Interviewing

While Jen has kept the updates coming with respect to my activities over the last few weeks of interviews here, there, and everywhere, I thought it might be good to provide my perspective on why this is all happening for those of you not initiated to this whole law school/law firm recruiting process.

The very short version is that while the interviews I’m going through now are for a summer clerkship position in the summer after my second year of law school (that would be this coming summer, May-August 2009, for those of you counting), the normal outcome (defined by 90%+ of the time) is that you will receive an offer of permanent employment at the end of that summer clerkship. That is, I’m in many ways interviewing now for what will be my first job out of law school. Thus the importance of the process, as its not really just about finding work for three months but finding the right platform or vehicle (using the trendy terms I’m heard uttered by more than a few law firm partners) upon which I will start my legal career.

As you can imagine, a number of things that factor into the decision such as the city, the types of work each firm does, types of clients generally served, the gut feel about the culture and people you meet to mention a few. The hours worked in large law firms are not trivial so its important to find a place that you want to be, doing work you want to do, with people you enjoy being around during those long days.

So far so good with respect to the options I’ve been fortunate enough to receive. Decision time will soon be upon us…