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How to Ace Your Interviews

Professor Shadel offers excellent advice here on how to make the most of your interviews.

Information for 2Ls on Los Angeles Interview Program

To Members of the Class of 2011:

We have partnered with Duke Law School to offer the Virginia & Duke Law on Tour Interview Program in Los Angeles (DV-TIP in LA), on Friday, September 11, 2009 at the Westin Bonaventure Suites in Los Angeles. This is an excellent opportunity for students interested in interviewing for 2010 summer associate positions in southern California. You may sign up to participate through the Symplicity session “UVA-Duke Law LA Interview Program” on Monday, August 3 and Tuesday, August 4, 2009. Employers will preselect 100% of the students to interview, and you will have the opportunity to accept or decline your interviews before committing to the interview program. Once you have accepted your interviews, you are obligated to attend the interview program.

The timeline is as follows:

• Student Sign-up on Symplicity (DV-TIP LA Session), August 3-4, 2009

• Invitations to Interview Displayed: August 21, 2009

• Students Accept or Decline Interviews: August 21-24, 2009

• Final Interview Schedules available to students and employers: September 3, 2009

Participating employers include:

Howrey (Irvine, Los Angeles)

Judge Eric C. Taylor (Torrance)

O’Melveny & Myers (Century City, Los Angeles, Newport Beach)


Proskauer Rose (Los Angeles)

Rutan & Tucker (Costa Mesa)

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (Los Angeles)

Students are responsible for coordinating travel and lodging arrangements, and rooms are available at the Westin for $169 per night (or $129 per night, online and pre-paid). We are able to offer a few students a limited amount of financial assistance and Delta Sky Miles through the generosity of one of our alumni. If you are interested in receiving assistance, please email lawcareer@virginia.edu before August 4, 2009. Please contact us at lawcareer@virginia.edu if you have any questions.

OGI Information for Rising 3Ls

We hope you are doing well and enjoying your summer programs.  Given the challenges in the current legal market, we wanted to provide you with some information that should be helpful to you both in your current position and in assessing other possible positions.  As you have probably heard, many firms will not make decisions on offers until sometime in the fall, later than in prior years and in most cases after our August OGI program.  We also expect the number of offers for permanent employment extended to current summer associates to decline.  Each situation will be different, but if you believe that you may need to look for a different position, now is a good time to begin thinking about that process.  You should not let this distract you from making the very best impression with your current employer or from getting the most out of the opportunities available.  But you can begin the process of considering what other options might interest you.

In doing so, even individuals interested in employment with firms should consider other possibilities (such as clerkships or public service work) that can provide fulfilling career experiences and strong opportunities for legal skill development.  An accompanying memorandum describes the benefits of clerkships.  You should already have received information on public service opportunities that are available and the steps that should be taken if you are interested in pursuing those opportunities.   In addition, if you anticipate an offer with a deferred start date and a fellowship option, you should consider the resource on pursuing fellowships found at this link: 

http://uvalaw.typepad.com/publicworks/law-firm-deferrals/.   

The market for 3L hiring among large firms will be much more limited than in past years.  There are some opportunities on Symplicity but these opportunities are fewer than in past years and you should not rely on OGIs alone if you are going to be involved in a job search this fall.  In your cities of interest (defined broadly), you should consider mid-sized and smaller employers who may not be coming on Grounds.  In many instances, these are the firms with the best growth potential over the coming years.  There are resources on the Career Services website to help in carrying out this type of research and we are available to discuss the process with you. 

Suggestions for your summer positions.  With more limited numbers of permanent employment opportunities available, your summer employers will be looking to draw distinctions among a pool of highly qualified law students, most of whom are providing strong work product.  It is worth emphasizing that truly excellent legal work is a necessity and must be your first and primary focus.  But it also is important to be aware of the other competencies that are considered by employers in making an offer (particularly in these highly competitive times).   Think about the positions to which you would progress if you joined an employer after graduation and stayed there for an extended period of time.  The skills needed for those jobs (which you have now had a chance to observe) are the skills that the employer will be looking for in you.  As you complete your summer programs, consider the following:

·         Interpersonal skills:  Use each interaction with representatives of your employer as an opportunity to learn.  When you speak to someone in a meeting or at a social event, make sure that they are the focus of all of your attention.  Be conscious of your body language and maintain eye contact as you speak.  In addition to conversing on the topics of the day, take the opportunity to do direct career research:  ask people about what they like best about their practice areas, what skills they use the most, what skills they value in new attorneys and how they anticipate their jobs will change as they get more senior.   

