#83 - Recruiting Gen Z Lawyers in a Broken System

Legal recruiters and podcast hosts Genevieve Riccardelli and Jennifer Soltau join Mary to unpack how law-firm hiring is being turned on its head. They run entry-level recruiting at Goodwin and see the shift happening in real time. Their perspective on what students want, what firms are doing, and where this all goes next is honest, practical and very needed.

In this episode:

• OCI is losing its structure. What used to be a predictable, school-run process has fractured. Firms are now interviewing students before grades, before exams and sometimes before classes even begin.
• Recruiting years into the future. Firms are locking in talent 2 or 3 years ahead without knowing what their practices or clients will actually need. That mismatch shows up later in churn, confusion and a lot of second guessing.
• The in-house pull. More students want in-house careers and some companies are now hiring straight out of law school. The long-standing assumption that firms are the only training ground is shifting.
• A new type of candidate. Students with previous careers in biotech, business or tech are clearer about their goals and often move through the process faster. Their presence is reshaping expectations on both sides.
• What firms need to rethink. Copying whatever another firm does will not cut it anymore. The future belongs to firms that listen, experiment and build programs that match what talent actually wants.

If you want to understand how law-firm recruiting broke and what the next generation of lawyers is really looking for, this conversation is worth your time.

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