Get to Know Cadwalader
Dear Class of 2021,
This is a special time to begin your legal career. In times of rapid financial, political, and social change, attorneys have a unique opportunity to help shape the laws and business practices that will be the foundation of our nation’s future. And with one year of law school under your belt, it’s time to start thinking about a position for next summer.
Cadwalader has a long-standing tradition of providing clients with unparalleled service and legal expertise. And we do mean “long-standing” — the firm was founded in 1792 and is the oldest continuing Wall Street law practice in America. Our growth and development has often paralleled the major economic, social, and political events that have shaped our country and the world.
With approximately 400 attorneys in the United States and Europe, the firm is well positioned to offer top-flight services to clients conducting global business. We have built relationships with premier financial institutions, global corporations and government entities, earning a reputation for crafting innovative business and financial solutions and developing precedent-setting legal strategies to achieve our clients’ goals.
Our multidisciplinary practice groups below handle groundbreaking transactions, complex investigations and litigation, and novel issues arising in emerging areas of law.
We advise a broad range of clients on their key transactions…
> Selected by the Federal Reserve’s Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) to develop best practices for cash products in the post-LIBOR world – a $200 trillion market.
>Represented Anheuser Busch and successfully defeated Inter Partes Review petitions for several of the company’s patents.
>Represented Inglot Cosmetics in its collaboration with Jennifer Lopez to launch a limited-edition 70-piece collection
>Advised the largest existing equity holder and new money provider in the Chapter 11 restructuring of Seadrill Limited – shortlisted for 2018 “Deal of the Year” by International Financial Law Review.
>Advised Kingsland Holdings Limited in connection with the entry by Avianca into a joint business agreement with United Airlines and Copa Airlines.
Now that you know a little about the firm, below are some tips for navigating the OCI process:
- Thoroughly research each firm before pursuing an interview. It makes sense to focus only on firms that most closely match your interests.
- Create a “cheat sheet” for each
firm that you can review prior to your interview. Using this information, craft
questions to ask during your OCI interview that can help you further narrow
your choices.
- Sources of your research should include:
- Firm websites, especially any sections or microsites developed specifically for law student recruiting
- Your school’s alumni or 3Ls who have worked in firms in which you’re interested
- Surveys (NALP, Chambers, Am-Law Midlevel, Vault)
- National or industry newspapers and magazines that have written about the firm, its cases, deals, or people
- Legal and business blogs (But be wary! Blogs are not always credible sources and many post gossip or false information to increase hits and generate advertising revenue.)
- The Career Services Office on your law school campus. They can help you make connections with alumni, share with you feedback from former summer associates, and offer advice from career counselors who are familiar with the industry, among other things.
- Be genuine and honest. Interviewers will assume that you researched their firm, but no one expects you to know much about the actual practice of law or specific areas of practice. Pretending to know more than you do or overinflating your qualifications will make you seem less credible.
- Be courteous to other candidates and to firms, and respond to callback invitations promptly. Firms may designate a certain number of callback interviews to students at your school. They might wait for responses before offering an interview to additional candidates, so a prompt response is appreciated.
- Before accepting a callback, strongly consider whether the employer meets the criteria that are genuinely important to you.
We hope that you will consider interviewing with Cadwalader during on-campus interviews. It’s the best way to discover if we could be the right fit for you.