7 Aug, 2007
More on OCI/Law Firm Recruiting
For a more in depth view, law.com has an article on the way law firms recruit law students. It also gives a good idea of the on campus interview process. See more below.
Any way you look at it, law firm recruitment and on campus interviewing (OCI) is a pretty superficial process. Not that interviewing for jobs isn't superficial in other realms of the working world, but it seems even more so for OCI and big law.
Firms hire students at a very high salary based on an apparently flimsy interview process. They know that the turnover is going to be high, possibly in part because the interview process is lacking in some areas. But, generally, firms aren't too concerned about that turnover ("law firms report that in nearly half the associate departures . . . the firms were either neutral about the departures or happy to have the associates leave. This statistic comes from the latest survey by the National Association for Law Placement." link).
Not bashing the process too much here, and there are some firms taking steps to counter this as the article shows, but it's just another way that those of you who have worked in the real world will find that the legal world is surprisingly unlike the rest of the working world. Because most big companies would be a little more worried about the high cost of turnover. And most want a hiring process that makes sure that the candidate is a right fit.
I highly recommend reading that article for those of you interested in law firm jobs. Again, here's the link.
Also, there's an interesting post on this very subject at Adam Smith, Esq.