Page 339 - WhyAsInY

Get a JoB
Harvey Chooses His Firm
As I’ve already spelled out, I did not have the grades in law school through which I could have gotten an interview at a top firm, an inter- view that, in turn, might have led to a summer clerkship after my second year and, if all went well, a “permanent” job as an associate. Knowing that I needed help, and having next to no information about law firms generally, much less about specific firms, I had made an appointment that, according to my calculations, has thus far been worth thousands of dollars to me (in contributions that I have not made to Columbia since I graduated).
I had shown my maturity during my last semester and had visited the Columbia Law School Placement Office, which at that time had knowledge about medium-size to large Manhattan firms—and little else. I was there presented with a stack of paper that, as I later learned, had the names and addresses of all of the firms that dealt with Colum- bia, together with their relevant statistics and indistinguishable blurbs: “Founded in 1897 by two really distinguished and very WASPy guys, and having offices in ten cities on three continents, our firm, of just the right size, has an extremely varied practice and prides itself in the qual- ity of representation that we provide to hundreds of major clients in all fields of human endeavor. In addition, our main office is just where you want it to be.” I wanted more than that. I wanted guidance, but the expe- rience with Columbia’s Placement Office was worse than the one that I had had with Miss Bradshaw’s Placement Office at Midwood.
As soon as I made it clear that I wanted help, the person in charge asked me what my current draft classification was and what it was apt to be when I graduated. As was the case with most students at the time, I was classified 2-S, which meant that I had a draft deferment as long as I was a student. As to the future, I could only assume that I’d be classified 1-A, eligible for military service, after graduation, and I so informed the placement officer. The only other classification that could conceivably apply was that of a conscientious objector (1-O), which I was not going
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