Virginia Law Weekly
Friday, September 21, 2001
MARKET
continued from page 1
business that they attribute to
their litigation, securities, and
bankruptcy practices.
Although it is hard to predict
how firms will cut back in numbers of callbacks and offers, Assistant Dean for Career Services
Steve Hopson said the number of
schedules available this year is
about the same as last year despite the fact that “there are all
sorts of indications that firms are
cutting back on their spending.
We’re worried that this year there
will be more 3Ls who didn’t get
offers over the summer, and that
in turn, the 3L market will be
tighter.”
Thus far, the number of thirdyears that have reported to Dean
Hopson that they didn’t receive
offers from their summer employment is similar to past years, but
not everyone has heard from their
firms yet. Also, not every thirdyear has contacted the Career Services Office, something Hopson
encourages students to do if they
are still in the market for a job.
One third-year was certain the
economy played a role in her firm’s
offer rate, noting that nearly 50%
of her summer associate class did
not receive offers. Another
reinterviewing third-year recommends examining the firm’s hir-
ing record in NALP — “if that
office does not have a high degree
of retention, be vigilant.”
Hopson also worries that the
market for second-year summer
associates will be smaller. Although almost the same number
of firms are scheduled to conduct
On-Grounds Interviewing (OGI)
this year as last year, firms may
not grant as many or any callbacks. According to Hopson, the
key indicator of the condition of
the market “will be how many callbacks people get, but we won’t
know that until they happen.”
“I’m feeling there are enough
interviews to go around,” he said.
“Our flexibility with giving extra
interviews to people may be limited, because we want to make
sure there are enough interviews
there to filter down to people in
the lower grade categories.”
Among the many measures students can take to improve their
employment chances, Hopson encourages students to consider looking into litigation because a firm’s
need for litigators is generally
more consistent than the need for
corporate work. He also advises
students to cast their nets as
widely as they can by applying to
firms in less competitive markets.
He said the Career Services Office
has already had some firms in less
popular geographic locations cancel because not enough students
signed up.
Hopson also recommends that
students talk to the Public Service
Center about jobs with government agencies that are on fall hiring schedules similar to big firms.
Judicial clerkships for third-years
are also posted on CASE, he said,
and are often less competitive than
the Federal Circuit and District
Court clerkships for which students apply during the fall of their
second year.
According to the New York Law
Journal, hiring partners advise
recruits to get out of the sellers’
market mentality. Recruits should
do what they can to improve their
credentials and, when hired, put
out a solid job performance during
their summer associateship.
Hopson also hopes that Virginia
students will benefit from the
school’s top-ten ranking.
“I’d like to think and what I
believe is that we’re in better shape
than lots of schools in this market,” he said. “I’ve heard that firms
are cutting their programs, but
you’ve got to think those marginal
cuts have not affected top-ten
schools as much as other schools.”
Layoffs Timeline
July:
“
Northern California firm
Gunderson Dettmer cancels its
guaranteed bonuses for associates.
Aug. 23:
Northern California firm
Cooley Godward lays off 86 associates including 12 associates
in their Northern Virginia office.
Sept. 5:
New York’s Brown Raysman
Millstein Felder & Steiner lays
off five associates in its information technology department.
Sept. 6:
Silicon Valley firm Fenwick
& West lays off 32 associates.
Florida firm Broad & Cassell
lays off six associates and more
than a dozen support staff, almost all affiliated with the corporate transactional practice
group.
Interviews Rescheduled, Callbacks in Question
“Students Will Need to be Patient,” Hopson says
by Jonathan Riehl ’02
In the days following the attacks on the World Trade Center
and Pentagon, Virginia Law students received numerous e-mails
informing them of changes in the
on-Grounds employer interview
schedule.
As reported by the Law Weekly,
numerous firms—including some
with reputations as U.Va. “feeder
firms”—were directly affected by
the attack. Firms across the nation, however, are contending with
the consequences of a seriously
altered air travel situation. Ac-
Interview season is upon us.
