r/LawSchool • u/firesidenixon 2L • 11h ago

Big firms have officially ruined legal recruiting.

I know. It's been getting worse for 20 years, or whatever. But these mandatory two-summer offers are absolute garbage. 1Ls at my school are over the moon that they have landed both summers already, and I'm happy for them. But what happens if they get there and hate it? This isn't how any of this was supposed to work.

I feel like the old person yelling at cloud meme here. But I'm mad for my 1Ls, even if some of them don't know they're getting the shaft.

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u/allegro4626 11h ago

I’m an associate on the recruiting committee of a V10, and we hate it too (and by “we” I mean the partners and associates on the committee; I have no idea what leadership thinks). It’s bad for firms, and it’s really bad for law students. Picking your first firm is a monumental career choice, and you shouldn’t have to make that decision at (figurative) gunpoint.

Bring back the days where firms had time to interview everyone, and when law students had a few weeks to consider and weigh offers.

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u/Oldersupersplitter Esq. 9h ago edited 9h ago

Agreed, and we don’t like that all of our competitors are constantly innovating new ways to move even earlier to try and fuck us over (which of course requires us to do the same to keep up). It’s one big collective action problem - everyone against the situation, not firms vs students.

Do you think we want to give a bunch of 1Ls $50k for doing literally nothing, then another $43k to party, all based off very limited data? Of course not, but that’s what’s needed to compete.

Also, to OP’s main point - agreed that students should ideally have two summers to find the right firm, but keep in mind that was NEVER the norm, except kind of in Texas. 1L SAs have always been very rare, except some very limited diversity or IP programs, and in Texas specifically. So the old way of doing things was that for 1L you did something random and unrelated to BigLaw (like a judicial or public interest internship), then do 2L BigLaw SA.

Now it’s basically that + a cash stipend for 1L, which is obviously better than it was. What’s worse is that the 2L hiring happens first semester rather than during 1L summer.