Top Law Schools

It's pretty clear that NY > CA for legal work, but the general feel I get on this forum is that SF > LA (sorry I'm really CA/NY biased). But if you look at V100 for law firms, there are more LA firms in the T25 than SF. In fact, there are no SF firms in the T25. I'm guessing that the location is where the firm is mainly located and has sister branches all over the country, which means that SF could have far more sister branches than LA. But I was just looking for some evidence. Also maybe SF>CA because Norcal law schools > Socal? I don't know. Just thoughts on why SF > LA everywhere I read on this forum.


Source: http://www.vault.com/wps/portal/usa/ran ... Range=1-25


P.S I am a LA native so I guess I'm just trying to throw a bone to my hometown. Go lakers.

The Vault thing accounts for where the home office is. You're ignoring that tons of firms have satellite offices in both places, which make up the bulk of biglaw attorneys working in either place. You're also ignoring the size of these offices.

And what do you mean SF > LA? Do you mean that it is easier to get biglaw in one or the other? That there are more biglaw jobs in one than the other? What exactly are you comparing them based on?

bk187 wrote:The Vault thing accounts for where the home office is. You're ignoring that tons of firms have satellite offices in both places, which make up the bulk of biglaw attorneys working in either place. You're also ignoring the size of these offices.

And what do you mean SF > LA? Do you mean that it is easier to get biglaw in one or the other? That there are more biglaw jobs in one than the other? What exactly are you comparing them based on?

yeah just getting a biglaw job. and being able to pay off your LS debt.

glitched wrote:yeah just getting a biglaw job. and being able to pay off your LS debt.

There was an article that had the exact number of new SAs divided by city, I can't find it right now but I think it was on Vault (could easily be wrong).

I want to say that SF had fewer SAs than LA but my memory is hazy.

If SF is easier to land than LA, and I'm not convinced it is, I would say it is because more kids from the top schools there leave CA than in LA (more Boalt/Stanford kids leave the state than USC/UCLA kids). Maybe also because SF cares more about ties than LA and so SF is less likely to take other T14 kids than LA when those kids don't have ties. Maybe because SF has more jobs. This is really all speculation off the top of my head.

La is a larger legal ,market than sf, but sf is still larger than most markets. All in all, more people prefer sf just because its a far cooler city than la.

SBL wrote:sf just because its a far cooler city than la.

Way credited.

glitched wrote:In fact, there are no SF firms in the T25.

I thought MoFo was 16th and based out of San Francisco. I've just kind of been... perusing... Cali law firms lately...

--ImageRemoved--

LA > all

aas911 wrote:--ImageRemoved--

LA > all

Good point. SF has realized that basketball is beneath them and so decided not to field a team. Thus, SF > LA.

Oh, did someone say sports?

SBL wrote:Oh, did someone say sports?

This. Although the Angels are consistently a mean team, and the Dodgers are consistently... on the verge of being... I dunno. Doesn't matter, they have Clayton Kershaw.

I lived in SF my first 18 years and LA for 8 years so my opinion really matters.

LA sucks balls compared to SF.

That is all.