Bidding is open for Session III of Fall OCI and runs through Sunday, September 6 at midnight. Session III interviews will be conducted September 28 – October 9. 2L students who wish to participate in Fall OCI must have attended a counseling session with Career Services and attended or viewed the 2015 Fall Forecast.
Logon to Symplicity to review the opportunities that are applicable to your graduation year, preferred geographic locations or practice areas. There are employers seeking both 2Ls and 3Ls registered for Session III. Please have ready your professional legal resume, cover letter, current academic transcript, writing sample, and list of references. You may contact Paula Smith or Jobe Rodgers for assistance with your materials. Guidance handouts are also available on the Career Services page of the Texas Tech Law website and on the Resources tab in Symplicity.
To apply:
- Login to Texas Tech Law School Symplicity. https://law-ttu-csm.symplicity.com/students
- Click on the [ OCI ] tab on the top navigation bar.
- Filter the session list by selecting [ Fall OCI 2015 Session III: September 28 – October 9, 2015 ] from the [ Session ] drop-down menu.
a. The resulting list of employers contains only those that have requested your class year.
- Click "Review" for each employer. You will be redirected to a page that explains information about the position and what materials you will need to prepare for your application.
- Under "Bid Details" on the right-hand side of the webpage, select the documents you wish to include in your application.
a. You must have already uploaded these documents under the "My Documents" tab on the top navigation bar.
- Click "Apply."
RESUMES & COVER LETTERS
Make the most of OCI opportunities by submitting exceptional resumes and cover letters. Review the Resumes and Cover Letters handouts and create drafts of your documents. Then utilize your Career Services team to review and improve your resume and cover letter prior to applying. Send your documents for review well in advance of the OCI deadlines. Contact Paula Smith or Jobe Rodgers for assistance.
TRANSCRIPTS
Many employers request a law school transcript as part of your application. To obtain a transcript you may contact Robyn Lamb, Assistant Registrar, for an electronic version of your transcript at robyna.lamb@ttu.edu. Please include your R Number in your request. The maximum file size on Symplicity is 500kb. If you need your transcript resized, please email Jennie Payne or Jobe Rodgers.
2L ELIGIBILTY REQUIREMENT
To be eligible to participate in Fall OCI, students must have attended the FALL FORECAST 2015 and have participated in counseling with a member of Career Services. If you are not able to view OCI employers, you may not be qualified. Please contact Paula Smith or Jobe Rodgers right away. We want all students to be eligible participate in Fall On-Campus Recruiting. You can view the Fall Forecast video on MediaServices on MyTechLaw here: http://mediaservices.law.ttu.edu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=d4c784da-537f-44ae-b9e3-e02ceade5ef4 Login with your eRaider. You must watch the entire video to be eligible.
RESEARCHING EMPLOYERS
One thing that stands out to employers is whether the candidate is prepared for the interview. Employers expect you to know about their organization, their practice areas, and be able to ask informed questions of your interviewers. In addition to firm websites, you can glean a wealth of information about a firm and its attorneys from LexisNexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg. For a quick tutorial on preparing for your interviews, watch "Be Well-Prepared for Your Legal Job Interview" by LexisNexis here: https://www.youtube.com/user/LexisNexisLawSchools/videos
DRESSING FOR SUCCESS
Having a professional appearance is key in any job interview. We have uploaded one of the best guides on the web to MediaServices here: http://mediaservices.law.ttu.edu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=c31bb2f1-ce63-4fe9-8b41-98df6ddad29a It is only 3 minutes long, but is invaluable in dressing for success in your interviews.
CONFLICTS LOG
Make sure are keeping a conflicts log and it is up to date. Before hiring you as a lawyer or a law clerk, a law firm may ask you for a list of the matters on which you have ever worked previously as a law clerk. Your former employers may be unable or unwilling to help you prepare a list or may not be able to respond in the time you need. The best practice is to keep a contemporaneous record. Under Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct 1.05, the information on this form is confidential.
Further, before undertaking any particular clerking assignment, if there is a high risk that it might preclude future employment, you should consider asking your employer not to assign you to the matter for that reason. For example, if you are clerking for Firm A in the first half of the summer and Firm B in the second half, you may not want to work on a problem at Firm A where Firm B is on the other side. You may disclose information from the form to your potential employer but only to the extent necessary to determine whether your employment would create any conflicts if the firm hired you. For what and how to disclose, see Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas, Opinion No. 607 (July 2011). https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/
FAQs:
1. Is there an advantage to submitting my application on the first day of bidding versus the last day of bidding? No. There is no preference given to students who submit applications with employers tomorrow, as opposed to the last day to submit bids. Employers will receive all students' applications when bidding has ended.
2. Is there a limit on how many applications I can submit during OCI? There is no limit to how many applications you can submit through Fall OCI.
3. I am running out of room for documents, what do I do? Once you submit a cover letter, resume, etc. to an employer, you can delete those documents under the "My Documents" tab to make room for others. Your application submitted to the employer will remain intact. This way, you can (and should) have a different cover letter for each employer without running out of space.
4. I don't see any employers that fit my needs, will there be more? Yes! There will be 5 sessions of Fall OCI continuing through October.
