Respectfully OP, you sound extremely entitled and privileged. You say that there is a risk of alienating the people we have mailed, but if the partners are not even opening the mails and seeing the name of the sender, how would they be alienated? By your own logic there is literally no risk. Furthermore, you first say that internships are assessed on merit, and after that you conveniently say that the ratio is higher for people with connections. We all know that the ratio is higher for people with connections. 90% of internships at the biggest firms are secured through connections rather than merit. I am not blaming you for the way this works, but it is very disingenuous to be complaining about receiving spam and attempting to frame yourself as a victim.

My friend, I've read this thread fully - all the replies. You seemed to have missed the most crucial point everybody was trying to hammer home.

This is not about rejection disappointment. The HRs don't have proper processes. They aren't up to scratch. First have a Linklaters/Freshfields-style graduate recruitment office, then come here giving big big lectures to students. Do you hear students complaining about HRs when they get rejected from Hogan Lovells or A&O Shearman? Of HRs never responding to emails or phone calls or just ghosting after a point? Do you even hear of this cold-mailing kind of practice going on in such environments? Do you hear about complaints re: Reed Smith HR going to a university and commenting on the physical looks of female students or how their looks seem to indicate that they aren't from the type of background suitable at a law firm? (Talking about stuff coming to mind from what I've read on LI re: behaviour of Indian law firm HRs.) Or to take an even more concrete example, of any reputable global law firm's HR shouting at a university's representatives because they presented them with a disabled student telling them that said disabled person would be the best candidate? (This latter, apparently, did happen with a visually impaired student at one of the older NLus, whose RCC presented said VI student to a law firm's HR, who exactly behaved in the way I described.) Why do you hear more of that in our setup than in the globally reputed setups? Please go on LinkedIn for five minutes and look at the "I am pleased to announce" type of posts about people being offered vac scheme places in the current cycle, or TC places in earlier cycles. You will see them actually thanking the HR for actually making the process one that gets students to believe they are actually doing something meaningful.

Sure the students complain, even in those setups, but that's usually about how devilishly hard it is to get into a top-class law firm. And as re: my other question, please go on TCLA and other forums and find me one person who has tried anything like this and boasted about getting a vac scheme or TC. You know the contrast between how those folks are talking and how our people are talking? It's not because our folks are lower quality or have fewer scruples than those guys - just the opposite, in fact. It's because your side haven't fixed your recruitment processes. Before writing such patronising and insulting nonsense in the future, please look in a mirror, first. Before doing that, have one last spot of enjoyment by reading the below, because not only is it one of those classics people will be talking about for years, but because it's actually a much more useful and hard-hitting cautionary tale than the unreflective tripe you have wasted our time with:

https://www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/firm-cancels-students-interview-after-hearing-deez-nutz-voicemail

To all the law students on this thread with complaints - I hear you. Unfortunately all firms have a very limited number of slots for interns and a lot of you will be disappointed. However, to those folks in the thread bragging about how they have received an internship after emailing 100 different people after securing a response from ~4-5, I would like to let you know that you run the risk of alinating 95% of the people you have emailed, all to secure an internship. On average, an office of a T-1 firm sees a churn of about ~100 interns a year.

After speaking with my colleagues, I can tell you that our internship-to-placement ratio has historically been higher for interns who had some form of personal interaction with us before the internship (apart from the CV obviously). This helps us remember them. This usually happens through alumni meets, judging moot courts, interactions with placement committees, or even identifying a common connection between the Partner and the intern.

I hope this helps. I also sincerely hope you are following the advice of people on this thread who actually work at law firms, rather than those who are still trying to get into one.

Dear students, A0 here who got assessment internship and eventually PPO in a T1/T2 team by mailing the senior partner.

Surely I have mailed 100 law firms/partners, followed-up and got rude replies from them. But out of 100 at least 4-5 reply positively and you only need 1 opportunity.

Grab that one and convert it into something solid. Having said that, don't overdo it, otherwise you may get yourself shadow banned from the partner/firm.

What if hr are unfit for their job ? Predominant number of hr have no idea of colleges and their distinction. One refers to every other college as an NLU. Like how is MNLU equal to WNUJS ? That’s who you lot are hiring as HRs. It’s sad star of affairs. Get lawyers in their place who actually know stuff about colleges or two. And please make sure that HRs are not over their head in their minds. I for one

Everyone is inherently selfish, and the legal profession often brings out the worst in people.

So I understand that just because it is inconvenient for you, you might say, “it doesn’t work.” But for students in their 3rd, 4th, or 5th year, don’t worry, it does work.

It worked for me when I was in law school, and I am now an associate at a Tier-1 firm. All my internships came through cold emailing. I personally know hundreds of others for whom it worked as well. For a partner, it may feel like a nuisance. But your job as a student is not to worry about the partner. Be as self-interested about your career as they are about their practice. For them, your internship application is insignificant. They have larger priorities. For you, at this stage, securing an internship is one of the most important things. So cold email, cold call, walk in and drop your CV. Do whatever works for you.

PS: Law firm HRs are the most incompetent people I have seen in my life.

As an Intern with a PPO at a t1 from a tier 10 law school, apply to every partner you can, even assuming 95% wont care, if your profile is good you will get a t1 internship at every firm, I made into SAM,KCO,AZB and landed a ppo at Trilegal because of cold emailing partners.

That being said do not spam any partner more than once and at max one follow up and only apply to firms which have a resonable chance at picking you up, do not spam t1's with less than 5-6 internships on your cv if you are not from a t1 law school.

I feel your frustration, friend.

This is what I did last year. I copied all university domain names from the CLAT website, added a bunch of others I got from our HR, and blocked them. This hasn't stopped students cold mailing me from Gmail addresses, but it has reduced the spam to some extent. Am I the worst human being on the planet for doing this? Sure, but the trade off is worth it.

This is a PSA for all law students from an RP. Please stop spamming my inbox with internship requests. The volume of emails I receive makes me less inclined to consider those applications. I do not know any alternative methods but I assure you that this method DOES NOT WORK.

The HR of every firm will consider your application on merits. It is their job and is based on the SOPs that we have in place.