The Insider's Guide to Getting a Big Firm Job: What Every Law Student Should Know About Interviewing [Paperback]

Erika Finn (Author), Jessica Olmon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2009

The primary goal of most law students is to get a job upon graduation. While law school teaches many things, how to get a law job is not one of them. Thousands of law students thus graduate each year without a job, without any prospects, and without the faintest idea how to land their first job with a law firm. In law school, however, the competition for top jobs is intense - and the special needs of law firm recruiters are unknown to law students. This book is an insider's look at the secrets of landing a dream law firm job.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

There are currently no books specifically addressing how to land a big firm job out of law school. Most books for law students speak to how to get into law school, and how to succeed in law school, but none address how to get a lucrative job once law school is completed. This book addresses these vital areas: the secrets to obtaining a well-paying position as an attorney following graduation.

From the Back Cover

There are many interviewing guides out there, and frankly most of them are useless...at least for law students. Law firm interviewers will not ask you to describe a situation where you overcame a challenge. They will not ask you to pick an animal you would like to be, and they will not ask you to solve some artificial hypothetical. Maybe that kind of interviewing goes on elsewhere, but only rarely at law firms, so books that give elaborate explanations on how to answer this type of question are simply not speaking to law students interviewing at big firms.

Because big law firms generally do not ask prepackaged questions, practicing prepackaged answers will do you no good. Instead you need to understand. And that is where the Insider's Guide will help you. Instead of providing prepackaged answers, this book will help you develop your own answers (which you should practice, of course) that will be far superior to anything handed to you, because these answers will be yours. And more importantly, you will be able to apply them in the fluid environment that is the law firm interview.

--Morten Lund, partner at Foley & Lardner and author of Jagged Rocks of Wisdom: Professional Advice for the New Attorney

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Fine Print Press (January 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888960140
• ISBN-13: 978-1888960143
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #747,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No, They Aren't Kidding, March 29, 2011

By 

Grumpy Lawyer (San Diego) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Insider's Guide to Getting a Big Firm Job: What Every Law Student Should Know About Interviewing (Paperback)

I am a partner with a large law firm, and I have been interviewing prospective associates for years.

Let me be clear: This is an excellent book. When reading it, I groan inside at the recollection of interviewees over the years, many of whom would have benefited tremendously from this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who is even remotely considering a BigLaw job. And, frankly, most people interviewing for just about any job would stand to benefit. The specifics will vary, of course, but the underlying principles will apply to almost any job seeker.

These days, that is nothing to scoff at.

Keep in mind, then, that this book was written during the "good times," when BigLaw jobs were easy to get (relatively speaking). That means that the advice in the book is drastically more important now than it was just a few years ago - and it was pretty darn essential even then. So when reading, remember that the steps recommended by the authors were what they thought appropriate when firms were aggressively hiring. In the current down market, I would suggest taking all the recommendations and ratcheting them up a notch or two.

Take this book, and the authors' advice, very seriously.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars About.com Law School Guide: Must-read for interviewing law students, March 15, 2011

By 

Michelle Fabio, Bleeding Espresso (Calabria, Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Insider's Guide to Getting a Big Firm Job: What Every Law Student Should Know About Interviewing (Paperback)

Finn and Olmon cover every aspect of interviewing you can imagine, but before you get to that, there's an excellent chapter about whether big law firm life is for you. The book then goes through the entire interview process, including what the firm expects in interviewees, your job search, on-campus interviewing (OCI), beyond OCI, networking, re-applying as a 3L, how to decide which offer to accept, and much more. There are even style tips for both your personal appearance and your resume and cover letter (including samples).

Chapter titles include the following:

* How Are You Evaluated?

* Research Outside of OCI

* Bidding for Interviews

* How to Get that Call-Back

* What to Avoid at the On-Campus Interview

* Etiquette for the Meal

* Recruiting Events

* Handling Inappropriate Questions

* Choosing Among Offers

Finn and Olmon's book gives an excellent overview of the law firm interviewing process, which can be invaluable information particularly for law students who don't have a parent, relative, or close friend who is an attorney, but also for those would could simply use more tips and pointers.

I give this book five stars and highly recommend it to anyone embarking on the search for a big law firm job. Even if you understand the basic workings of the OCI system, The Insider's Guide to Getting a Big Firm Job offers a valuable peek into the minds of recruiters and interviewers and tells you exactly what you need to do to make yourself stand out and snag that job.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable tips and advice, January 7, 2010

By 

Derrick Hibbard (Key Biscayne, Fl) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Insider's Guide to Getting a Big Firm Job: What Every Law Student Should Know About Interviewing (Paperback)

I picked up this book right in the middle of my search for a summer

internship during my second year of law school. Because I'd already

found firms and landed a few interviews, I focused mostly on the

sections about interviewing. I found the book to be very valuable

with tips and insights on how to approach the whole interview process.

I really think most law students don't reach their full potential

because they don't prepare for their interviews. This book will help.

It helped me--I landed a very good job using the advice from the

book. I also loved the section that contained sample cover letters

and resumes--you think those are easy to write but they're not, and

this book has some great tips and samples to help in that process.

I would have liked to have seen more about networking and alternative

methods for getting jobs. Much of the book is focused on on-campus

interviews, and those are hard to come by for most law students. I

also didn't care for the chapter about applying for jobs as a 3L: I

know that you can get a good job this way, but I felt a sense of

hopelessness in this chapter, that if I didn't get a job as a 2L it

was pretty much over. Other than that, the book was great. I've read

a lot of law school prep books and books on interviewing at law firms

and this is one of the best.