Skadden has just announced that it will be having a massive one-day offer orgy on September 22, when it will make all its offers to law students for the summer program in 2010 (which, by the way, will be a class less than half the size of this summer’s).
No small part of the reason law firms have had to lay people off, defer start dates, and cancel summer programs is the firms’ staggering incompetence at projecting future staffing needs.
So why on Earth is Skadden making offers even earlier in the year, rather than waiting until later, when there is more information available?
Bizarrely, the offer orgy is a twist on a method torn straight from the pages of the recruiting playbook circa 1999-2000, when firms would have scores of applicants come in on one day, do several rounds of interviews, and get a decision that afternoon.
Back then, it was done because the firms were hiring in droves and were looking for an efficient way to sift through the herd. They’d make tons of early offers in the hopes of being able to fill their classes with commitments who were impressed by shiny new offers (sort of like college football recruiting).
It’s also the exact opposite of something we lauded not too long ago:
It’s amazing how slowly and baby-step-y law firms are in the process of projecting needs and right-sizing staffing. They overhired and then were forced to lay people off. Then they realized they were overcommitted, so they deferred. Then they realized the deferral just delayed the overcommitment, so now they’re finally running out of buckets and are turning off the spigot with reduced participation in OCI. Congratulations! We’ve only been saying for most of the year now that this would have to happen.
The other sensible solution, first espoused by Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, is to hold off on the hiring until closer to the need. Orrick, and now DLA Piper, will wait until at least the late part of the fall to do OCI for summer 2010 positions.
Firms obviously can’t figure out their staffing needs too far in advance (or just aren’t good at projecting) and would prefer to wait until they can be more accurate.
So what are the law schools doing in response?
Moving OCI dates up.
Talk about giving your customers exactly what they don’t want.
And the worst part is, Skadden, one of the largest, most-prestigious, most-profitable, most-powerful law firms in the world, is pandering to this nonsense.
“This does not make sense anymore, and in our judgment needs to change,” [Howard] Ellin [the firm's recruiting partner] says. “And it will take all the various constituencies, primarily the schools, with prodding from the law firms.”
But he’s not willing to do anything about it. Is he scared that he won’t get his choice of lawyers if he waits until Thanksgiving or, heaven forfend, next spring to make offers? Wouldn’t the best and brightest be willing to wait until later in the year if they knew that was when Cravath, Skadden, Wachtell, and the other top-tier firms were making their offers, knowing that there was almost no chance of over-subscription and lower chance of being fired later?
Law schools are apparently oblivious or indifferent to economic trends (see, e.g., larger incoming classes, new schools opening, etc.). Is this just another way of them saying “fuck you” (a la Fordham to Reed Smith)? Where is this power (or at least the perception of power) coming from?
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