Each year, thousands of law students apply to work at Anonymous Law Firm. We have the luxury of being able to be highly selective, and only offer employment to the best of the best. We spend each fall participating in on-campus interview processes at two dozen of the nation's highest-ranked law schools. While we do accept resumes from students at more poorly-regarded schools, it is unlikely those students will receive serious consideration. Their resumes do, however, decorate the walls of the Firm's "rejection room," which doubles as the support staff lounge.

When choosing who to hire, we look for students with exceptional records of achievement, a variety of backgrounds and talents, and a limited number of interests. We seek exceptional lawyers who will be committed to the standard of excellence we demand, and who will be hard-working and devoted colleagues.

After preliminary interviews, mostly done in hotel suites near the law school campuses, we invite the students we are most impressed by to one of our branch offices for more interviews. The Firm pays for all travel, hotel, and meal expenses, as well as providing a delicious fruit basket.

Second-round interviews take place in the morning or afternoon, as applicants meet with up to five partners and associates. Students who schedule morning interviews are taken to lunch by two associates, giving the applicant a chance to ask questions in a more informal but equally evaluated setting.

Students often feel like everything they say during their interviews is being analyzed and judged. They often feel like their interviewers are looking for subtext -- for indications that the student isn't serious about working at the Firm, has doubts about the kind of commitment required, or has other passions besides the practice of corporate law in a high-pressure environment. Those students are not entirely inaccurate. All interviews are recorded and then analyzed by a psychological consultancy retained by the Firm.

Anonymous Law Firm's recruiting committee, comprised of our hiring partner and three of his colleagues, meets weekly to make hiring decisions. Some decisions are also made on-the-spot. Invitations to join the Firm are made as soon as we decide; candidates who we opt to reject are usually left in limbo for 10-15 business days, just because we can.

Once an offer has been made, we encourage candidates to accept it quickly, rather than making us pay for another trip to the office. We remember those kinds of things, and they come back to bite you when you least expect it. Candidates who turn us down never work in this industry again.

Because of the volume of resumes that we receive, we regret that we cannot respond to inquiries except by candidates from top-ranked schools.