讲个笑话 你可别哭

油炸小花生UID：3420747

（邮轮信号不佳更新略慢多多理解哈，楼主美东时间这个点儿还更已经很卖力啦><）

Callback. 抱着必死的决心参加的两场callback倒是轻松了不少，本着反正不成不如多聊聊的心态反而遇到了很nice的合伙人给了不少语重心长的建议，感激。

Mass-mailing. So it starts. 1L找summer实习的时候已经几乎轰炸了全世界，现在再发有些熟门熟路到麻木。一边发着一边在想，有多少可能一个律所在三个月之间收到你的两封内容类似简历没差的邮件做出不一样的决定（扔垃圾箱、仍垃圾箱），但不这么去做好像又没法说服自己。只想bury myself with sth to do.

Career office. Not very helpful. 从来没有在这个机构感受到一丝的爱，更像把我当做inventory里积压的商品赶快出手为妙别脏了我们的employment data. 真的细问起来对这种情形下的外籍学生给到的建议还不如我自己了解得多，失望。

Fall OCI. Nah... 这场紧接着正经OCI的秋季招聘双方都显露出极度的疲倦，employer大抵为他们只能收获second hand candidate不甚满意，candidate也似无头苍蝇在四处乱撞希望能碰出个好结果，自然难免草草收场。

再回首时已是10月，麻木中新学期竟也进行了近半，这一天终于收到了唯二的callback的第二封拒信，我的OCI季，officially ends.

JD@UVAUID：3503603

小说写得简洁、真实、还卖关子，语言流畅。

写点儿纽约的风土人情吧，让我们村里出来的人也多点儿见识。:lol

其实来自法学院校友的帮助，会对找工作的 1L 起一定的作用。而丰富的生活阅历在面试聊天时，有可能来“破冰”、拉近你和面试官的距离。所以把面试当成聊天的心态（加上暗地里推销自己的话语），对营造一个自信、能干的形象，可能会有帮助。

JD@UVAUID：3503603

Cruel or not, I have not cried over this well-written JOKE!

:p

油炸小花生UID：3420747

So where do I stand now? 她定下了香港的big law，虽也说了些未来发展的大道理，但我心里知道，有很大的原因是为了我而考虑：After all, it is almost mission impossible for me now to land a big law job in the US. 本校同届的陆本KJD都去了香港，让我不由得痛恨自己该在几场香港office的面试里多长点心。

家里似乎比起我的求职更关心我的精神状况，我只是不愿意就这样承认失败，又怕给家人增加太多的负担，只好沉默。

她的家人有些微辞，这也是早有预料的。她已尽了一切努力把我保护起来，虽也并不能抚慰我痛苦的内心，但也已够我稍作喘息。

纷扰的微信已不再是我所跟得上的节奏，删了好友，删了APP，我不知该如何面对所有的一切，无论是关心，或是嘲讽。

迁居到了对岸的Jersey，窗外有着大片的旷野，终于不用像1L时一样，在每天日落时看着余晖从大楼的缝隙中逝去感到失落的空虚。

I have to start a new life now.

油炸小花生UID：3420747

2L的节奏有着和1L完全不一样的感觉，这个世界也像回到了正常模式：Nobody gives a xxxx about you. 1L时的那种强行捆绑式的压力也已不再，大家都回到了自己习惯的生活节奏之中，反而倒也是更亲切了不少。

课上出现了不少LLM，热情更胜1L时的我们，只可惜他们似乎对于JD的能力有所误解，以为和我们一起上课一定会有悲惨的curve，nah... 除了极个别的学霸和与我一样strike out的苦主，2L开始的大家几乎是放弃治疗的节奏，只有final时看着坐满的教室才惊讶地发现：原来这门课有那么多人选……

