Dear 2L: “If You’ve Met Somebody You Like, Start Dancing With Them”

[WSJ_law_blog]

During the Law Blog’s summer associate interview process, we received rejection after rejection after . . . well, you get the picture. And then, finally, in November, after three humbling months of what seemed like non-stop palm-pressing, a couple of offers came through the clouds. We returned to the firm we liked, met a few more people, and accepted on the spot.

Some lucky ducks, on the other hand, were swimming in offers. A few even asked firms for extensions so they could see what happened with applications for non-firm jobs. But with this OCI season, not surprisingly, a new element of urgency seems to be coursing through the process. To wit, Above the Law recently posted a letter sent to Michigan law students from their career services center.

While acknowledging that “there have been very few actual reports of rescinded offers at this Law School or our peer institutions,” the letter urges students to accept, and accept now. “To put it more bluntly, this is not the time to shop your offers or wait to see if a better one comes along. In addition to being in your own best interest to accept quickly, it may also assist other students who may then receive an offer that you turn down.”

The letter jibes well with a conversation we had two weeks ago with Susan Guindi, the assistant dean for career services at Michigan law. She said the timing of OCI, which typically begins in August, and the timing of the financial crisis, which didn’t begin in earnest until mid-September, has complicated things considerably.

“When firms came out here to recruit,” Guindi told the Law Blog, “most of them predicted similar size summer programs as last year. No one was looking at really reducing by any big number. But then of course the bottom dropped several weeks after, so to some extent there’s a wait-and-see going on. We won’t see the full effects until later in the fall.” Guindi said call-back candidates are waiting longer for a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.

She continued: “I think most students are eager to accept, and I think that’s a good idea. There’s no reason to wait. If you’ve met somebody you like, start dancing with them.”

When we called Guindi back today to confirm the authenticity of the letter, we asked her for an update. “It feels like the anxiety level just keeps getting a bit higher,” she said. “On Wall Street, too, we think we’ve hit rock bottom and then it keeps going lower. I shouldn’t be laughing, I should be crying.”