SnazzleFrazzle89 wrote:From my source I mentioned earlier....
H & Y will obviously place in Atlanta if graduates of those schools choose to come here. Stanford is almost non-existent in this market and that's primarily due to self selection.
The true "HYS" rung of Atlanta is DUV (Duke, UVA, and Vanderbilt). However, they are followed VERY closely by UGA. If you finish top 15% from UGA, but can't land Big Law in Atlanta, you need to learn how to interview. Plain and simple.
I won't go too far into Emory, other than that it does not have the most favorable reputation in the city. The perception is that its graduates all want to go back up north and that those who do take a Big Law job in Atlanta will bolt ASAP.
As for other schools in the region (GA State, Mercer, UNC, UF, Alabama), you damn well better be #1 through #10 in your class (#, not %) to even get a look.
In short, there are four schools outside of H & Y that give you a decent to good shot at Atlanta. The first and foremost requirement are grades. After that, it's about ties to the region (contrary to what is said on here).
I wouldn't consider the top 15% requirement to get a job from UGA a 'good to decent shot" at a job. The website says UGA has 210 people in a class - so that means about 30 people have
any shot to get a biglaw job in Atlanta.
I don't know personally about the ties requirement in ATL. Given what I know about hiring generally, I would be surprised if anyone can get a job offer without some plausible reason as to why they want to work in Atlanta. Ties are just the easiest way to prove that you have a plausible reason. I can see that ties are secondary to grades, as in, if you don't have the grades you don't even get in the door for an interview.