Regular readers will perhaps not be surprised to hear that I won't be participating in OCI at all. Not now, not ever.

Last semester, a professor of mine was known for frequently taking a moment out of his lectures to rail against the inanity of big firm jobs and the law school culture that pushes people into them.

Later in the semester, same professor was seen at a reception for new law review members held by a big firm (let's just call them Sk-dd-n A-ps), nabbing some free snacks and advising his students who'd made it to maximize this networking opportunity.

This typifies the "bite hand then kiss ass" relationship law schools cultivate with the world of big firms. Outwardly. they want you to believe that the legal world is your oyster and that you should really devote 20 hrs a week this semester to the Oompa-Loompa Tribal Defense Clinic or whatever because hey man, this could be your career.

But the limits of rebellion are carefully circumscribed by the reality -- graduates need to get placed in jobs (because it's calculated in the US News ranking). The most jobs come from the biggest firms. Hence, when it's time for OCI, who's interviewing? Yep you guessed it. Not the Oompa-Loompas. Rather, the biggest, baddest, whitest law firms on the planet.

I don't have anything against these firms or the people who want to work for them. In fact, I look forward to serving their clients with massive complaints and giving them all more exciting work to do.

For myself, the measure of success in a job search is finding the one job that fits me perfectly, as opposed to flattering myself with 10 offers from 10 firms who happened to think my suit was really nice, and liked my answer to the question "What's your greatest flaw?": That I just can't let myself go home until I know I've done my very best.

15 Aug 05