Is a T6 worth it if you're focused on non-OCI firms? Forum

[CanadianWolf]

Curious as to how you know which law firms you like & dislike without ever having attended law school or having law firm experience? Law school may change your views. Location, however, is an understandable preference if that is what you mean by liking or not liking law firms.
It is important to consider that your primary concern may just be a cyclical function of the economy. Remember that law school offers two summers in which to clerk & gain exposure to law firms; maybe your targeted law firms will be more receptive to a Harvard law student as a summer intern even though the firm does not interview on campus.

[soullesswonder]

I honestly just don't see how losing access through OCI to a bunch of firms in the markets where you want to work could be worth the slight bump in prestige Chicago would give you.

I would agree, but then again I wouldn't go to Chicago for the prestige. What if I threw in the fact that I'm interested in clerking? Would that change your position?

I think there is a large difference between Harvard and the schools you mentioned. I would be wary for schools like Chicago/ Berkeley/ Penn etc. because they are all regional in a sense (although a huge region tbf).

This is an interesting thought, and not one that I think has often been discussed. Is the main benefit of CCN relative to MVPDN (intentional anti-GULC and anti-Cornell trolling) irrelevant to those who don't want to practice in NYC/DC/Chi/LA? Are HYS the only schools that have true national portability with both primary, secondary, and (if you use this category) tertiary markets?

[soullesswonder]

Curious as to how you know which law firms you like & dislike without ever having attended law school or having law firm experience? Law school may change your views. Location, however, is an understandable preference if that is what you mean by liking or not liking law firms.

Location is definitely a factor, but there's a little more to it than that. I've spent a lot of time looking at different firms (By a stroke of luck I managed to download about six different Vault guides for free and read all the firm profiles - I've also looked at a ton of NALP firm entries and searched for recent news articles), and although my preferences might change, it would probably be the difference between a lower NLJ 250/Amlaw 200 firm in the Southeast versus a Vault100 firm in the Southeast.

[Stringer Bell]

I honestly just don't see how losing access through OCI to a bunch of firms in the markets where you want to work could be worth the slight bump in prestige Chicago would give you.

I would agree, but then again I wouldn't go to Chicago for the prestige. What if I threw in the fact that I'm interested in clerking? Would that change your position?

When I threw out "prestige" I was speaking more to the post graduation opportunities the school would provide. You're obviously intelligent so I assumed you weren't worried about getting the cool points that TLS accords you for going to a T6.

You are obviously going to have a better opportunity to clerk coming from Chicago. By the same token, if you perform well academically at Chicago, I doubt you would be unable to break into any of these markets anyways.

When I read your initial post, it seemed like you were looking at things from more of a risk management strategy. So in that vein, if we were comparing a median Chicago student vs. a median UVA student going for ATL, I really just have a hard time believing that the UVA student won't have a better shot at landing something by getting access to more firms. I can't see an ATL firm getting a resume emailed to them from a median Chicago student and saying "You know what, we were going to hire the median kid we liked at UVA OGI, but let's fly this guy in for an interview."

FWIW, I sort of went through this same decision making process a few months ago, although your situation is enviable to mine. I'm a mega splitter and was considering an ED app to Chicago or Columbia with the thinking that if I struck out I would still have a good shot at NU (due to really good WE). I wound up changing my mind and doing ED at UVA, partially due to my liking it more as I read more about the culture, but also due to the fact that I probably will want to come back to Texas if I don't perform well enough to do something really cool along the lines of a COA clerkship. UVA has substantially more Texas firms at OCI than NU, Chicago, or Columbia. Also, I'm 0L so take my opinion with a grain of salt.