information, so I don't expect specifics in your cover letter, so long as it still appears to be tailored to our firm to some extent. But I am doing the second interviews along with a partner, so by the time
you get to me, you do know a lot about our firm and you should have
some pretty specific reasons that you think it is where you would like
to work. Please tell me those reasons. I want to feel wanted. It
will make me want you more.
By the way, if this part is too hard, you probably don't want to work
at our firm, so don't apply. Do your research early, figure out what
you want, and don't apply to the other places. Seriously.
What to Wear
I don't care. Wear a suit, obviously. It should be clean. Men need a tie. Women shouldn't have three inch fingernails. Don't wear perfume or cologne. If you look really great or really bad, it might influence me. Otherwise I don't care. Do get comfortable in your suit. If you have only worn a suit before for weddings and funerals, you might want to wear it around the house a little before you start interviewing, or you will come off as a kid who got dressed up, not as a professional who could appear in court or meet with clients.
What to bring
Bring an extra resume, writing sample, and anything else you think we might want. But wait for us to ask for it. Do not shove a resume in a plastic binder in my face when I already have a copy. Just because you added that you play the piano does not mean I want a new copy of your resume. Be prepared, but don't show off. I kind of like the touch of offering a page with references at the end of an interview, so long as it lists them clearly with full name, title, address, phone number, email if they use email, and looks professional. I might actually contact them, so they should know you are giving out their names.
Arrive early, but be patient
Yesterday, one of our interviewees was 15 minutes early. Any earlier might have been a little much (although I wouldn't have cared, as long as he wasn't pacing the halls or something), but I really appreciated that, because we were able to start early and I was able to leave for my next appointment a little earlier. My life is insanely busy, so please try to build enough flexibility into your schedule that you are able to wait patiently if we are behind schedule, too. Bring a magazine (it might spark discussion...), talk to the receptionist, have some water, whatever, but please be patient because it is not personal and it is not intentional. Last year, one law clerk was rescheduled and then made to wait probably half an hour because the partner was out of the office at a meeting and got back late. She didn't seem to mind at all, it was a great interview, and we hired her.
The Interview
We all want the same things out of the interview. Really.
1. I want you to like me and to like our firm. That means I try to sounds smart and funny; I try to look cute. I want you to be impressed by what I do/what the firm does, but also think I would be fun to hang out with. So don't be so nervous; remember, we really are interviewing each other.
2. My top concern is that it is a "good match." We are going to work together for a summer and maybe over an entire career, so I want to like and respect you and feel like you are someone who would fit in well with the personalities and atmosphere at the firm. You can be perfect on paper, and so can we, but we might just be looking for different things, and I genuinely want to know that before we both waste our time.
3. I want to know what you really want and expect. If you claim to have an interest in litigation, but really want to do something else, it is going to suck for both of us down the road, so please tell me what you really want to do with your life. Just like you want to know if you are going to have to work 40 or 80 hours a week, I want to know if you are looking for the kind of firm we are or if you are going to be job hunting immediately because you want to move to another city or make more money or have some other kind of long term goals.
4. I want to get to know the real you. An interview is brief, but the only way I will really know if we are a good match is if I get to know you a little bit beyond your ranking and "interest in all types of litigation and transactional work." Are you in a basketball league? Do you play in a band? Did you recently take a cool trip? Is your wife an architect who just designed a local building? Are you the first one in your family to go to college? I don't really care what it is, and I am not interested in boring trivia about you, but I do want to know what is meaningful in your life and what makes you an individual, not just a reasonably smart law student. I hope you want to know a little about the real me, too.
5. Questions. Everyone tells you to be prepared to ask questions in an interview. It's true. If you just sit there, you will seem disinterested and I won't want to hire you. But, if we have an ongoing conversation, you will naturally have your questions answered over the course of the interview, and I realize you may not have lots of questions at the end. That's okay, as long as you were engaged in the interview along the way. Just so you don't feel awkward, you may want to be prepared with a question that will work every time. At my firm, I an the only associate you will interview with, so it really might be smart to ask something like whether I started as a summer clerk, what my typical day is like, why I chose to work at the firm, how I have used the mentoring system, etc. That is a nice, easy question that could actually help you evaluate if you want to work there. You can also ask partners how they ended up in their current practice area, because it is usually an interesting story, and can teach you a lot about how the firm lets your career progress.
Do not ask stupid questions. Do not ask anything about benefits. Do not ask if we give money to charity. Do not ask about pro bono work if you aren't even interested in pro bono work. Do not ask what the most satisfying part of our job is, why we like working at our firm, what the "firm culture" is like, or anything else cheesy and generic. In any good interview, those questions will be answered without having to ask any stupid questions. If you ask something like "what are your favorite kind of cases to work on," or the above mentioned, "how did you end up in your current practice area," preferably as part of natural conversation, you will learn everything you need to know by how the questions are answered. If you mention a recent trip or hobby in a way that gets the interviewers to open up, you will learn if they have a life outside the office. If you mention your Thanksgiving plans, you will find out about the family life of the person interviewing you. Remember, you are getting to know the person interviewing you and the firm, which is done through conversation and non-verbal communication. Stupid questions will get you stupid answers, but won't teach you much.
Thank you notes
Personally, I hate most thank you notes. Law
students seem to all have poor handwriting, uncreative minds, and often
bad grammar and/or spelling. To avoid those pitfalls, I would
recommend a brief thank you by email if you feel compelled to send
one. But if a thank you note could possibly reflect badly on you, just
don't send it. That is not how we make decisions, so don't stress
about it. A really bad one could hurt you, and I suppose an amazing
one could differentiate between two completely equal candidates, but I
doubt it. Some of the older attorneys probably appreciate them, but
thank you notes still don't factor into the equation. Do you seriously
think that we have the time to keep track of thank you notes before we
make hiring decisions?
Remember, this process is really important to you and to the firm. You do not have to apply for, interview for, or accept just any job. You deserve the right job for you. We want someone who is the right fit and who will contribute to the longterm success of the firm, while being someone we like personally and professionally. So show your personality, including your professionalism, your intelligence, your sense of humor, and your passion for life. Make me want you.
