With a view to offering a more bespoke and competitive approach, various Am Law 50 firms have started to interact directly with students even before the traditional on-campus interview process begins. The emerging practice promises certain benefits but it also brings its own challenges into the spotlight. In the conventional On-Campus Interview (OCI) procedure, all parties are provided with the same list of rules, as noted by a recruiting director from one of the law firms.
“If you step out of this process, how do you learn about these opportunities and understand the rules?” the director queried. Indeed, with the shift in recruiting methods, the law firms, educational institutions, and students are required to navigate unchartered territories and often simultaneously manage this alongside the conventional methods.
This new trend in law school recruiting — referred to as an ‘exploding offer’ or ‘early campus recruiting’ in some circles — has faced a mixed reception across the board. Some see it as a strategically advantageous and progressive step while others believe it disadvantages certain individuals, thereby questioning its fairness.
To understand this paradigm shift in campus recruitment, a deeper examination can be found in two-part series published by the American Lawyer. The first part discusses how law firms are considering alternatives to the traditional OCI. The follow-up article of the series, “With ‘Exploding Offers’ and ‘Elite’ Advantages, Early Campus Recruiting Gets Mixed Reception” explores this contentious subject in greater detail.