我有时也会想，这是否就是法学院的智慧，让第一年找到工作的人自主自愿地退出竞争，从而让strike out的人还有机会在后两年polish自己的成绩单？

油炸小花生UID：3420747

11月的时候称了称体重，竟意外地长了十公斤肉，实在是不明白这食欲不振的几个月是如何还能做到增那么多肥。

身在Jersey住上了1B1B，相比studio狭小的空间更有了些下厨的动力。目标很简单：快速减肥。

有了动力行动起来心情倒是轻快了很多，相比忙碌与压力，我还是更怕无所事事。

一个月后就瘦回了这十公斤，想想自己好像还算有点成就也不算一无是处。

12月初静茹来纽约开演唱会，在现场听着那些熟悉的情歌，脑海中满是年少时的自己。

那时仿佛无所畏惧，从不会为明天而担忧，总相信事情能有解决的办法。

想来虽不愿承认，这怎么也爱不起来的法学院，还是深深地改变了我啊。

油炸小花生UID：3420747

一个学期悄然而逝。

混沌，不安；平静，沉淀。不知不觉法学院的生涯已经过半。

OCI之前也看过一些励志故事，大抵强调了在后两年清心寡欲地拼命学习终修成正果的努力。

我很佩服，也很羡慕，真的。至少这个学期，能让自己在自怨自艾与放飞自我间找到平衡，已是我能做到的极致。

比起final，更恐惧的反而是回国，不知在消失了这半年后，该如何面对这个世界。

家人，朋友，亲戚。我只想做个鸵鸟，把头深深地埋进沙堆，越久越好。

zhuyupingUID：3629332

楼主加油，国内法律市场也很大的

JD@UVAUID：3503603

圣诞节到了。也许Santa送来了礼物。

lsywhUID：3866997

I mean for sure, it's quite disappointing. But aren't there like tons of millions of opportunities in HK or SH? Plus you get COLA, lower taxes, more asian friendly environment....and stuff alike. I guess I might be more empathetic if you ended up unemployed after 3L (which is not likely tho)
sometimes I just can't get those overachievers
LOL

but good luck anyway..hope it's the last major failure in your glamorous career (which is not likely tho, objectively speaking)

man up friend, cheers. wish you all the BEST

油炸小花生UID：3420747

lsywh 发表于 2018-3-16 05:52
I mean for sure, it's quite disappointing. But aren't there like tons of millions of opportunities i ...

Congrats on your offer from Columbia! I'm impressed that you've got recommendation from Professor Sexton, he is just the savior of our law school... Is the other professor Hills? We are pretty close since he taught me Con Law & Legislation and Regulatory State and I taught him Chinese...

Glad that you already know a lot about the practice. Always a good start as a law student. Just several points to clarify here:

1. There aren't tons of millions of opportunities in HK or SH, unfortunately. There are SOME opportunities in HK, but it is extremely difficult to secure a US associate position in mainland due to the market demand these days. For HK positions, most of them are secured during the OCI, and the main character in the story failed that, so the situation does not look so good for him. For HK position details, you may refer to my reply to a post here: https://bbs.gter.net/forum.php?mo ... age=3#pid1781677166

2. I have noticed that you are interested in doing M&A work in the future. That is good, except that most US qualified lawyers working as US associates in Asia mainly focus on capital markets work, which is of course, due to market demand. I can't say there is no chance for M&A job in HK, but there exists even less relevant positions for US lawyers in HK. Of course you may start in NY and practice M&A, and maybe eventually coming back to HK after several years of practice. I believe that is the best career path for Chinese JDs interested in M&A work.

3. As for the "major failure" part, I think the most touturing part of OCI is that, you simply cannot ensure your success, and sometimes you even don't know what goes wrong. At my law school, people with perfect GPA during 1L failed, people with great working experience failed, and most sadly, those who did their undergrads back in China are most vulnerable during the interview process. For law school application, you've got undergrad GPA & LSAT; for real big law work, you should know it when you don't have enough work at hand or you screw sth up. But for OCI, really, sometimes you just don't know why.

