Twenty years ago, the 2004 Fall OCI (On-Campus Interview) program began a week after Labor Day, a couple of weeks after classes began, and extended through mid-October. Applications were due the third week of August, at the earliest. Employers (mostly large law firms) interviewed 2Ls on campus, in person, for their 2005 summer associate programs.
Employers have been pushing for earlier and earlier recruiting, so Richmond Law has adjusted our schedule over the years to make sure our students stay competitive in the OCI process.
Fast forward to 2024. The first interviews of this year’s OCI season will begin in a little over a week on July 22, so the CDO now calls it Summer OCI. Although we still use the term “OCI”, the first three weeks of interviews will not be on campus but virtual through FloRecruit. Applications were due on July 5th for the employers interviewing during Week 1 of Summer OCI.
However, even this July OCI schedule is not early enough for some law firms that want to get a jump on recruiting for their 2025 summer associates. So for the first time this year, Richmond Law offered an Early Summer Resume Collection to employers (larger law firms) that wanted to receive applications from rising 2Ls as soon as grades were released. Applications for this new Resume Collect program were due on May 31st, and employers have been interviewing selected students since early June.
Interviews for Summer OCI will run July 22 to August 8. We expect some small and mid-sized law firms and public sector employers to begin their recruiting through Fall OCI with interviews scheduled from September 9 to September 26.
The CDO made extra efforts this spring to inform employers about the early resume collect program and the accelerated schedule for OCI interviews. We reached out to all of the firms that historically participate in Fall OCI (a core list of 50 employers), plus invitations were sent to another 130 firms.
In addition to emailed invitations, the CDO met (in person or by zoom) with alumni and recruiters from many firms to encourage them to consider Richmond Law students early in their recruiting cycle. The CDO met with the following employers this spring and summer:
Arnold & Porter
Christian & Barton
DLA Piper
Eckert Seamans
Greene Hurlocker
Hancock Daniel & Johnson
Hirschler
Holland & Knight
Jackson Lewis
KPM Law
McAngus Goudelock & Courie
McDermott
Miles & Stockbridge
Moran Reeves Conn
Morgan Lewis
O’Hagan Meyer
Orrick
Relational Estate & Elder Law
Sands Anderson
Troutman Pepper
Whiteford Taylor Preston
Wilmer Hale
Winston & Strawn
If you have questions about Richmond Law’s employer outreach, please contact Carole Yeatts.