Timing Matters for Pre-OCI Recruiting

It’s no secret that many firms are recruiting heavily before OCI, by attracting students directly during the spring/early summer.  Some large firms have a structured process, with specific dates of when they will respond to students, interview, and fill their classes.  However, most firms are conducting their 2L recruiting process on a rolling basis – inviting in strong candidates throughout the process, moving quickly until they fill their class.

(Many firms have drastically reduced their participation in traditional law school OCI at top schools, and some firms who have signed up for OCI are considering whether they will have room by the time OCI rolls around.)

The 2L recruiting process can be stressful – we don’t intend to make this process more stressful, but our goal is provide accurate information and advice based on our conversations with firms, students, and schools.  So you can navigate the process as effectively possible.

Simply put: when it comes to pre-OCI recruiting, timing is important.

I recently heard from a student who went through the 2L recruiting process recently.  They were given an option to schedule a callback with a firm on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday – they chose Friday based on their availability.  By the time Friday came around, the firm had already made additional offers, and he didn’t make the cut – the info he received from attorneys was that this might not have occurred on Wednesday. In another case, a law student rescheduled a callback due an unavoidable personal conflict, to just a few days later.  By the time the later date, came around, the firm had no more offers to make.

Of course, these are extreme cases and you shouldn’t be concerned that the rug will pulled out from under you.  We don’t expect this to happen for most students.

However, it is a good lesson that firms are moving quickly and figuring out their pre-OCI hiring process and needs in real-time.  We also understand this to be the case from our conversations with firms, who are putting a lot of attention into getting candidates in to interview quickly through May, June, or earlier.

So, here are a few practical tips, to the extent possible:

A key caveat to the advice above is that you should be ready to apply.  Don’t apply to a firm early just for the sake of applying – make sure you are prepared and ready to engage with the firm throughout the interview process.  That means you have an idea of the work the firm does, why you would want to work there, and other info.  That means you are mentally ready and have the bandwidth to interview and move through the process, should the firm invite you to do that.  That means you are comfortable with the grades you have from first semester (assuming second semester grades have not been released when the portal opens) to apply to that firm.  (Our very insightful 2025 Recruiting Director Q&A covers this point nicely.)

One complication of the rolling timeline of pre-OCI is the timeline for accepting an offer.  You may get an offer from a firm that expires in 2 weeks, while you are still interviewing with others.  Navigating multiple offers is a topic we cover in our Keys to Navigating Pre-OCI Recruiting blog post (highly recommend reading it) – it is important to be thoughtful (and ask for an extension if you need one).

As you navigate the pre-OCI recruiting process, hopefully this transparent information helps you think about when to apply and schedule interviews so you can maximize your chances at accepting an offer you are excited about.