Interview season is much like deerhuntin’ season, except that we
don’t shoot and eat deer during
interview season. So I guess interview season is really nothing like
deer-huntin’ season. It’s much
more like turkey-huntin’ season.
Chad Romey, a
third-year law
student, is a Law
Weekly columnist.
But anyway, interviewing can
be fun. It can also be very painful
if you don’t know what you’re doing. That’s where I come in. I’ve
prepared a few helpful hints, which
can be easily remembered by the
use of the acronym PSPVC.
Be Prepared. Interviewers
love it when you know important
facts about their firm, so you
should constantly be saying things
like, “I see you have 93 lawyers in
your Chicago office. Nicely done,”
or “You’re wearing a blue suit.
Sweet.” If they happen to mention
something about the firm that you
were unaware of, be sure to follow
their comment with, “Yeah, I knew
that,” or “I was just about to say
that. High five!”
If you spout out one of your
little facts and the interviewer disagrees, look him straight in the
eye, wink, and then say, “Are you
suuuure?” This will throw him off
and will give you time to crawl
under the desk looking for quarters.
Be Superior. Bring your cell
phone and have people call you
cording to Assistant Dean Steve ever had on one day.”
“I would expect that most emHopson, interviewers from Akin
Gump’s Dallas office and Allen & ployers will be coming from now
Overy’s Hong Kong office were on,” Hopson said, “with, of course,
unable to make the trip last Mon- the exception of those firms in
New York directly affected by the
day because of flight problems.
Dean Hopson said that as of bombing. We’ll just have to see
midweek, “Twenty-one employers how the flight situation goes.
Obtaining suitable flight schedhad cancelled on account of the
bombing (through the first four ules may prove difficult for studays of interviewing), with all but dents scheduling callback interone or two of them asking to be views this fall. “The best advice is
rescheduled at a later date this to go on callbacks as soon as you
fall … I have arranged 26 sched- can to give yourself the best chance
ules for Monday, [Sept. 24,] which of getting an offer,” Dean Hopson
is one of the highest numbers we’ve added. “However, callback offers
will doubtless be later in coming
this year from some firms, especially those directly affected….
Students need to be patient with
the process, even more so this
year than in previous ones.”
Hopson stated that there may
be an extension of the Dec. 1
deadline for responding to firms
set by the National Association
of Law Placement, although he
cautioned that such plans are
only in a “preliminary discussion” stage at this time.
Interview This
“Are you suuuure, Bob?”
about every three minutes. This
“Now listen up, you little piece
will let the interviewer know
where he stands on your list of of….”
“Ring, Ring. Excuse me, Bob,
priorities and will make you seem
like a very important person, es- I’m gonna have to take this call.”
Interviewee 1, Bob 0.
pecially when you say things on
Be Professional. Dress approthe phone like, “E.R., stat,” “square
root of pi,” and “I’m glad you called. priately. Men, wear your best tie.
I was getting really bored in here.” If you have two really nice ties,
If you don’t have a cell phone, wear both of them. In fact, the
simply bring your cordless from more ties the better. Also, don’t
home. Unless you live in the Law wear that pesky t-shirt under your
School, the phone will probably be button-down. You want the interout of range to actually take calls viewer to see what a hard worker
so you’ll have to make the ringing you are, and what better way to
sound yourself. Practice this be- demonstrate than with pit-stains.
fore you get into the interview To maximize your pit-sweat inroom. Believe me. Also, if you have dex, jog to the interview.
Women, I
a fax mahaven’t
chine, bring
worn a dress
it.
in
what
Another
seems like
way to put
weeks, so I
the intermight not be
viewer in his
the
best
place is to
source for
constantly
advice.
I
get his name
will, howwrong. You
ever, leave
have more
you
with
important
these two
things to rewords: leopmember.
ard prints.
