The choice of where to work is one of the most important decisions one can make.
For many law students, that choice is reduced to the frantic pressure-cooker of OCI’s.
From initial applications to interviews, in-firms and offers, the entire process can be tremendously stressful, exhausting and deindividualizing. One student described in-firms as “entering a machine on Monday and being spit out the other side on Wednesday.”
This begs the question: how many of the career decisions that second year law students make during these hectic few weeks are free and informed choices, and how many exist within a web of powerful external pressures- financial, peer-group, the firms themselves?
One of the biggest pressures law school students face in making a career decision is financial. Skyrocketing tuition over the last decade (see Charlie Hatt’s article in last month’s issue) has placed many law students tens of thousands of dollars in debt; a dependence largely conditional on securing lucrative employment following graduation. Many who enter law school wishing to pursue social justice or public service work end up with the perception halfway through first year that they have little choice but to work at a high-paying Bay Street firm.
Many 2L’s I spoke to described this financial pressure as a looming fact that pervaded the entire OCI process. One student said he felt that many students who are unsure of what kind of law they want to practice are easily sucked into applying for jobs at big firms because of the lure of paying off their debt in a few years. This was the case for one 2L, who reluctantly applied to a number of large firms out of financial pressure and uncertainty as to what kind of law she wanted to practice. She gradually discovered during the in-firm process that she didn’t want to work at any of these firms, and felt like she “dodged a bullet” when she didn’t receive an offer. Another student who reluctantly entered the process and ended up accepting an offer at a mid-sized firm, reflected on the allure and security of acquiring a job, stating that it’s “very difficult to say no to these sorts of jobs [on Bay Street] if given an offer.”
Another large pressure that was brought up by almost everyone I spoke to was the role of their peer-group and the general ‘law school culture’. From this perspective, Bay Street jobs are for the most competitive, intelligent and outgoing individuals, and securing a job at a top firm is an implied recognition that one has these qualities. One student said that “the most conspicuous, academically successful students go to the high profile Bay St firms,” and that it creates an implicit pressure to strive to do the same. Another 2L, who didn’t receive a job through the process, regretted his decision to exclusively apply to large full-service firms, claiming that he was influenced primarily by his peers and the idea that an 80 hour work week in one of these firms was a “merit badge” that earned respect. Many 2L’s saw the process as within a law school timeline of tacit competition over grades and extra-curriculars, with one student saying that securing a job at OCI’s is merely another “bar of achievement.”
Finally, a number of students described the firms themselves- and especially the process of in-firming- as a source of significant pressure. One student described how she was persuaded by a partner at one firm to cancel a 9:00AM meeting with a firm on the next day on the condition that they would definitely give her an offer. She cancelled; they didn’t give her an offer. This sort of behaviour is likely not atypical. Another student, who accepted an offer at a mid-sized commercial firm, spoke with surprise and disappointment at “all the lying and deceit that goes on behind closed doors.”
Despite being surrounded by peers, one student said that he felt completely alone and “deprived of all the frames of reference [he] usually had.” “It was hard to remain discerning when all the firms are essentially the same and say the same things,” he said. In reflection many stated that they felt like they had little control over the process, and felt distraught and disoriented once it had ended.
For the many law students who reservedly enter OCI’s, only to find themselves churned out the other side a future Bay Street lawyer, the process is one of continuous financial, social and firm pressure bearing down upon their employment decisions. As one 2L summed up: “If you come into the process not wanting to be a straight up [Bay Street] lawyer, chances are you will.”
