Stanford and Yale Bumped Up OCI in Response to Precruiting, But Big Law Isn't Backing Down From Direct Applications

Precruiting will increase in 2024, Big Law recruiting directors said, despite two law schools' recent efforts to place more students through virtual on-campus interviews.

February 21, 2024 at 03:04 PM

6 minute read

Law Firm Hiring

Dan Roe
Reporter

The original version of this story was published on The American Lawyer

What You Need to Know

Yale and Stanford law schools recently announced that their on-campus interview programs would move to June in 2024, partly in an effort to slow down Big Law's increasing appetite for precruiting.
However, several Big Law recruiting directors said the moves would not impact their recruitment strategies and, if anything, could induce earlier precruiting.
Recruiting directors said they wanted to work with law schools and lamented the loss of organization that OCI provided, but also acknowledged the benefits of direct applications.

After Yale and Stanford law schools announced that their virtual on-campus interviews would begin in late June this year rather than late July or early August, in part due to the schools' desire to guide law firm recruitment through OCI rather than direct applications, law firm recruiting directors said the adjustments would not impact their recruitment strategy in 2024.