Major law firms have begun courting Harvard Law School first-years as early as October, accelerating a recruiting process that historically did not begin until the summer before students’ second year and at times bypassing the law school’s own advising infrastructure entirely.

Firms previously began interviewing law students for post-second-year positions in the summer after their first year. Students would then aim to receive a return offer to begin as an associate following graduation. Now, much of that process has been compressed to begin early in students’ first semester.

The shift has upended the role of HLS’s Office of Career Services, which had typically served as a central intermediary in connecting students with private sector employers. But over the past two years, law firms have moved toward directly recruiting applicants, sidelining OCS and eroding longstanding recruiting norms, several HLS students said.

HLS professor William W. Fisher said the shift toward faster recruiting is the product of a “complex collective action” problem.

“You would have thought that Harvard had enough market power to be able to say no,” Fisher said. “Either it lacks market power or the students understandably feel there’s pressure outside the law school to secure the jobs anyway.”

HLS updated its recruiting guidelines in August 2025 to reflect the accelerated timelines, issuing new guidance that law firms could contact first-year law students as early as October and permitting job offers in November.

Additionally, the OCS’s flagship Early Interview Program has accelerated its kickoff date from last year. The EIP is HLS’s main recruitment program for students seeking associate positions for the summer after their second year.

For the last three summers, EIP programming took place throughout students’ first summer, beginning in June. In August 2025, OCS updated its timeline for the incoming class to shift further ahead to the winter.

HLS spokesperson Scott W. Young wrote in a statement that OCS “has worked to meet students’ needs by accelerating the advising timeline, networking opportunities, programming, and, this year, by offering advising appointments in the evenings and during the winter break when the University was closed.”

“HLS is continuing to study the situation and to work with stakeholders to improve the process, always guided by our commitment to helping our students make the choices that are best for them,” he added.

HLS is one of several law schools that have adjusted its recruiting guidelines in response to condensed recruiting timelines. Law firms have slowly pushed recruiting efforts earlier in the school year, driven in part by competition between firms to recruit top students.

18 law school student governments, including Harvard’s, signed a letter to the American Bar Association in January expressing concerns over the acceleration of recruiting into the first year.

“Accelerating recruitment timelines compromise the quality of students’ legal education, as students increasingly focus on activities that support recruitment and placement during their first, foundational year in law school,” the letter read.

HLS recruiting guidelines state that offers for summer employment should be open for at least 14 days. But several students described firms flouting that standard.

First year law student Matthew T. Tyler said HLS has “lost any control over the recruiting process.” He said firms are “flagrantly violating” the guidelines, pointing to the firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, & Garrison, which he said gave students a five-day acceptance window.

A spokesperson for Paul Weiss did not respond to a request for comment.

First-year law student Kevin Lee — who also faced a five-day acceptance window — described his recruiting process last fall as “rushed,” having attended recruitment coffee chats just a month into his law school career. He said he received his second-year summer offer in January.

“I just came into law school. I don’t know what it’s like to be in a law firm. I don’t know what transactional lawyers do exactly. I don’t know what litigators do exactly, and without being aware of those choices, I felt like I had to make that decision,” Lee said.

The earlier timeline left him feeling “somewhat empty,” he added, but also allowed him to fully focus on academic interests, including elective classes and journals.

“I have two years and a half left in law school. But what I will be doing after law school is already set in stone. So what do I really do for the rest of my law school?” he said.

In light of the accelerated timeline, some firms — including Davis Polk and Milbank — have begun offering stipends for first-years to pursue non-corporate opportunities on the condition that they return to the firm the following summer.

Frederica F. George, a former peer advisor at OCS who graduated in 2023, said the increase in students working at law firms during their first summer may diminish consideration of public-interest careers.

“One thing that is being lost with this early recruitment is that many of the people who did pro bono their first summer enjoy the experience,” George said.

“But there are other people every summer who thought ‘I’m going to do corporate law, I’m working out of a law firm.’ Being forced to do pro bono maybe found a different passion,” she added.

George said she would advise first-year law students to prioritize extracurricular activities to strengthen their applications.

“Depending on what type of law firm someone has, their background, how much work experience, I would probably tell them to, obviously don’t flunk out but, put in that focus on those activities and tangible experiences that you could bring in,” she said. “You might not necessarily have your grades, at that point, to bolster your application.”

—Staff writer Uy B. Pham can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at ubp.88. Follow him on X @uybpham.

—Staff writer Sierra R. Pape can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @SierraRPape.