Top Law Schools

curry1 wrote: I think it would actually be easier to get a biglaw job in SF/SV out of Harvard with good bay area ties than out of Stanford (assuming median/below median grades).

dabigchina wrote:

curry1 wrote: I think it would actually be easier to get a biglaw job in SF/SV out of Harvard with good bay area ties than out of Stanford (assuming median/below median grades).

wat?

Anyway OP, if you want Bay Area Biglaw you are probably going to want S>HYB. In my experience, CCN is not really a thing for the Bay Area. CCNMVP seem more or less fungible to a lot of Bay Area firms.

Veil of Ignorance wrote:

dabigchina wrote:

curry1 wrote: I think it would actually be easier to get a biglaw job in SF/SV out of Harvard with good bay area ties than out of Stanford (assuming median/below median grades).

wat?

Anyway OP, if you want Bay Area Biglaw you are probably going to want S>HYB. In my experience, CCN is not really a thing for the Bay Area. CCNMVP seem more or less fungible to a lot of Bay Area firms.

Would you say that the LA market is more discerning regarding the T14? I was looking at a prestigious SF lit firm and there seemed to be more Hastings grads than Columbia or Chicago. I couldn't believe it.

mcmand wrote:

Veil of Ignorance wrote:Hello all,

I've been searching the threads and I've been seeing people say that if you are 100% sure about wanting to do biglaw in the Bay Area or secondarily in Seattle, that HYS and Berkeley are the way to go. HYS makes sense, but if I really was sure about SF and knew I didn't want NY or Chicago, would Columbia, NYU, Chi, Penn be worse than Berk?

If you're trying to do Seattle, you'd be better off going to UW. If you're a good student, you'll rise to the top, so grades won't be a barrier, and most of the mid-law and biglaw firms here take at least 1 or more UW people each year. You could even go to Seattle U! (I know many people on this forum would be aghast at the very thought.) Their top students place quite well among all employers in the Seattle area, although I think they have more of an uphill battle than UW students do.

Why UW or SU over HYSB? Seattle is still a cozy, small-ish legal market, despite the economic growth it's seeing. Everyone knows each other. Firms frequently ask people why Seattle in interviews and some of them look down on any indication you might leave the state. The more clearly you demonstrate ties to the area, the better.

That's not to say HYSB wouldn't serve you well; they have alumni here at the big firms (Perkins hires most from UW and Harvard). But a friend of mine who went to UW undergrad and then went to NYU Law still got frozen out of the market in Seattle. That's not unheard of.

Of course, if the Bay Area is your first pick, then HYSB are best. UW won't go quite as far, although ironically I will be working in the Bay Area as a UW alum this next fall, along with two other classmates doing BigLaw, so it's not improbable/impossible.

Tiago Splitter wrote:For Bay Area with ties, probably similar from B relative to the rest of the T-14 but it is nice to be close by.

mcmand wrote:

Veil of Ignorance wrote:Hello all,

I've been searching the threads and I've been seeing people say that if you are 100% sure about wanting to do biglaw in the Bay Area or secondarily in Seattle, that HYS and Berkeley are the way to go. HYS makes sense, but if I really was sure about SF and knew I didn't want NY or Chicago, would Columbia, NYU, Chi, Penn be worse than Berk?

If you're trying to do Seattle, you'd be better off going to UW. If you're a good student, you'll rise to the top, so grades won't be a barrier, and most of the mid-law and biglaw firms here take at least 1 or more UW people each year. You could even go to Seattle U! (I know many people on this forum would be aghast at the very thought.) Their top students place quite well among all employers in the Seattle area, although I think they have more of an uphill battle than UW students do.

Why UW or SU over HYSB? Seattle is still a cozy, small-ish legal market, despite the economic growth it's seeing. Everyone knows each other. Firms frequently ask people why Seattle in interviews and some of them look down on any indication you might leave the state. The more clearly you demonstrate ties to the area, the better.

That's not to say HYSB wouldn't serve you well; they have alumni here at the big firms (Perkins hires most from UW and Harvard). But a friend of mine who went to UW undergrad and then went to NYU Law still got frozen out of the market in Seattle. That's not unheard of.

Of course, if the Bay Area is your first pick, then HYSB are best. UW won't go quite as far, although ironically I will be working in the Bay Area as a UW alum this next fall, along with two other classmates doing BigLaw, so it's not improbable/impossible.

Veil of Ignorance wrote:

Tiago Splitter wrote:For Bay Area with ties, probably similar from B relative to the rest of the T-14 but it is nice to be close by.

Didn't you go to Chicago or Columbia? I know those schools place less than 20% in CA, but did you get the impression that the placement was actually weaker in SF/SV than in NY?

mcmand wrote:

Dcc617 wrote:

mcmand wrote:

Veil of Ignorance wrote:Hello all,

I've been searching the threads and I've been seeing people say that if you are 100% sure about wanting to do biglaw in the Bay Area or secondarily in Seattle, that HYS and Berkeley are the way to go. HYS makes sense, but if I really was sure about SF and knew I didn't want NY or Chicago, would Columbia, NYU, Chi, Penn be worse than Berk?

If you're trying to do Seattle, you'd be better off going to UW. If you're a good student, you'll rise to the top, so grades won't be a barrier, and most of the mid-law and biglaw firms here take at least 1 or more UW people each year. You could even go to Seattle U! (I know many people on this forum would be aghast at the very thought.) Their top students place quite well among all employers in the Seattle area, although I think they have more of an uphill battle than UW students do.

Why UW or SU over HYSB? Seattle is still a cozy, small-ish legal market, despite the economic growth it's seeing. Everyone knows each other. Firms frequently ask people why Seattle in interviews and some of them look down on any indication you might leave the state. The more clearly you demonstrate ties to the area, the better.

That's not to say HYSB wouldn't serve you well; they have alumni here at the big firms (Perkins hires most from UW and Harvard). But a friend of mine who went to UW undergrad and then went to NYU Law still got frozen out of the market in Seattle. That's not unheard of.

Of course, if the Bay Area is your first pick, then HYSB are best. UW won't go quite as far, although ironically I will be working in the Bay Area as a UW alum this next fall, along with two other classmates doing BigLaw, so it's not improbable/impossible.

Mcmand, you sort of won the law school game. It's not good advice to tell other people to necessarily follow in your footsteps "if they're a good student." People can't assume they're going to be at the top of their class, because not everyone will be. It's sort of insane to pick UW in order to have a shot at a handful of jobs if you're at the top of your class after three years competing against smart people.

Bad advice.

I'm not at the top of my class by a long shot, law school isn't a game, and the point of my advice is you have less of a shot at the handful of Seattle BigLaw jobs by attending a non PNW school.

Is this somehow not clear? I thought I was clear, but maybe everyone's obsession with BigLaw and T14 on this forum is leading everyone to think "well of course it's bad advice because you might end up not getting BigLaw." I made my point that if you weigh Seattle more, then T14 doesn't do you much good in comparison. If you are BigLaw or bust, then it doesn't make much sense.

I'm sure the response to this will be "if you're not biglaw or bust you're a fool." Which is a whole separate issue.