How to Break into the U.S. Biglaw Market as a Foreign Law Student – Part II
How to succeed in OCIs
Once you have a competitive GPA, have found yourself in the top third of your class, and have shown interest in private practice in Biglaw, you are encouraged to apply to OCIs immediately as OCIs are open for applications.
However, preparing for OCIs will be a challenging project by itself. You will have to prepare a spotless resume, visit your career advisor more than a few times to understand the process and practice your interview skills. During that practice, be ready to answer the generic open-ended questions, like “tell me about yourself” or “what makes you special over other candidates?” Because for some people, it will be easy to fluently explain their “achievements,” but for others, like me, coming from a Latin American country where bragging about oneself is considered rude, it will take some time of introspection and adaptability to articulate a good answer.
During law school, you will have two summers when you are expected to get work experience. And before you even start your 2L, you “should” already have your 2L summer job figured out. The second summer is particularly important because Biglaw firms will offer you an associate position after graduation if you performed well during their summer program. Although there are various means of getting into Biglaw, as a first-year student, the two largest avenues into Biglaw come from the Spring and Summer Recruitment Programs.
1. Spring Recruitment Programs, to summer as a 1L:
- 1L OCIs.
As soon as you get your grades and when December 1st arrives , your school should grant you access to its job search platform, where you will be able to see which law firms will conduct OCIs in your school for 1L summer positions.
Remember to have your resume and a writing sample ready (this could be your brief from the Legal Writing class from the Fall). Some students will brag about having their resumes, cover letters and writing samples ready, waiting on their draft email folder before December 1st. Nevertheless, remember that you will be preparing for finals and it is expected for you to just focus on that. It is during the winter break when you can start the application process, which will be open for some weeks.
Once the Law firms have selected their interviewees, they will visit the campus for a few days during the Spring. Each day, the firms will conduct as many interviews as possible. There can be more 20 a day, of 20 minutes each.
OCIs will happen somewhere quiet in your school, like in the library rooms or some small classrooms. Most likely, you will first go through a screeners’ interview with one of the attorneys of the firm, and if you get a call-back, then you will interview with 5 to 6 attorneys from different groups in the firm. This last part might include a lunch, which you will also have to treat as part of the interview. Research the firm in depth and each attorney’s profiles to find talking points.
If you get to be likable to most of the interviewers and have good credentials, they might offer you to join their summer class! 1Ls usually do not receive an offer to return after that summer, but you should embrace this opportunity, learn as much as you can and make significant connections with the attorneys at that firm.
- 1L Diversity programs to summer during your 1L summer.
The recruitment and retention of diverse candidates is an ongoing issue for Biglaw firms. That is why most of them will have a few spots reserved for diverse candidates applying for a 1L summer associate position.
Be ready to treat this opportunity seriously! They are usually open from February to March and you can apply through your school or directly to the law firm.
You will see people that you might not consider diverse but diversity in the U.S. has a great spectrum, which includes race, socioeconomic status, gender, disabilities, military service, you name it! No one will ever ask you, what makes you diverse? Nevertheless, if you come from another country to study law, just being a foreigner, no matter how privileged you may be in your home country, will make you a diverse candidate. So, apply!
2. Summer-Fall Recruitment Programs
If you were unlucky with the Spring OCI applications, there is still hope! Once you have figured out how you perform during finals and managed to improve your grades, you will be able to register for the Summer OCIs. Even though they are called OCIs, the interviews can take place in hotels, conference centers, etc., and some will have pre-registration dates starting as soon as March. However, most of OCI employers will be open for you to submit your application from June to July. The actual interview day will vary from city to city, because the regions try to avoid overlapping schedules, so applicants can fly around the country and interview everywhere they can. The interview schedule is open from July through August. This is an example of such a schedule:
The preparation process for this round of OCIs is more intense than the one in Spring because you might have to travel from one city to the other. During your 1L summer, you might find yourself preparing your resume, cover letters, or writing samples. So, try to find some time after work to get your documents ready for when the application process starts and book flights and hotels in advance. Sometimes people partner with someone, in order to share expenses, or stay at family or friend’s homes during the interview dates. Remember to take into consideration that you will travel at your own cost for the first set of interviews. However, if you make it to call-backs, the firms that select you for a second interview, will divide the costs and help you schedule your flights and hotels.
Some applicants are of the idea of applying to all firms in all the cities they have access, while others are more selective because they have preferences towards a specific state or region. Whatever it is, be diligent in this process, always be one hour earlier than the scheduled interview time, have your suit ready, dress conservatively and remain as positive and calm as you can. Also, be ready to have bad moments, not all interviewers are likeable, or you may not click well with some of them. What I am saying is, to be ready for uncomfortable moments and rejections. In the end, some lucky students will be in a position of choosing between firms and others will only have one offer to choose from.
While these are the traditional, scheduled ways to get into a Biglaw firm, I know of cases where experienced foreigner trained attorneys managed to network their way in. Others joined a small law firm first to obtain sponsorship and then, after specializing in a field, lateral to a Biglaw firm as senior associates.
If you are thinking about studying a JD or an LLM in the US, you should take into consideration these experiences and be mindful of the challenges this decision may bring. Despite the obstacles and bad days during law school, I honestly had one of the best experiences of my life and I would recommend it only to those aware of the reality. Once you made up your mind, commit and give it all!
Claudia Chafloque-Siu, is licensed to practice law in Mexico, holds a JD and LLM from Emory Law and currently works at a leading global law firm. Contact Claudia via LinkedIn.
Claudia Chafloque-Siu, is licensed to practice law in Mexico, holds a JD and LLM from Emory Law and currently works at a leading global law firm. Contact Claudia via LinkedIn.
*Note also that this is a republication of an old article published in 2020, please do your due diligence to ensure the up-to-date developments and changes related to anything discussed in this article.