·         Entrepreneurial and business skills:  At their core, law firms are businesses that need to be mindful of profitability to remain viable.  Although your substantive work is paramount, you should still be mindful of the ways in which you can contribute to the efficiency and profitability of the firm.  For example, if you are billing your time, do it accurately and carefully.  Make sure it is submitted on time.   Ask if your employer has any guidance on best practices for billing.  If you know who reviews the bills for a client and the opportunity presents itself, ask (after the close of the month) for suggestions on how you could do a better job describing your work.  Without prying into sensitive areas or seeming pushy, learn as much as you can about the employer’s business.  In particular, focus on ways in which practicing attorneys can help the business run well.  If you have the opportunity to meet with managing partners or heads of practice groups, ask them what things they would want every attorney to focus on from a business perspective.   You will find these people generally are very interested in conveying information on what individual attorneys can do to help the firm run well.   

·         Managerial skills:  Although summer positions often do not present opportunities to demonstrate managerial ability, many of the competencies that are employed by effective managers are also important in your summer work.  At the most basic level, you should treat every fellow employee with the utmost dignity and respect, regardless of the position that they hold in the organization.  Your behavior should be impeccable at all events.  While being confident, you should never appear cocky or entitled.  Despite the competitive environment, you should never seek to gain advantage by attempting to show up or diminish a fellow summer worker.   Employers value a team player, and you should use every opportunity to demonstrate your ability to function well in a collaborative environment.

·         Judgment:  Things like your attire and when and how you use mobile devices reflect on your judgment.   It is important to present yourself as a professional in the workplace.

Make the most of your summer.  Even if you have been told or suspect that your employer will not be able to make many permanent employment offers at this time, your summer position still provides opportunities for training, skill development, self-investigation and networking.  As you complete different projects or work in different areas, do a critical self-assessment of the job skills that you possess and that you enjoy using.  This will be valuable information to you in considering the various professional avenues that are open to you.  One of your goals should be to emerge from the summer with a far clearer picture of what type of practice you eventually hope to have.

Strive to make a strong positive impression on both your employer and the various individuals that you meet during the summer.  Creating an effective network will work to your benefit when new opportunities become available.  Moreover, the practice of law is simply more fulfilling if it occurs in the context of strong personal relationships with colleagues and peers.

Try to stay positive and optimistic, despite the challenging news that you are reading.  You are extraordinary individuals and you have much to offer the legal profession.  We are here to advise you on your career search process in any way that we can.

OGI Information for Rising 2Ls

Given the current economic climate and uncertainty in the legal job market, we want to take this opportunity to provide some information as you prepare your resume and rank your employers on Symplicity.  We’ve met with or spoken with many of you about your particular searches, and we encourage you to address any individual questions or requests to lawcareer@virginia.edu.

What are we hearing from employers and what do we expect for the fall?

We have been in close contact with our employers and alumni regarding their anticipated hiring needs.  Many large firms are reducing the number of anticipated summer associates, so the number of offers, callbacks, and initial interviews will be fewer.   Along these lines, we have seen a decrease in the number of OGI schedules for August. 

How many interviews should I to get through the OGI process?

Because large firms are hiring fewer summer associates, the consequence is that fewer callbacks will be given and fewer offers made.  Historically our students have averaged over 20 interviews each during OGI, but this year we expect that number to be smaller. 

How does the OGI bidding process work?

You rank firms, 1-50, with 1 being your top preference.  Firms then see the resume and transcript of every student who has ranked that firm in his/her top 50, but do not know how that individual ranked the firm.  The firms will then send us a list of the ten students they want to see, and we will fill in the remaining 10 based on which students have ranked the firms highest.  (Firms will typically see 20 students per interview schedule.)   If you are not assigned an interview, you will have the option to “opt-in” to a waitlist on August 5-6, meaning that the employers will see your resume and transcript when they arrive the morning of the interview.  Employers have often shortened their lunch breaks or lengthened their day to interview additional students.

How should I rank the firms?

From a strategic perspective, you should try to rank most highly those firms with which you believe you have a strong chance of success.  Along these lines, you should consider your grades, your past work experiences and your connections to the city in which the firm is located.  You should also be aware that past guidance on what grade ranges are likely to appeal to particular firms needs to be adjusted due to the economic realities.  We are happy to discuss this with you in the context of your personal situation.

