Each fall our firm selects its summer associate class from thousands of candidates. The process begins with screening resumes, continues with interviews on-campus and in the office, and culminates with offers to a handful of deserving law students. A committee comprised of attorneys, our recruitment coordinator, diversity manager and administrative support staff carries out this task.
We begin each recruiting season by selecting candidates to interview from the resumes we receive. A well-constructed resume that is concise and uncluttered provides critical information with respect to a candidate’s academic record. A student’s first-year grades and class rank are very important. They illustrate a student’s performance on a written law school examination, which of course, requires a student to spot issues and write clearly and persuasively within a narrow time frame. All grades, however, are not created equal. A “B” from a top-tiered law school may carry more weight than a “B” from a lower-tiered law school. And an “A” in a core first-year course is more meaningful than an “A” in a less-rigorous elective. Also, a student’s class rank allows us to compare a student’s performance against other classmates. Occasionally we receive resumes that fail to list or even reference a student’s grades. We generally dismiss those resumes without a second look.
