Q: Was the GPA cutoff 4.0 this year?
I kid, I kid. But, seriously, based on the transcripts I’ve seen, I’d peg it at 3.85.
Q: How many staff editor positions does a person really need?
One or two. Look, I get that you are real handy with a Bluebook, but instead of joining that third or fourth journal–true story, four staff editor positions!–enter a negotiation competition or join a clinic or extern.
(If cite-checking is what fulfills you, by all means carry on. I just hate to think that folks are occupying their time with triple or quadruple the cite-checking assignments because they think that’s the way to clinch a job offer.)
Q: If you have no work experience and no transactional law classes under your belt, how do you know that corporate law is for you?
Law firms that ask you to pick a practice group after one year of law school are putting you in a real tough spot. In my relatively useless opinion, folks who fit this profile should pick a firm that allows summer associates to rotate through practice groups.
Q: Are you afraid to ask questions or do you really not have any?
Dude, I’m a first-year. My opinion of you can’t possibly carry that much weight with the recruiting committee. So don’t be shy. My role in this process, as I see it, is to be a resource to you. As a first-year associate who spent two summers at the firm, I can give you information that you can’t find on the website or the NALP form. It may be that the partners or senior associates that you spoke with earlier in the day answered your questions. Well, ask them again! We all experience life at the firm differently. (Plus, if you don’t ask any questions, your interviewer might be left with the impression that you aren’t really interested in the practice group, firm, etc.)
For those having difficulty coming up with questions, here are some of the questions I asked when I was an interviewee:
- What was your favorite summer associate assignment? (for junior associates)
- How many associates do the partners typically staff per deal team?
- How is work assigned? (Free market system or work coordinator driven?)
- What proportion of your time do you spend on diligence? (for junior associates)
- Do you make use of the firm’s formal mentorship program? (if the firm has one)
- Why did you choose [insert firm name here]?
- How often are associates formally reviewed?
- Do your clients come from a particular industrial sector? Or, if the answer to the former is obviously stated on the firm’s website: How did you come to focus your practice on clients in [_______] industry? (This question worked with M&A folks, but it could come across as silly and ill-informed in certain other circumstances.)
- How often do associates work on deals run out of other offices of the firm?
- Are associates expected to choose between a public or private company track or is it possible to get exposure to both?
Read the full article: Things I think about during callback interviews…