4. Unemployment after 3L does exist. As a matter of fact, not so uncommon among Chinese students, every year. Here I define unemployment as not securing a US associate position, which is corresponding to the education level we receive. Especially, very few cases of success in securing that kind of position after the OCI (or immediately after the OCI). Therefore, it is fair to say that, if you do not get a 2L summer offer that can pretty much ensure your return after graduation, you are in great trouble.

Really happy that more and more smart Chinese students are coming to this field, and I'm just trying to picture the worst scenario as a disclaimer for over-optimism. After all, generally, most people in T6 do well in OCI and are able to secure at least one offer. Two years ago at my law school, more than 90% of the people who attended OCI secured at least one summer offer. Unfortunately, the main character in the story was among the less than 10%.

Hope that I didn't intimidate you! I bet you must be very impressive to get that LSAT score, those recommendations, and offers from great law schools. Wish you all the best in your law school journey and please, please, enjoy every moment of it. The story's main character is simply not a role model in that sense. ^^

油炸小花生UID：3420747

(March Madness simply prevents me from updating... Will try to catch up later)

落地后见到了久违的家人们。母亲的眼神里满是担忧，不由让我更多了层歉疚。毕竟，我从来也不是一个人活着。

回家的路上一路无话。到家后，本该是睡前聊天的几句话却变成了彻夜长谈，总算意识到我没有精神失常的家人也算放下了心来，我也松了口气。

寒假本不漫长，只是在家呆着如坐针毡。家人为了我的精神健康考虑安排了一些亲戚朋友的聚会活动，我却只感到抗拒。别人一句无意的问话就可能戳到心头的痛处，滋味实不好受。

更糟的是，summer已不远了，还没有任何internship的我应该怎么办呢？

油炸小花生UID：3420747

开学后的Public Interest Job Fair是个机会，虽然不太可能找到permanent position，但至少还能努力找到一段decent experience. 再有就是Spring OCI，相比紧接着大OCI的fall OCI想必多了些诚意，但也不敢抱太大希望。

唉，投吧投吧，现在只想埋在resume & cover letter editing里，忘记那些不愿想起的烦恼。

临近回国之时又因为一些小事与家人争吵，吵完之后只觉漠然。以前从不理解人为何会轻生，现在才明白，如果当在意的事情都已散去，生活中空余失败的气味，那或许只是更容易的选项罢了。

飞机起航，法学院的下半场即将开始，未知的一切已不像之前那样令人恐惧，这半年总算修炼出了一项重要的技能-麻木。

油炸小花生UID：3420747

Public Interest Job Fair. 我似乎与这项活动八字不合。1L的时候就没有在这儿获得好运，所幸private sector有所斩获；现在就更是感觉怪异。我也说不明白我的简历为什么要来做public interest，对方自然也不能被我说服。仅有的几个面试机会也都无疾而终，更让我感到自己寒风中萧瑟摇曳的凄苦形象。

Spring OCI. 一些mid-sized firm的面试，彼此都体现出了谨慎：我对你所不甚了解，你对一个中国人来应聘深感好奇。20分钟亲切友好的谈话过后，该结束的也就都结束了。

3月已至，春假在即。身边已有工作的小伙伴都三五成行，我也只想和她一起逃离这冰天雪地的城市，一路向南，越远越好。

lsywhUID：3866997

油炸小花生 发表于 2018-3-16 12:35
Congrats on your offer from Columbia! I'm impressed that you've got recommendation from Professor  ...

谢谢学长的指点和鼓励。你的境遇着实焦灼，我衷心希望你最终柳暗花明，心情变好。
不过我不很认同你把留不在美国等同于失业的看法。我很有可能是站着说话不腰疼，不过我觉得t14或者t20的jd已经比同辈法学生幸运太多了，其实心态可以再好一些的，不是只有进纽约的big law赚18w才是成功。不论工资还是业务，我觉得国内的cc贝克红圈所等等也都很厉害。

（两位推荐人都猜对了哈哈）