Hiya recruits!

Let's talk about how big law hiring in law school works and, for those of you who are very new to the system, what Pre-OCI/OCI/and post-OCI mean for you.

First, what is OCI?

OCI stands for On Campus Recruiting. Also sometimes called EIW. It is the structured recruiting program law schools run each summer where BigLaw firms come to campus (or log on virtually) to interview 2L students for summer associate positions in a condensed week or so ish timeline. Traditionally, this took place in your summer of 1L around July, but many schools have pushed up OCI to as early as January to be competitive with the pre-OCI timeline.

So then, what is Pre-OCI?

Pre-OCI means applying directly to firms, outside your school's system, before OCI begins. (Literally going to the firms website, clicking the career portal, and applying there). This traditionally happened in your second semester of 1L, but now, firms have started opening applications as early as October of 1L, both for 1L and 2L summer positions.

Applications start opening as early as October/November (yes, before grades are out, and yes you should apply then), interviews pick up in December/January and offers peak somewhere between January-March. By the time traditional OCI runs at many schools (which hold them in March or later), many, many, many spots are gone, meaning if you apply late, even with great grades and a great school, it can be an extremely uphill battle to nail one of these jobs.

This compression is uncomfortable for people who want to wait for a full picture before applying. You won't have a full picture. Neither will anyone else. The students who do well in pre-OCI apply early anyway, with imperfect information, and adjust as they go (i.e., you update with your transcript when you get grades later in Jan.).

Why the timeline shifted and why we're all now in this special circle of recruiting hell

Firms started moving earlier because, originally, there was a rule saying they couldn't recruit early. TLDR: that rule was nixed, and firms felt they were losing candidates to competitors who moved first. Once one firm starts making offers June, then May, then March, then January, etc., everyone else faced a choice: move earlier or lose talent. The result is an arms race that has pushed the window earlier every cycle. This shift started and was covered around back in 2024 and it has only accelerated since.

This creates real pressure on applicants. Exploding offers are still common. You'll sometimes get 24-48 hours to decide on an offer before you've heard back from half your list. There's no clean way around this. You ask for extensions where you can, you ask firms you prefer to expedite where you can, and sometimes you decide with incomplete information.

What to do right now

Build your list wide; it's a numbers game. When we say blanket the AmLaw 200, we mean blanket.

1. Ideally, target your schools target markets (or NYC), or markets you have a strong tie to, mostly because your school will have the most sway there, or it'll be the market where there are the most seats available to compete for.

Firms known to hire early are worth prioritizing early in your application cycle (and you can tell which do this using the sub database if you need help). But the bigger mistake most people make is over-filtering before they have any traction. Apply broadly first, nail an offer, then get picky and refine later.

2. Get your materials ready before apps open, not after. An exact list of what you need can be found here. Generally it's cover letter, resume, and a short list of networking contacts at target firms. Networking won't override weak credentials, but it pulls your application into the review pile faster, which matters when firms are moving quickly.

If pre-OCI doesn't work out

OCI still exists. Fewer seats, but it's real. Some firms also hire into the summer after OCI closes (usually more like midlaw and regional firms which run on later timelines, but many are following similar big law timelines as well, so don't sleep on these).

Worst case, if you don't get an offer in OCI either, there is the post-OCI process.

This post should help in that scenario: What to do if you didn't get an offer in OCI (and are maybe freaking out a bit 😨)

All in all, the fundamentals haven't changed. Apply early. Apply broadly. Move fast when things are moving. The recruiting window is shorter than it used to be, which means the cost of hesitating is higher than it used to be.

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!