The Blogosphere -

            All of us read www.AboveTheLaw.com and other blogs about the profession. http://www.AbovetheLaw.comAbove the Law is a marvelous clearinghouse for information about law firm hiring, compensation, terminations, and all manner of humorous, topical, or scandalous behavior. The core content on the site is up to date, reliable, and provocative. Developed by David Lat, a former Wachtell Lipton associate and Yale Law School graduate, the site has become controversial because of its rapid-fire and detailed reporting on law firm terminations and financial issues.

            It attracts a fair amount of criticism because of the way that it peels back the layers of the onion of law firm management and compensation. In my opinion, law firms would probably not have been as transparent about terminations, summer program results, and compensation, if they had not been nudged by Above the Law. 

            The “comments” part of this blog permit any user to say almost any thing about any person or law firm. Many of the comments are obnoxious, baseless, bizarre, offensive, and half true at best. 

        For a law student in a summer program, please step away from the keyboard and do not post comments on any blog. Yes I know about your rights. And I know you will post from home under an assumed name. But if I am running your summer program, I can probably recognize your “voice” from what you say and how you say it. And engaging in the mud slinging that goes on in the comments section of any of these blogs is done at your peril. Committing grotesque public career suicide just to put something on a blog is as dangerous as it is foolhardy.

In an industry where reputation is everything, sending out unproven candidates to clients can be risky.  Below are a few tips on how recruiters can test the quality and experience of potential candidates before they interview:

1. Get samples of the candidate’s work, letters of recommendation directly from their former superiors and copies of any awards or achievements they may have earned.  Nothing speaks louder than a candidate’s work and the accolades of their superiors.  Anyone can put together a resume that fudges the truth but seeing a candidate’s work and hearing the feedback of their former superiors can provide the proof you need to feel confident about their abilities.
2. Written job simulations.  A written job simulation can be especially effective for new and/or unproven job candidates.  It can be set up online as a test that requires little to no effort on the part of the recruiter.  A written job simulation can test the knowledge of a candidate and their mental agility on the job.
3. Pre-interview questionnaire.  A pre-interview questionnaire can help you find out about a candidate’s experience, knowledge and personality.  Like the written job simulation, the pre-interview questionnaire can be set up online where the candidate can fill it out without the input of the recruiter.