Description
Show Them You Deserve that Offer by the Merits of Your Work
[00:00:00] I'm a summer associate from a T10 law school at a small law firm.
Okay.
I liked the partners there. Seems to be lots of work. My question is, is it inappropriate or rude to walk into a partner's office to discuss something. And what types of things should I say to convince them to make me an offer and that I'm not angling for something else? Is it wrong for me to want to transition to a larger firm?
You shouldn't walk into a partner's office to discuss something. Typically, because they don't want to necessarily be interrupted. So you want to try to schedule. Because, as a summer associate, what you want to do is to make an appointment where you try to get an answer from a senior associate first or a mid-level associate. Understanding the work a little bit better can tell you exactly what the partner is looking for.
You don't have to waste the partner's time because you don't know what you're doing.
You just don't want to come across as too green. So when you do give the work, you want to do the best you can.
And try to do everything that they're asking you to do.
I remember making crazy mistakes when I was a summer associate. Yeah, you shouldn't just walk into a partner's office. Maybe depending on the firm, it may not be a big deal, but generally, you want to make appointments with them.
Then [00:01:00] you don't want to convince them to make you an offer. The way to convince them to make you an offer is to be the first person in and the last person out each day.
I recommend working as hard as you possibly can, doing everything you can to turn in work.
That's, well-proven.
Use grammar checking software.
Think through things.
Read up.
Do the best work.
That's what I would recommend.
And then there's nothing wrong with wanting to transition to a larger law firm, but your objective needs to be to get an offer. And there's nothing wrong with working in a small law firm.
Trust me. It's starting a small law firm is not. It's your work, there's a summer associate in Oregon. Get it. If you don't get an offer in your third year, that's fine too. Because it still looks great but I, there's nothing wrong with a transition to a larger firm. But you have to have reasons.
So the reasons you transitioned to a larger firm are that you get to work on more sophisticated clients, you get to work on larger deals that you feel will work, and so forth. But I put lots of work if there's lots of work where you're at. That's really the big thing.
The biggest thing about any firm is going someplace [00:02:00] where there's a lot of work. And so that's what I would be most concerned about. And if there are lots of work, that means that there are lots of opportunities. So you may be very blessed to be where you're at. And the question would be, is there always a lot of work there, and I don't know who's caught the work and to whom are they coming from and get close to that person. Whoever, wherever most of this work is coming from is going to be probably the person that decides whether or not they're going to bring you on.
But if they're bringing you on as a summer associate, then that means they probably do want to make someone an offer to work there after graduation. I would commit and act like it's the most important thing in the world to you. Don't get a job there and you don't have to tell them. Show them that by your actions. If you're working remotely then turn in a lot more hours than you should.
So they bat their eyes and they're like, wow, this person's working 12 hours a day. That's awesome. And that's the way to get ahead as a summer associate, they're looking at your dedication and your commitment. And they're going to compare you to other people.
A quick story about when I was a summer associate, I think I told you this might be a couple of weeks ago. I was a summer associate in the firm and my first review is horrible I was like, what the hell is [00:03:00] going on here? The first review of all the other associates was horrible too. And all the other summer associates except for one. And it was a girl that also moved to my law school and she had this kind of mentor in the firm and this girl she knew, and this girl told her to bill crazy amounts of hours and that's all you need to do.
All I was doing was just billing, eight hours a day and, going home. Over the next four or five weeks, I built 50 60 hours a week. And at the end of summer, I got glowing reviews. The quality of my work hadn't changed. It's just that I worked harder and that's really what they're looking for.
And this girl and I were the only ones that the firm ended up giving offers to out of a class of like 15 people. Having the most hours and showing your dedication is really what they're looking for. Counting hours and working the minimum is something that they don't want to see.
And that's something that you need to stamp out of your vocabulary and thought process. That will get you an offer. You'll learn a lot having access to the work, it's just like practice. If you're working 12 hours a day, it's like you're practicing more and you'll become that much better.
You'll [00:04:00] talk with more intelligence about the work you're doing when you're interviewing with a larger firm. So I'm just working as hard as they could.
I hope that helps.
