Chicago Biglaw Chances

[Helmholtz]

Smaller biglaw-ish firms that pay at least close to market, have a better work/life balance, and provide more opportunities to make partner? From what I've seen, these firms are more difficult to get than a lot of the larger biglaw firms. See e.g. Barack Ferrazzano.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Barack Ferranzzano kind of an exception? It seems like there are the smaller boutique firms that are still very prestige conscious (e.g. Barack Ferrazzano), and then there are smaller firms that are less prestige conscious (e.g. Chapman & Cutler, McGuire Woods)

I'm not entirely sure though. Appreciate the feedback.

It seems like firms such as Chapman and McGuire just aren't doing a decent amount of hiring (even in the boom times, it's not like they had large summer classes), and have pretty horrendous offer rates for summer associates (didn't McGuire have something like 50% last year or maybe the year before?). It also seems, from anecdotal evidence, that some T14 people who could have been in line for a V25, pre-crash, are looking to firms like Chapman and McGuire in an effort to get something in their desired market. I wasn't really thinking of these types of firms when reading your original post, but still, I'm not sure how viable of an option they are.

[blurbz]

I know someone from Illinois (a rising 3L) who is at McGuire Woods this summer and I think his grades were probably around top 15-20%, so it is possible. I'm not contradicting Helm saying it's unlikely, though: It is definitely still unlikely. I agree, also that the small class sizes and low offer rates ought to be a red flag.

A few posts ago someone asked if I considered the firms paying 145 to be biglaw or not and I should clarify that I do. Some of them offer good (at least relative to their market-paying counterparts) work-life balance which makes them more competitive for top candidates but others expect the same number of billables--They just pay less. This makes them less competitive and might be a good option for someone near the top 20% who wants to be in biglaw and is willing to work for a bit less than market.

[09042014]

I know someone from Illinois (a rising 3L) who is at McGuire Woods this summer and I think his grades were probably around top 15-20%, so it is possible. I'm not contradicting Helm saying it's unlikely, though: It is definitely still unlikely. I agree, also that the small class sizes and low offer rates ought to be a red flag.

A few posts ago someone asked if I considered the firms paying 145 to be biglaw or not and I should clarify that I do. Some of them offer good (at least relative to their market-paying counterparts) work-life balance which makes them more competitive for top candidates but others expect the same number of billables--They just pay less. This makes them less competitive and might be a good option for someone near the top 20% who wants to be in biglaw and is willing to work for a bit less than market.

A lot is going to depend on how Chicago as a market does. Most firms have had anemic class sizes the last two years. Expansion will significantly impact UIUC's placement in the city.

In Chicago market is both 160K and 145K. It's really only firms who are competing with big NYC firms that pay 160k. Either way, 145K in Chicago is just as good, if not better than 160K in NYC.