Law Students Now Have 28 Days To Accept Or Decline Offers

Over the past few years, law students have typically received 45 days to respond to job offers from law firms, giving them until early December to make their decisions. However, a new standard has been set by the National Association for Law Placement giving students only 28 days to make their decision. That slashes their decision time by more than two weeks.

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The reason for the new 28-day standard is not unexpectedly a result of the economic hardship the country is currently facing.

Executive director of the association, James G. Keipold, said ''In the good old days, law firms, particularly in New York, used to bring in very large classes of summer associates.''

The time reduction is affecting the hiring process for many firms.

Elise Rippe, manager of legal recruitment at Herrick Feinstein is calling the new shortened recruiting season ''much more frenetic.''

Rippe said that Herrick, in previous years, interviewed the entire pool of candidates before extending offers to potential associates. She says that this year her firm has had to make its offers on a rolling basis in order to prevent losing out on candidates who must quickly decide on offers from other firms.

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The problem with extending offers on a rolling basis is that the firm may lose out on even better candidates, whom they have yet to interview. However, Rippe says that after years of enduring the hiring process, firms know when they see a ripe candidate.

''Firms generally know when they see a candidate that's a great fit and a top candidate for their firm,'' said Rippe. ''When you have a Michael Jordan, you put the offer out there.''

One upside to the new 28 day process is that firms will now receive answers from candidates much quicker. This will allow firms to extend offers to their second choices. This will potentially give second-tier students a better chance at placing with the top firms.

George A. Tsouugarakis is opposed to the new 28-day hiring process. Tsougarakis notes that the new standard will have a tough implications for first year law students due to the fact that for the majority of law school students, the process of recruiting starts just after their first year. ''They've just finished their first year of law school. It's not really until their second year of law school and they're interacting more that they actually get a handle and have a better understanding of what they might want to do...''

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