2Ls:  A BigLaw Recruiting Manager provides her take on the guidelines governing the acceptance of summer offers here. 

Interesting article in the National Law Journal discussing how associate hiring is linked to predictions about the future direction of the economy. 

One large firm’s chairperson reported that they are shooting for the same summer associate hiring target as last year.  The NY office of another has decided to forego on campus recruiting entirely this year.  Both admit to the difficulty in trying to predict their need for associates two years out.  It’s definitely worth a read.       

The head of Citibank’s Law Firm Group, which has analyzed trends in the legal industry over the last eight years, has written an excellent, but sobering article about current market dynamics across the industry (large, mid-size and small private firms).

Among other things, he concludes that law firms, which have gotten used to seeing +10% revenue growth over the past eight years, will likely experience no growth in profits this year or even a dip of as much as 10%. (This is a downward revision from Citibank’s projections of just six months ago). At the same time, expenses (nearly a quarter of which consist of associate compensation) have and are likely to remain high. Read the whole thing here.

Occasionally, we’re asked about appropriate OCIP interview attire.  We think our colleagues at the Yale Law School offer some good advice, which we’ve excerpted below.  Keep in mind that dressing appropriately is art, not science.  You should look at these simply as guidelines, not hard-and-fast rules.    

Your attire should contribute to your professionalism.  Although employers may have different dress codes, err on the conservative side when interviewing.

Women

• Skirt suits are still considered the most conservative, although women wear pants suits as well.
• Black, navy and gray are the most conservative colors, but tans and other subtle shades are also acceptable.  Solids are preferable to patterns.
• The skirt should be no more than two inches above the knee.
• Wear a white or cream blouse (sometimes called a “shell”) with either short or long sleeves. Tank tops and camisoles are too casual. The blouse should either have a collar or a round neck. Avoid low-cut shirts.
• Wear a white or cream blouse (sometimes called a “shell”) with either short or long sleeves. Tank tops and camisoles are too casual. The blouse should either have a collar or a round neck. Avoid low-cut shirts.

Read the rest of this entry »

Working Mother, in conjunction with Flex-Time, a national consulting firm, has published its annual list of the 50 best law firms for women.  

It does not rank the 50, it just lists them alphabetically.

As with any survey or rankings list, it’s important to look at the methodology.  As we understand it, firms with 50 or more lawyers were invited to submit application materials, which were then graded, taking into account information about firms’ workforce profile, family-friendly benefits and policies, flexibility, leadership, compensation, advancement and retention of women.  According to a story about the list in the Recorder, 115 firms applied. 

The trend in the large law firm market toward consolidation (growth and expanded coverage through acquisition of small and medium sized firms) has continued over the past year (during which there were 55 U.S. law firm mergers). Recently, the Recorder, the local newspaper of the legal profession, profiled a few firms based here in the Bay Area that have bucked that trend (there are others not mentioned in the article). Who’s right? Are they right/wrong for you? Who knows? I found a reprint of the article on the web here. It raises some interesting issues that I thought would be timely as OCIP approaches.

I recently came across this blog that purports to be written by the hiring partner of “an office of an AMLAW 200 firm.” Whoever writes it has some worthwhile advice [though it’s a little “preachy”], so I added it to our blogroll.

Among his or her recent posts are:
On Campus interviewing: Don’t Screw It Up and
The Tide is Turning: the New Legal Market

Prof. Jeff Lipshaw from Suffolk law school offers some advice about choosing between transactional and litigation work over at the Legal Profession Blog.

Two employment lawyers writing in the NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) Journal talk about the increasing number of employers who use online social networks (like Facebook) to perform background checks on their potential employees. The article is entitled: “MySpace or Yours? How Can a Web Site Cost Someone a Job?” and you can read it here. Among other things, they conclude that, unlike screening information they obtain from outside companies, the information gleaned from these sites need not be disclosed to the prospective employee under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

An experienced recruiter recently posted a commentary on the American Legal Media’s law.com website. She thinks splitting can hurt your job prospects at both firms and concludes that “in this economy [firms] don’t have to accept splits and the problems that come with them.”  See more of her reasoning and read the whole piece here.