Tag: Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

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AABANY Student Outreach Committee Presents: Students Meet Firms— Cleary Gottlieb

On June 22nd, 2023, AABANY’s Student Outreach Committee hosted a Students Meet Firms event, connecting law students with attorneys at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.  The Students Meet Firms event series aims to connect rising second-year law students (2Ls) and other students pursuing law degrees with a range of diverse law firms, providing both insight into the legal profession and valuable networking opportunities. 

The panel, held on Zoom from 7:00- 8:00pm EDT, was moderated by Siqi Li (AABANY Student Leader, Seton Hall Law School ‘24), and featured associates Chihiro Isozaki, Sharon Wang, Samson Lim, and Long Dang. The panelists gave detailed insight into navigating Cleary’s recruitment process, summer associate program, and life at Cleary as a lawyer.

The event kicked off with panelists sharing useful tips on how to succeed in the interview process. In particular, they highlighted the importance of creating a compelling narrative of yourself as an applicant. While intensive research into Cleary and its practice areas are vital, the associates noted how outstanding candidates demonstrated connections between themselves and the firm that went beyond surface superficialities. To best accomplish this, the panelists recommended that interviewees reach out for coffee chats with Cleary attorneys working in the practice areas they are interested in, building both insight into the firm and comfortability with conversations.

The panelists then shared their own experience as summer associates and highlighted Cleary’s unique global rotation program. Through the program, summer associates are given the opportunity to spend four weeks in one of Cleary’s many overseas offices, including Beijing, Brussels, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Milan, Paris, Rome, São Paulo, and Seoul. Cleary also provides many other unique opportunities for professional development, such as their “miniMBA” training program and comprehensive mentorship system.

The associates also discussed the workplace culture at Cleary and how they were drawn to the firm because of its friendly, collaborative, and intellectually stimulating environment. The panelists emphasized that work is equitably distributed at Cleary, through a central staffing system. Many associates were also attracted to Cleary’s strong international presence and the opportunity to work with sovereign governments and international institutions. 

Finally, the panelists emphasized Cleary’s strong mentorship system, both on a formal and informal level. Panelist Samsom Lim shared how his relationship with his mentor continued months after he finished the summer associate program. Expanding on this point, panelist Sharon Wang discussed the diverse range of opportunities she has encountered in her day-to-day work to connect with more experienced lawyers as an associate at Cleary. 

Ultimately, panelist Chihiro Isozaki emphasized that the interview process is a two-way street, where applicants are also given a glimpse into Cleary and the chance to determine if it is the right fit for them. She gives the advice for future Cleary associates to be open, honest, and vulnerable; they should really get to know people on a deeper level.

Thank you to the Student Outreach Committee and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP for organizing this informative program. To learn more about the Student Outreach Committee, click here. 

Interested in attending a Students Meet Firms event? Upcoming events include:

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AABANY’s Prosecutors’ Committee and Student Outreach Committee Open Doors for Law Students to Meet Assistant District Attorneys

On October 13, over two dozen law students and New York Assistant District Attorneys (ADAs) braved the pouring rain for the Prosecutors’ Committee and Student Outreach Committee’s first-ever mixer. Pizza slices in hand, ADAs from across the five boroughs and Nassau County shared their wealth of experience and helpful advice with law students interested in following them into prosecutors’ offices.  

Prosecutors’ Committee Co-Chair David Chiang made clear that the Asian American prosecutors at this meeting, whose roles ranged from bureau chiefs to brand-new ADAs, were there on a mission. “Asian Americans are incredibly underrepresented” in the prosecution field, Chiang told the room. While many prosecutors have mentors and networks that help them get ADA positions and rise up the ranks, Asian Americans may not have the same breadth of resources for doing so. Building support networks for career advancement in the ADA space was the reason why ADAs and Prosecutors’ Committee members met with law students that night. 

“I want aspiring prosecutors to learn what it’s like to be in the office,” Devin Ly, a Kings County ADA, said. While the workload could be heavy and the demands sky high, he and his colleagues stressed that it’s worthwhile because of the good they were doing for their communities. For many of the prosecutors in attendance, their jobs felt meaningful not through tallying convictions or locking up their fellow borough residents. Rather, many AAPI prosecutors see their job as an opportunity to seek justice more holistically. Talking to students, these prosecutors shared stories, the philosophies of their offices, and how they work hard to do right by defendants and their communities. While the problems of incarceration should still be considered by prosecutors, a prosecutor’s job is ultimately to look beyond someone’s criminal record and the circumstances of the case and ask whether justice is best served by alternatives like social services or other pretrial interventions that would better serve the defendant and the community.

“It was awesome to meet all these prosecutors from all these bureaus!” Andy Xu, a second-year law student from Cardozo exclaimed. “It’s great that AABANY opens things like this up for us!” Justin Lee, a third-year law student from NYU, added.

The event was co-hosted by the AABANY Student Outreach Committee and the Prosecutors’ Committee. We would like to thank Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Cleary’s DE&I team for providing us with space as well as food and drinks for the event. 

With these lessons in mind and with so many connections made between these future lawyers and mentors, and maybe even future colleagues, we can’t wait to see where this collaboration goes from here.

To learn more about the Prosecutors’ Committee please click here. To learn more about the Student Outreach Committee please click here.

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AABANY Student Outreach Committee Presents – Pre-OCI Series: How to Navigate Biglaw Firms

On July 5, 2022, AABANY’s Student Outreach Committee hosted a virtual panel discussion to provide advice for the On-Campus Interviewing (OCI) process and biglaw firm recruiting. The event, part of the Student Outreach Committee’s Pre-OCI Series, ran from 6:00 pm to 7:15 pm on Zoom. The panel was moderated by Student Outreach Committee Co-Chair Long Dang (Columbia Law School ‘22, Summer Associate ‘21 – Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP) and featured the following panelists:

  • Charlene Hong (Cornell Law School ‘23, Summer Associate – Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz)
  • Victor Roh (Harvard Law School ‘21, Consultant – Boston Consulting Group)
  • Sharon Yang (Fordham University School of Law ‘23, Summer Associate – O’Melveny & Myers LLP)

Panelists discussed strategies for structuring a successful bid list, how to ask for interview opportunities, and shared their insights on networking. The main takeaways included prioritizing individual values, building professional relationships early on, and being proactive with respect to reaching out to recruiters and upperclassmen. The discussion was followed by a Q&A session, where audience members asked questions about extracurricular activities and tips on answering common interview questions. Panelists graciously stayed after the event’s end time to answer additional questions from the engaged audience. 

AABANY thanks the Student Outreach Committee for organizing the event and all panelists, moderators, and students who attended. To learn more about the Student Outreach Committee, please visit https://www.aabany.org/page/121. Upcoming events in this series include “How to Get a Small/Mid-Sized Firm Job” on July 20, 2022, and “How to Get an In-House Job” on July 21, 2022.