Do research now.  Think not just about the firms, but about practice areas that you believe would be a good fit for your unique skills, aptitudes, and experiences.  For substantive information on practice areas, look at Chambers and Partners, linked on our website and available here.  For an overview of different practice areas, check out this resource on our website (LawWeb login is required).  [Please note that although these resources are helpful in describing the nature of the practices, the information on which practices are “busy” is now quite dated.  We will be providing updated information on this topic in the future.]  Talk also to your peer advisors, friends, and colleagues about their work and their experiences.

What should I be doing now and what should I do in the fall?

In prior years many students could rely solely on the OGI process to obtain offers for the summer.  This year, we strongly advise you to consider OGI as just one of the tools that you will employ in your job search. 

You will need to be very well prepared for interviews in August.  We encourage you to review resources available on the Career Services website and elsewhere about the interview process.  You will also want to research carefully the firms with which you will be meeting.  To assist you, we are planning a series of programs on August 10 and 11 that will focus on successful interviewing in a challenging market.  

Think about what skills you can bring to prospective employers.  Legal employers will be taking intelligence, drive and work ethic as a given this year.  Successful candidates will need to highlight other important competencies – entrepreneurial skills, management ability, interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, leadership potential, etc.  You should be prepared to answer likely questions in a way that focuses on these themes.  Try to come up with objective measures that show that you have successfully demonstrated these competencies in other settings.  Review resources on common interview questions and prepare written answers – these are not to be scripts, but to help organize your thoughts so that you are able to provide useful information in clear 1-2 minute responses.

Use this summer to develop your research and writing skills, to explore substantive legal areas in which you are interested, and to learn more about the legal industry, the types of jobs available in the industry and the characteristics that successful people in those jobs possess.  You will be best able to make a compelling case for why you belong in a job if you have done the work to confirm that you do belong in the job.  Do a critical self-assessment of the job skills that you possess and that you enjoy using.  Ask friends and colleagues to similarly assess you.  Then think about jobs and practice areas that best fit that collection of talents.  It is important for firms to know that you have skills that will allow you to contribute to the work of the firm and the service of its clients very early in your career.  The Law School’s excellent Law and Business Program is a perfect example of a program that gives prospective corporate attorneys a leg-up on practical skills.  The Law School's many clinical opportunities and the moot court competition provide similar opportunities for students interested in other substantive areas.  As will be described in an accompanying memorandum, a clerkship is also an attractive professional experience that can help you to develop key legal skills.  You should emphasize to potential employers your commitment to skill development as part of the legal education process.  

You should also think about going beyond the OGI process to reach out to employers.  In your cities of interest (defined broadly), you should consider mid-sized and smaller employers who may not be coming on Grounds.  In many instances, these are the firms with the best growth potential over the coming years.  We are available to discuss strategies with you for carrying out this process and will be providing further information in the near future.

A couple of other important programs to note if you’re interested in Los Angeles or Richmond:

 We will be hosting an Interview Program with Duke Law School on Friday, September 11 in Los Angeles.  Students are responsible for their travel and accommodations, and we are finalizing the employer list, but you should take advantage of this opportunity if you’re interested in practicing in southern .  Student registration will be open from July 20-31, and more information regarding how to register will be provided in a separate email.

The Virginia Bar Association sponsors an annual interview program in Richmond,Virginia, and this year it will be held on Saturday, August 15. Registration for this program, which is open now, is free, but due by July 8.  More information is available here.  If you are interested in practicing in Richmond, we encourage you to apply.

OGI Bidding Information

Symplicity will open on June 15, 2009 for bidding on interviews this fall.  You may bid on 50 employers only and you may accept 35 interviews total.

IMPORTANT DATES:

June 15, 2009 Symplicity opens for students

June 29, 2009 Deadline to have Career Services Office review your updated resume

July 9, 2009 Bidding closes 10:00 p.m. EDT

    ALL bids must be finalized prior to 10pm on July 9 and resumes must be posted

July 31 - August 2, 2009 Students Accept or Decline Interviews

August 2 Deadline to Accept or Decline Interviews 10:00 p.m. EDT

    Students may accept no more than 35 interviews during the August interviews

August 5 - August 6, 2009 Interview Schedules Available to Students

    Waitlist Open

August 6 Deadline to Opt In to Waitlist 10:00 p.m. EDT

August 6 Deadline to Cancel any interviews

August 10, 2009 FINAL Interview Schedules Available

Interviews will take place from August 12-14, 2009, August 18-21, 2009, and August 24-25.  Classes begin August 26, 2009 for 2Ls and 3Ls.

