Career Choices: How Law Students Can Navigate Uncommonly Early On-Campus Interviews with Law Firms

As on-campus interviews for summer positions, which usually lead to permanent roles after graduation, creep earlier and earlier, students are sent into the bidding process with less information than ever before. They have taken some of the core first year classes, gone to some law firm events, and don't have their second semester grades. A lot of firms are asking for applications before on-campus interviews even formally commence, and many of those are known to make exploding offers that will disappear before these students have a chance to engage in the full on-campus interview process.

While most firms will only ask if students want to do litigation or transactional work, even that question can feel hard to answer given how little exposure these students have to the broad strokes of going one route or the other.

The task of deciding on a firm and a lane is even harder on students without lawyers in their families or close friend circles, and first-generation professionals. Not so long ago, firms conducted on-campus interviews in the late fall of students' second year of law school. It then crept earlier to late summer before their second year.

I prepare students at several T14 law schools for on-campus interviews. Here is what I am telling them to help them make these major decisions so early in their law school careers.

In terms of practice areas:

First, network your heart out. If it means cold-calling graduates from your law school (or even your undergrad) who are doing work that looks interesting, so be it. But cold calling can feel really intimidating. You will find a warmer reception from people with whom you have something in common, which is why I recommend looking for alumni from your law school or undergrad.

Firm websites usually have drop down menus where you can select graduates of different schools. It doesn't much matter if they're in an office in a city you'd want to live in — it's really about what the practice looks like day to day.

Second, boil practices down to their cores. Our team at Major, Lindsey & Africa does a presentation at many law schools during the fall for new 1Ls. One of the questions for potential litigators is whether they enjoy (or can tolerate/thrive in) adversarial situations.

While most litigation is not bare-knuckle fighting, and while M&A and other practices can have their own tense interactions, it's still a base question you need to ask yourself before choosing to litigate. Another core question which can guide you to litigate or not is if you prefer to analyze grey areas or have concrete answers. Someone who loves to answer "it depends" is someone who dwells in that grey area and may enjoy being a litigator.

Third, ask yourself what relationship you want to have with your client. In transactional work, there are often many repeat clients over a long time period. In a space like white collar defense, some of those defendants hope to never see you again. (It's not personal!) If you are someone who really values an ongoing relationship with your clients, you can either litigate or do transactional work — but not all kinds.

Fourth, try to figure out how important the chance to go in house or into government are for you. If you want to go in house, a transactional practice is usually the easiest path. Some exceptions: IP litigation, labor and employment work, and some white-collar litigation which can lead to compliance roles in house.

If you wish to go into government, it often makes sense to start at a Washington, D.C.-based firm with strong regulatory practices (even if you're in an office of that firm located elsewhere) and to focus on securities/white collar/tax litigation.

In terms of firms:

First, determine how important it is for you to be in an office of significant size (and likely resultant power within the firm) rather than a satellite. This is not a straightforward decision, as some satellite offices have really compelling partners and practices.

Second, determine whether you're more comfortable with the concept of a West Coast-based firm, a Midwest based firm, an East Coast-based firm, or a firm headquartered internationally. There are marked cultural differences, practice emphases, and progression tracks. Some international firms have U.S. managing partners and therefore, feel more rooted here. Some are truly run from abroad.

Third, dive into how often you'd like to be in the office. Firms run the gamut from having no return to office policy to telling people to be in five days a week and tethering bonuses to compliance. There are several different flavors of firms, and this is an important consideration.

Fourth, look at who the firms you're interested in represent as their anchor clients. Do those clients do things that go dramatically against your personal values? Are those clients in sectors that are particularly recession-prone?

I always say, there is a lid for every pot — Firm A may be strongly not for you, but it's a great fit for a classmate. You'll find the thing that fits, as long as you do your networking, deep thinking, and research.