By Oci, It’s Going to Be Too Late

Dear 1L, Please don’t ignore these statistics!

▪️ Last year, large law firms made 47% of summer-associate offers BEFORE any formal OCI—up from 23% in 2022.

            —That is according to Reuters, in a recent article about new data from the National Association for Law Placement, Inc. (NALP), which tracks more than 180 law firms, the “vast majority of which” have 500+ attorneys. (Link to article in a comment.)

🔻

These comments from a BigLaw recruiting partner confirm the troubling stats:

▪️ “Data-wise, in the limited field I know, we’re hiring people from OCI I’d bet like 80% less frequently than we used to.”

▪️ “By OCI, it’s is too late . . . the folks who have authentic connections with our firm, people, and interests tend to sneak in earlier.”

🔻

Do I think any of this is a good thing?  No.

—The stress it puts you under is unreasonable.
—The notice about these changes is coming after-the-fact.
—Most of you have not even found jobs for 1L summer yet.
—You are in the thick of a critical semester in law school where you have more difficult stuff to do than you’ve had to face ever before.

👉  I think it’s all a travesty.

But it’s also the reality. So we need to adapt and maximize your chances of success.

⬇️

My message is this:

1:  NETWORK!!!
2:  DO NOT WAIT FOR OCI!!

I will have more to say on networking coming up. 

Please let me know any questions or observations, by comment or DM, and I will continue to monitor things and pass along what I see to try to help.

Fondly,

💌 Amanda

#Dear1L