Workshop for Alumni Interested in Transitioning to Government

KSA Drafting Workshop

Wednesday, June 24 at 7:00 p.m.

In light of the unprecedented number of layoffs in the legal industry, more attorneys are seeking legal jobs within Government, legal careers that have traditionally been more stable and have offered a better work-life balance than private practice. Securing some federal legal positions requires submission of a KSA (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities) Statement. A solid understanding of how to write a competitive KSA Statement will greatly enhance your potential for securing a federal position. This workshop explains the secrets to successful KSAs and shows you how you can distinguish yourself from other qualified candidates.

The presenter Kate Neville is founder and principal of Neville Career Consulting, LLC, which provides guidance to attorneys considering a job change or career transition, whether within the practice of law or to another field. She began her career practicing law at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and as an in-house attorney for New York City government. She then shifted to management consulting work and policy analysis and has held such positions in both for-profit and non-profit entities.

After serving as an advisor in Georgetown Law’s Office of Career Services, Kate decided to use her experience to help practicing attorneys identify the full range of their professional options and develop strategies to pursue them successfully. Additional information is available at www.nevillecareerconsulting.com.

Kate presents frequently on issues related to attorneys in transition, and her articles have been featured in law.com, YahooFinance.com, The Legal Times, Roll Call, Veritas, and training materials for the ABA Section of Litigation. She received her law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School and her undergraduate degree in History magna cum laude from Princeton University.

Date: Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Where: Georgetown University Law School, 600 New Jersey Avenue, NW, McDonough Hall, Room 109

Metro: Union Station (Red Line)

Cost: Free for members and GT Law students, $20 non-members. Checks can be made out to SABA-DC. For information on membership, please visit sabadc.org.

A light dinner will be provided. Space for this event is limited, so please RSVP to Anuradha Banerjee at Anubanerjee@gmail.com.

Managing a Legal Career Transition in Difficult Times

As a public service, NALP, the National Association for Law Placement, and ALI-ABA, the American Law Institute / American Bar Association, have collaborated to offer Managing a Legal Career Transition in Tough Times — a 75-minute presentation by Marcia Pennington Shannon and Susan G. Manch of Shannon & Manch LLP, who generously donated their time and talent to this special project to assist lawyers and graduating students who are currently seeking employment.

To view this video, go here.

Deferred Start Dates - What Does it Mean for the Classes of 2009 and 2010?

The Public Works Blog has posted an entry for graduating students who are facing deferred start dates. 

On Tuesday, April 7 we will host a program for graduating 3Ls (4:30 PM, WB 152):

In Debt and In Doubt: The Career and Financial Implications of a Deferred or Delayed Status
Join representatives from Career Services, Student Affairs and the Office of Financial Aid to discuss deferred start dates and loan repayment options.

On Tuesday, April 14 we will host a program for 1Ls and 2Ls (4:30 PM, WB152):

How to Get an Offer from your Summer Program
Join Career Services and hiring partners from major law firms to hear about what you can do this summer to maximize your chances of getting an offer at the end of the summer. We will also address what to do if your firm has delayed start dates for incoming associates, and what that means for you. All 1Ls and 2Ls are encouraged to attend.

Upcoming Events

Please save the date for the following events.  These programs are designed to help students maximize opportunities this summer, and provide guidance to graduating students facing questions about a potentially uncertain future.

Thursday, March 19 at noon, WB154: Corporate Counsel Roundtable Discussion

Monday, March 23 at 3:30pm, SL258: How to Be the One Big Law Chooses and What to Do if You Are Not

Wednesday, March 25 at 4pm, Caplin Pavilion: Survival Strategies for First Year Lawyers

Thursday, April 2 at 3pm, WB126: 3L Speaker Series on Financial Planning

Tuesday, April 7 at 4:30pm, Room TBD: Navigating a Deferred Start Date: What Does It Mean for Your Career and How to Manage Loan Repayment

COMING SOON: A Panel Discussion with Hiring Partners - What Makes a Successful Candidate and How Can Summer Associates Stand Out in this Market?

Making the Most of Uncertain Economic Times

Today we link to two excellent articles recently featured in the National Law Journal.  One is from Bill Chamberlain, Assistant Dean for Law Career Strategy and Advancement at Northwestern, linked here.  He focuses on how to determine what you want most from your legal career. 
The other article is from Steve Langerud, Assistant Dean for Career Services at the University of Iowa, linked here.  This contains practical advice for job searches in tough and uncertain economic times.