CLS bid list - Stone but not law review? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Any thoughts on this? I'm not sure what are 'reaches' for me - I did decently but not stellar grades and am on a journal but not law review. Also no idea how to rank them strategically - they're mostly in the order of how happy I would be to get a callback right now.

Cleary
Allen & Overy
Shearman & Sterling
Weil
Simpson
White & Case
clifford chance
Jones Day
Latham
Paul Weiss
Quinn
Debevoise
Linklaters
Crowell & Moring
Gibson Dunn
Bingham McCutchen
Patton Boggs
Baker & McKenzie
Fulbright & Jaworski
Hubbard Hughes
Dechert
Herbert Smith
WilmerHale
Orrick Herrington
Boies Schiller
Vinson & Elkins
Milbank Tweed

[Rule11]

Any idea what you want to do at a firm? That's a pretty scattershot list in terms of practice-area focuses and firm cultures.

[Anonymous User]

Not really (obviously). Work, get paid, eventually be happy. I guess lit right now but I don't want to rule anything out so trying to stick with places where I can at least rotate through different areas.

What are the big misfits on that list?

[Rule11]

I wouldn't say there are serious misfits on there--I just couldn't really pick up on a unifying theme. Obviously Boies and Quinn are basically all litigation, but some of the others are really much better known for transactional work (Simpson, Latham, Milbank, e.g.). One thing you might want to investigate if you're unsure what you want to do is how firms assign you to practice groups after your summer. Off the top of my head, Latham uses a very flexible "unassigned" system for your first two years, so you can be doing just about anything (but you also may end up underspecialized), whereas Milbank gives you a hard assignment before you start (with your preference being important but not dispositive, so if you prefer lit but they want you in Lev Fin, you lose).

Overall, it looks like a solid list to me. Stone is top 1/3, right? And you want to be in NY? If so, I think you can safely eliminate baker and mckenzie (no offense to them or anyone who works there--they aren't dla piper, but they've got a similar model going on). Not sure that Orrick would be a good choice either.

[timbs4339]

Not really (obviously). Work, get paid, eventually be happy. I guess lit right now but I don't want to rule anything out so trying to stick with places where I can at least rotate through different areas.

What are the big misfits on that list?

You should probably aim for more V10s. Skadden, Davis Polk, Sullivan, Cravath should be on there. You're missing Kirkland too.

[swc65]

I think you can safely eliminate Baker and McKenzie (no offense to them or anyone who works there--they aren't DLA Piper, but they've got a similar model going on). Not sure that Orrick would be a good choice either.

Agreed with what has been said. It is a conservative list. A lot of brand names are missing.

Also, ordering by where you want to work isn't so great. The interview bid ratio is much more helpful in getting interviews.

For example, Cleary has a .84 ratio (meaning 84% of people who bid got an interview). Having them first is probably not the best idea. Linklaters has a .5 ratio and having them so low probably means you won't get an interview. If you switched them, you would probably get interviews at both.

[Anonymous User]

Not OP, but same position. What do you guys think?

Sidley NY
Weil NY
Proskauer NY
Paul Hastings NY
Ropes NY
Skadden NY
Cleary NY
Boies NY
Shearman NY
Sullivan NY
Debevoise NY
Gibson Dunn NY
Jones Day NY
Quinn NY
Paul Weiss NY
McKinsey
Simpson Thatcher NY
Milbank Tweed NY
Davis Polk NY
Cadwalader NY
Covington NY
Dechert NY
Kirkland NY
Akin Gump NY
Choate Hall BOS
WilmerHale BOS
Morgan Lewis PHL
Cravath NY
Wilson Sonsini Palo
Morrison Foerster HK