The trademarks of recruiting--dark suits, conservative ties, and anxious expressions--have infiltrated the Square once again.

For the last two weeks, Harvard Law School (HLS) students have filled hotel lobbies, fidgeting nervously just before 20-minute interviews with the nation's top law firms. At least seven months before the end of spring term is in sight, the summer job search has already begun.

It's a search that will not end until shortly before Thanksgiving, when most students will learn that they have received the private sector job of their dreams.

But until then, they face two more weeks of interviews, two more weeks of waiting for follow-up interviews and two more weeks of what the director of HLS career services described as unnecessary stress.

"For many students, it's more stressful than it needs to be," said Sally C. Donahue. "It's a process that takes on a life of its own. The market is really strong right now, and our students are wonderful."

"They shouldn't worry so much," she added.

Try telling that to the law students.

No Two Ways About It

Pound Hall yesterday afternoon was a hotbed of eager job seekers, with first-year law students seeking advice for upperclass students at a public interest job fair on the second floor and at least five upperclass students and graduate students looking into careers at Goldman Sachs just downstairs.

In both cases, the students said they were anxious about the job search and eager for it to be over.

"There's a herd mentality," said Ted Folkman, a second-year law student who is applying at 12 private sector law firms in search of a summer job. "Everyone wants to know where everyone else is applying, and then they apply to those places too. It just adds to the stress."

Mark B. Stein, the co-chair of the hiring committee at the Boston firm of McDermott, Will and Emery said his firm uses the performance of their summer associates to determine if they would make a permanently good fit with the firm.

Of the seven lawyers McDermott, Will, and Emery hired to start next September, five had worked at the firm the previous summer.

"Summer associates regularly have contact with clients," Stein said. "This is a great chance to see students in action."

Folkman, who worked for the U.S. Attorney General's Office in Cleveland, Ohio last summer, says his job search has become more competitive this year as students vie for private sector internships that could turn into post-graduation job offers Stein's firm promises.