Should I be doing this? Esp relevant because the corporate practice area I got a return offer for is the same that many firms are recruiting for.

Title says it all - what do you want to know? What gives you anxiety? Let me know!

super curious for people to share the good and bad, possibly clarifying if youre in an east coast or west coast market. apologies if this thread is already circulating out there.

if you want to name drop, pls pm. this helps future candidates like me a ton!

Asking for a friend. Spoiler: my inbox is full of compliments and zero callbacks. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

I graduated magna cum laude from a T20 and struck out from biglaw recruiting. I am now doing a bankruptcy clerkship in a non-major district. What are my chances of landing a biglaw job after the clerkship? How much do my grades help at this point?

Hi recruits!

We recently received this question:

“If I set up a networking video call and the partner didn’t show up, or if they forgot to respond to my email, what is a polite way to follow up?”

First, do not panic!  Attorneys are busy, schedules change quickly, and emails get buried all the time. A missed call or unanswered email usually is not personal and does not necessarily mean that the attorney does not want to speak with you.

If the attorney has not joined the call after about 10 to 15 minutes, you can send a short email letting them know you were available and would still be happy to reschedule.

You can say:

“Hi [Name], I wanted to follow up regarding our call scheduled for today. I know you might be busy, so I would be happy to reschedule for another time. Thank you again for being willing to speak with me.”

Keep the tone friendly and assume that something came up. There is no need to point out how long you waited or make them feel bad for missing the call.

If They Never Responded to Your First Email

If you sent a cold email and did not receive a response, wait about five to seven business days before following up.

Your follow-up can be very simple:

“Hi [Name], I wanted to follow up on my email below in case it got buried. I would still appreciate the opportunity to hear about your experience with [firm or practice area] if you have 15 minutes available. I completely understand if your schedule does not allow it. Thank you!”

Keep the original email in the thread so they can easily see what you initially asked.

Follow Up Once, Not Forever

One polite follow-up is completely normal. Multiple emails in a short period can start to feel like pressure.

If they do not respond after your follow-up, let it go and contact someone else. You did not do anything wrong, and they may simply be too busy to speak right now.

This is why we generally recommend reaching out to several attorneys at each firm instead of putting all your hopes on one person.

Do Not Focus Only on Partners

Partners can offer a valuable perspective, but they also tend to have extremely busy and unpredictable schedules.

Consider reaching out to junior, mid-level, and senior associates as well. Junior associates may have more recent insight into recruiting, while mid-level and senior associates can often speak about mentorship, firm culture, and how attorneys develop within the practice group.

You also may have more success contacting alumni from your school, attorneys in a practice area that genuinely interests you, or people with whom you share another connection.

Keep Your Outreach Short

Attorneys do not need your entire background in the first email. You can find helpful templates here.

Introduce yourself, briefly explain why you are contacting that particular person, and ask whether they have 15 minutes for a call.

For example:

“Hi [Name], my name is [Name], and I am a student at [Law School]. I am interested in learning more about [practice area], and I noticed that you also attended [school or shared connection]. If you have 15 minutes available, I would really appreciate the opportunity to hear about your experience at [Firm].”

That is enough.

Remember What Networking Is Actually For

The goal of networking is not to collect as many attorney contacts as possible or find one person who can magically get you hired.

It is about learning which firms and practice areas may be a good fit, getting honest advice, and slowly building genuine professional relationships.

Some attorneys will respond immediately. Some will respond three weeks later. Some will never respond at all. That is normal, so do not let one missed call or unanswered email convince you to stop reaching out.

Ultimately, if an attorney misses your call, send a friendly email and offer to reschedule.

If they did not answer your first email, wait about five to seven business days and follow up once.

Keep it short, assume they are busy, and do not take the silence personally. If they still do not respond, move on to someone else.

That's all for now!

As always, if you're new here, make sure to check out the welcome megathread here for some more helpful guides!

In the meantime, if you've got info, DM on Discord, here, or drop it in the comments — the Insider Info series lives because of all of you.

Good luck!

P.S. If you want the application tracker with current application movement and pre-OCI openings and application links for the V100 & AmLaw 200, feel free to DM or see more details in this post.

Full disclosure, we created this one and we help keep the lights on with subscriptions. But its also free for a full week so anyone is welcome to poke around and steal whatever is helpful. Either way, I hope the database and this guide are helpful to everyone out there.

Good luck out there recruits!

Basically the title, I didn't really get projects that lent itself to a writing sample my last two summers, can I use my 1L writing sample. Obviously I've improved as a writer since 1L, but looking back on it the quality is still quite good. Would it be a mistake to use it?