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February 23rd, 2006

i have a confession

I have stopped bothering to attend law firm receptions. I have a hard time understanding the purpose of them. Sure, I can schmooze with people and enjoy the free food and drink but, barring the unexpected, such events aren’t really fruitful for either me or the firm. If I meet nice people and chat with them for a while, I can collect a business card, sure, but in six months, when I’m doing OCI, is that person going to remember me? Am I going to remember, short of the business card, what firm that person worked at?

Firms put on these events to play themselves up for us. That’s great. But in the end, of course, most of the firms end up looking the same: they have similar offices in the same four-block radius, they have the same kinds of clients and the same kinds of cases. The associates all went to the same law schools. They’re all eager to talk up their firm. They never tell you that the hours are awful or that they never see their spouse.

So I’ve stopped bothering to go to them. I suppose this could be at least partially because I am totally anti-schmoozing. But I think more of it is because I have so little time that spending it at fluffy social events doesn’t really appeal.

posted by k at 10:54 am | 1L |

comments

I rarely go to them either. I feel a strong pull to go home at the end of the day, and it seems like the receptions are all the same. Maybe I would if I lived closer to campus.

posted by CM, February 23rd, 2006 at 11:19 am

I never went to any of them, except the one put on by my 1L firm after they gave me an offer.

I think they’re an utter waste of time.

posted by transmogriflaw, February 23rd, 2006 at 11:54 am

I never started. How bad is that? But a friend of mine got an offer — the next morning — from going to a reception. This, mind you, was a big-time BIGLAW firm, and she’s a 1L.

Go figure.

posted by Citations, February 23rd, 2006 at 12:46 pm

If you’re anything like I was (err, not in the top 10% of your class;), then in my opinion all the smoozing, networking and ass kissing in the world isn’t going to do a damn bit of good. Sure, you’ll get some face time with some potential employers. And, yes, they may give you the requisite “courtesy interview,” but if it ain’t going to translate into a paying job, that courtesy interview is just more time down the drain.

So, go home after class, go to a bar, go out to eat, go to the movies, but don’t screw around with an inordinate amount of networking.

posted by Tom Young, February 23rd, 2006 at 12:48 pm

Tom, I’m not sure how the class percentile thing would even make a difference at these receptions. It’s not like I’m showing up with a copy of my transcript; even if they have a resume drop, it’s not like the person I’m chatting with is checking out my resume while talking to me (all the better to evaluate my fitness).

That’s essentially the problem. I find them useless as a networking tool because there’s really no appropriate means of follow-up. They’re just excuses to ply law students with food and drink and convince them that their firm is the best firm of them all.

posted by kristine, February 23rd, 2006 at 5:29 pm

I just remember going to these things (wasn’t that long ago - late 1990’s) thinking that somehow I could wow the powers-that-be and charm them into giving me a job, even considering my less than stellar academic record. Didn’t work so well for me.

To my mind, at least when it comes to the big time firms, all they focus on is GPA and some of the more elitist extra curricular groups (law review, moot court, trial team). Oh well, as they say, the A students end up working for the C students, but I’m still waiting for that to pan out for me;)

posted by Tom Young, February 23rd, 2006 at 8:14 pm