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. 

AABANY Student Outreach Committee Hosts a Panel Discussion about Being a Virtual Summer Associate on June 3rd

On June 3rd, the Asian American Bar Association of New York’s Student Outreach Committee (SOC) hosted a panel discussion about the dos and don’ts of being a virtual summer associate. Haynes and Boone summer associate and SOC Student Leader Julie Choe moderated the panel. The panelists were Andrew T. Hahn, Sr., General Counsel and Chief Diversity Officer at Hawkins Delafield & Wood and past AABANY President in 2004; Jeeho Lee, hiring partner at O’Melveny & Myers; Taiyee Chien, summer associate at Kirkland & Ellis and SOC Student Leader; and Victor Roh, summer associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell and SOC Marketing Director and Student Leader.

Julie opened the event by introducing the panelists for the evening. The student leaders then shared their experiences as (virtual) summer associates, and discussed a variety of topics with the other panelists including how to gain diverse work experience, how to reach out to partners, the advantages and disadvantages of a remote program, work-life balance, and more. The panelists also discussed the qualities of a good summer associate, which included being attentive to detail, respectful, taking responsibility for mistakes, being responsive to emails, and keeping your camera on during meetings. The panelists also emphasized the importance of building your own unique “brand” at the firm from your particular strengths and character. After the event, the discussion was opened to the attendees for questions.

AABANY thanks SOC for hosting this timely event in the midst of the pandemic and thanks the panelists for sharing their thoughts and experiences about summer associate programs. AABANY SOC will also be hosting several upcoming events, including a mock interview workshop and two panel discussions as part of the Students Meet Firms series. The first panel will feature attorneys from Cleary Gottlieb. The second presentation will discuss the legal recruiting process with recruiters at Shearman & Sterling. To learn more about AABANY’s SOC, click here. To join the SOC slack channel, click here.