(Image
via
Getty)
When
you
tell
people
outside
of
the
legal
profession
that
you
(functionally)
interview
for
the
Biglaw
job
you’re
going
to
take
after
law
school
graduation
after
only
completing
1/3
of
law
school,
they
think
it’s
wild.
Like
how
do
firms
know
how
good
you’ll
be
as
a
lawyer
if
you
haven’t
even
completed
the
majority
of
your
legal
training?
How
do
you
know
what
job
you
want
two
years
in
the
future?
Sure,
we’ve
all
been
indoctrinated
into
the
system
such
that
it
no
longer
seems
weird,
but
it
is
a
bizarre
system.
And
yet,
it’s
getting
even
worse.
The
on-campus
interview
process
—
which
placed
initial
interviews
for
summer
associateships
that
beget
post-graduation
employment
offers
in
the
weeks
before
2L
year
or
the
early
part
of
the
semester
—
is
no
longer
the
hotness
for
Biglaw
firms.
In
an
effort
to
have
first
dibs
on
the
best
and
brightest,
law
schools
are
taking
direct
applications
from
1Ls
as
early
as
April.
And,
as
reported
by
Bloomberg
Law,
the
direct
application
process
is
very
popular
at
some
Biglaw
firms:
“This
direct
hire
process
will
likely
be
filling
about
50%
of
our
class,
at
least,”
said
Nicole
Wanzer,
director
of
attorney
recruiting
at
Morrison
Foerster.
“Were
we
to
wait
for
traditional
OCI
and
lean
only
on
traditional
OCI,
we
feel
like
we
would
be
missing
out
on
some
of
the
talent
that’s
getting
picked
up
earlier
in
the
process.”The
shift
has
had
a
snowball
effect.
Weil
Gotshal
&
Manges
has
already opened
applications
for
its
2025
summer
program,
allowing
first-year
law
students
to
apply
directly—a
process
dubbed
“pre-OCI”.
Other
prominent
players
such
as
Jones
Day,
Milbank
LLP,
Paul
Hastings,
and
Davis
Polk
&
Wardwell
open
up
their
direct
applications
as
early
as
mid-April
for
jobs
that
start
the
summer
after
the
second
year
of
school
is
completed.
MoFo
is
launching
its
own
advanced
consideration
application
system
for
first-year
students
this
year,
which
opens
May
1.
And
in
response,
law
schools
are
moving
up
their
OCI
to
the
beginning
of
the
summer.
So
what
happened
to
derail
the
import
—
and
established
timeframe
—
of
OCI?
Back
in
2018,
the
National
Association
for
Law
Placement
ditched
their
rules
which
dictated
how
and
when
firms
could
contact
candidates.
We
called
it
“organized
chaos”
when
announced.
With
the
benefit
of
hindsight,
NALP’s
executive
director
Nikia
Gray
calls
it
“the
free
market
system.”
But
in
reality,
it
seems
like
a
lot
closer
to
a
shitshow.
Students
in
particular
are
losing
out
in
the
new
system.
Putting
the
stress
of
the
summer
associate
interview
process
before
they’ve
completed
their
first
full
year
just
sucks.
Especially
when
you
consider
some
of
the
other
developments
that
came
once
NALP
noped
out
—
like
exploding
offers
that
slash
the
amount
of
time
law
students
can
evaluate
a
firm
or
interview
with
their
competitors.
And
firms
are
increasingly
concerned
that
they
have
less
information
with
which
to
judge
potential
associates.
Morrison
Foerster
is
considering
adding
new
assessments
or
writing
exercises
to
its
interview
process
to
help
gauge
applicants,
Wanzer
said.“With
the
speed
of
the
process,
it’s
definitely
exacerbated
the
challenge
to
make
sure
that
the
talent
you’re
seeing—and,
more
so,
the
offers
that
you’re
extending—are
to
people
who
are
going
to
succeed,”
she
said.
Maybe
we
just
should
have
kept
the
old
system
before
Biglaw
devolved
into
a
prisoner’s
dilemma.
But
what
do
I
know.
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter
@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon
@Kathryn1@mastodon.social.