How COVID Changed Law Students' On Campus Interview Experiences with Law360's Kerry Benn

Summer Associates and the upcoming Fall Associates had a unique experience with their On-Campus Interviews (or OCI) over the past two years. Some of the recruits still have not actually met face to face, the members of their firm who hired them. We talk with Kerry Benn, Director of Series, Surveys & Data at Law360 about Law360 Pulse’s recent survey on this topic and see how the firms, the students, and the schools adjusted during the pandemic. The survey of over 1,200 law students breaks down the popular firms and practice areas, how COVID impacted the process, and how things look as students make their way into the firms this Summer.

Information Inspirations

Our previous guests Cat Moon and Alyson Carrel are teaming up with Dennis Kennedy later this month for a TRB (Thorn, Rose, Bud) Retrospective. They are asking for law students, legal educators, law school administrators, and education experts to apply for this three-hour event to be held on June 24th and share their COVID era experiences and talk about what they should STOP doing (thorn), KEEP doing (rose), as well NURTURE (bud) once the pandemic comes to a close. 

The offices may be reopening in some areas, but in the theme of "let no crisis go to waste," Perkins Coie and some other firms are using this transition back to the office to test things like hoteling, reverse hoteling, and telepresence rooms. There won't be a return to a normal office routine, but the next year is going to show us what is "next" in how we work in a post-pandemic legal industry.

Back in Ep. 112, we talked with Dan Packel about FisherBroyles' desire to show that a distributed law firm could compete with the AmLaw200 firms. Well, it turns out that they can. FisherBroyles came in at #198 this year and showed that alternative methods to the traditional law firm works. This is making other firms take notice of the competition.

Trailblazers in diversity efforts want neurodiversity included in the conversation. Last week's guest is one of those trailblazers. In her recent Medium article, Dr. Caitlin Handron openly discussed her battle with bipolar disorder, and "outed herself" to her boss and to the world in order to take steps toward normalizing the discussion of neurodiversity in the workplace. Let's all learn from her bravery and willingness to be vulnerable, and continue this conversation with our colleagues at our own workplaces.

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Transcript available on 3 Geeks website.