Drinker Biddle & Reath Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Apr 2010 in Washington, DC (took a day)

First, I had an informal, in-person interview with the office's head of recruiting. Then, I sat down with a senior associate. It was pretty funny to me, because the staff recruiter was way more intense than the attorney. It could have been that the associate was a little bit burned out, because he kept saying things like, "If you really want to make this kind of money" or "You could join a government agency and do something really interesting..." like his job really bored him to tears. At least, that's kind of what came out. I realized that he was not necessarily someone who really wanted to go into BigLaw, versus the staff person who had been at the firm for something like 20 years, when it was much smaller and seen it grow. Goes to show how important it is to understand the perspective of the people you interview with and additionally how important it is to know what you're getting into. BigLaw looks pretty grinding and tough no matter where you go. And if the money and prestige of a BigLaw firm is important to you--and it is to me...I'm not ashamed to say it--you've got to pay a price for that.