Google is brass ring for lawyers

For months, the hype and hopes generated by Google Inc.'s impending public stock offering have captivated the world's attention. Closer to home, the Internet company has cast a spell on the legal profession, with local lawyers eyeing a cubicle in its Mountain View, Calif., offices the way law school students covet a clerkship at the Supreme Court.

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San Francisco�For months, the hype and hopes generated by Google Inc.’s impending public stock offering have captivated the world’s attention. Closer to home, the Internet company has cast a spell on the legal profession, with local lawyers eyeing a cubicle in its Mountain View, Calif., offices the way law school students covet a clerkship at the Supreme Court. The allure of working at the world’s most popular Internet search company, and the stock-option riches expected to come with it, have made Google’s legal department the hottest job for an attorney in Silicon Valley. But although the company is on a hiring spree, actively taking steps to expand its army of in-house lawyers, getting in at Google remains a challenge. Even attorneys with top-shelf credentials, and connections inside the company, report getting the cold shoulder. Recruiter hired With r�sum�s pouring into its offices, Google has hired its own in-house legal recruiter to oversee attorney hiring, a practice that other recruiters say is virtually unheard of. Anne Kerwin, the Menlo Park, Calif., recruiter who is working for Google, could not be reached for comment. Some recruiters in the region estimate that Kerwin is likely to be receiving hundreds of r�sum�s for each open position at the company. Tales of friends and colleagues applying for a job at Google have already become ingrained in Silicon Valley’s legal folklore. Typically, the stories do not have happy endings. One associate at a San Francisco Bay Area firm recounts making two separate attempts to get a job at Google. The first time, the associate mailed his r�sum� in response to an ad the company had posted and heard nothing back. Months later, after learning that an attorney he worked with at his previous firm was in-house at Google, he tried again. Once more, his efforts failed to yield so much as an interview. Another associate at a large Silicon Valley firm got the brushoff after advancing relatively deep into the interview process. “I went through a couple of rounds before getting dinged,” laments the associate, who graduated from a law school among the top five in U.S. News & World Report rankings. Demand obviously outstrips supply. But the company’s legal department is nevertheless expanding at a singular pace. A Google spokesperson declined to comment for the story, citing the Securities and Exchange Commission’s pre-initial public offering quiet period. Some estimate the legal department currently counts about 40 attorneys.

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