“I noticed
Lots and lots
that your
of leopard
firm has a
prints.
litigation deBe Vopartment,
photo by Edie Ringel
Bob. That’s
So I said, “I’m gonna be SBA President someday...” cabularyistic. Just
awesome.”
“Yes, we do, and my name isn’t like your professors and classmates, interviewers are easily imBob. It’s Melissa.”
“That’s a silly name for a man, pressed by big words. There are
several ways in which to let the
Bob.”
interviewer know the extent of
“I’m a woman.”
your vocabulary, but my personal
favorite is, “I know 600 words.”
You should also try working in
words such as “fantabulous” and
“Bob.”
Be Creative. Some interviewers talk to as many as 30 students
per day, and unless you’re on Law
Review or blonde they’re probably
not going to remember you. So you
have a couple of options, one of
which involves using a fake résumé
and the other of which involves a
bottle of industrial-strength
bleach. Both of these options are
obviously very, very good, but
they’re not for everyone. So how
else can you leave a lasting impression on the interviewer?
Easy—give answers that he’ll remember. Use lots of sports-related
metaphors, mainly gymnastics;
tell stories about your childhood,
focusing on the last time you wet
the bed; speak using sign language;
burp the entire alphabet; magically pull quarters from his ear; do
the ol’ “I got your nose” trick.
There is one other way to make
your answers very interesting. I’m
obviously talking about interpretive dance. You can either bring
your own music, or ask the interviewer to hum for you. Interpretive dance answers should include
as many somersaults as possible,
and should always end with your
arms raised, screaming, “Ta
Daaah!”
That about does it for my advice. Follow these and I can almost guarantee that you’ll get a
job. (“Almost” as in “That girl I
asked out last week ‘almost’ said
yes.”)
Features
Faculty Quotes of
the Week
And the winner is...
F. Stewart: “Jesus Christ,
are you guys graduate students
or second graders!?!”
Runners-up...
K. Abraham: “I’m sure this
was written by one of my colleagues, because for years, Justice Powell would only employ
my now-colleagues as law
clerks. But they didn’t take my
Insurance Law class.”
K. Abraham: “Come talk to
me about torts. I spend my life
on this. I go to Topeka for it!
Come talk to me before you have
the Sword of Damocles hanging
over you in December. I love
talking about torts.”
K. Abraham: “What the bold
print giveth, the fine print
taketh away”
J. Harrison: “You know
[Representative] Jerry Nadler.
He’s the one that looks like
Jabba the Hut.”
J. Harrison: “The chapter is
called, ‘When Elections Go Bad.’
One thinks of the election as
mayonnaise.”
J. Harrison: “So Katherine
Harris says, ‘Get your votes to
me immediately, or, or, I’ll strike
you with my broomstick.’”
J. Harrison: “What are you
going to say? HA! You fucked
up, you trusted us!”
J. Harrison [discussing
Bush v. Gore]: “Who knew
there was a Title III? Title III,
the unknown Title. Actually, I
dealt with Title III before. I felt
like we were old friends. It’s
like when someone you know
becomes famous, and you feel
kind of famous yourself? That’s
how I felt about Title III.”
J. Harrison: “Pregnant chad
is one that looks to be at six
months... ready to bring a new
chad into the world.”
J. Harrison: “I’m going to be
coughing today in a transparent bid for sympathy. Serious
congestion—it’s possible that
my head will explode from all
the pressure. If it does, talk
amongst yourselves.”
J. Jeffries: “Maybe you are
like Justice Breyer who feels
like he is driving around in a
trailer park at night and can’t
get out. Or maybe you have
never had that experience.”
F. Stewart: “You have to
come to work even if you feel
like hell. God knows I know,
God knows you will.”
F. Stewart: “Nobody likes to
see old people get fucked over…
so don’t drop your pants already.”
R. Verkerke: “I don’t know
if I sound husky, but I feel
husky.”
PLEASE send faculty quotes
to va-law-weekly@virginia.edu.
For the love of God and John
Harrison, throw us a frickin’
bone.
5