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vincanity1

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Miami biglaw

Post by vincanity1 » Fri Jul 29, 2011 11:55 am

Anyone have any idea what it takes to get into Miami biglaw from t14 lower than YHS?

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by gulcregret » Fri Jul 29, 2011 3:01 pm

A serious connection to the area will be a huge advantage. Only a handful of firms even have summer positions and they routinely no offer people. Any T14 degree is going to look good, and be anywhere around median. A friend of mine from FL was right above median last year from GULC and interviewed at every major FL firm except, I think, Bilzin. And he got them outside of OCI.

What firms are you looking at?

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vincanity1

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by vincanity1 » Fri Jul 29, 2011 3:08 pm

gulcregret wrote:A serious connection to the area will be a huge advantage. Only a handful of firms even have summer positions and they routinely no offer people. Any T14 degree is going to look good, and be anywhere around median. A friend of mine from FL was right above median last year from GULC and interviewed at every major FL firm except, I think, Bilzin. And he got them outside of OCI.

What firms are you looking at?

Looking at all the major firms along brickell with less interest in white and case. That leaves akerman, bilzin, hunton, squire something (what once was steel hector. Think this might be midlaw) and a few others that I can't recall at the moment. Basically any paying above 130 within miami
Last edited by vincanity1 on Sat Feb 08, 2014 11:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

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vincanity1

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by vincanity1 » Fri Jul 29, 2011 3:11 pm

Also, I can probably refine my questionto top ten God willing lol

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jul 29, 2011 3:11 pm

Is it true that Weil actually pays $160 in Miami?

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vincanity1

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by vincanity1 » Fri Jul 29, 2011 3:19 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Is it true that Weil actually pays $160 in Miami?
I'm under the impression that the only firm paying over 145 in Miami is white

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by gulcregret » Fri Jul 29, 2011 3:37 pm

I'm not sure what Weil actually pays. I know what their NALP form says. I also know that it's a tough nut to crack. I have connections to South Florida and pretty good grades from GULC and could not get an interview there. Its very small.

You're connection to the area will help. If you went to undergrad in the state it will help. Family ties will help. Mostly you need the ability to make them believe you want to work there. What is your reason for wanting to do "biglaw" in Miami? They have extremely limited practice groups and focus a lot on capital markets in Central and South America. Unless you want to litigate locally.

Holland & Knight and Akerman have not been doing well over the past few years because a lot of their deals are real estate centered. Both have tried to expand too far. Greenberg, as far as I know, is doing well and hiring people. White hires the biggest class I think. Gunster gets top FL work. Bilzin seems cool but I don't know much about them other than they have not really scaled back entry level hiring too much, from what I recall. Hunton does a lot of lobbying/policy work. McDermott is focused on employee benefits (I think, I could be mixing them up) and litigation.

Hughes Hubbard has an office down there and would be a nice place to do international arbitration and capital markets. Plus the office supports the NYC litigation department and gets high quality work. They may be the best place to practice NY law from an office in Miami. If you are top 10% at a T10 and interested in litigation, send your resume to Boies Schiller now, because they will interview you outside of OCI. They will be extremely interested.

Squire Sanders is in bad shape, not sure if they will be recruiting. Could be wrong though.

The best advice I can give you having interviewed with a few of these firms after my first year (mostly informational interviews and courtesies because I had top grades after my first semester at GULC and these firms were very interested in meeting me and keeping me interested for 2L summer) is to have an idea about what you want to practice in Miami and why you want to live in Miami. Having really good grades is not enough because they know you can and will get other offers from cities with a better legal practice. Not to knock south Florida, I love it there, but the legal market is not that great. Litigating foreclosures for Wells and BOA are keeping a lot of firms afloat. If you have more questions about practice areas, let me know.

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by vincanity1 » Fri Jul 29, 2011 3:54 pm

Wow, I had no idea there were so many big firms. I haven't heard of about half of the ones you mentioned. I studying econ at uf and I figure I'll end up at mvpd if hls doesn't give me any Cuban boost. I'm interested in doing major m&a/corporate work and I definitely want to practice in Miami. I posted the original question cuz I was curious how much I'd have to work at somewhere like those four schools I mentioned to get the nod by some of these firms.

I really appreciate all the insight so far and any more you can provide, specfically with regards to the practice areas I mentioned, would be invaluable

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by gulcregret » Fri Jul 29, 2011 4:14 pm

vincanity1 wrote:Wow, I had no idea there were so many big firms. I haven't heard of about half of the ones you mentioned. I studying econ at uf and I figure I'll end up at mvpd if hls doesn't give me any Cuban boost. I'm interested in doing major m&a/corporate work and I definitely want to practice in Miami. I posted the original question cuz I was curious how much I'd have to work at somewhere like those four schools I mentioned to get the nod by some of these firms.

I really appreciate all the insight so far and any more you can provide, specfically with regards to the practice areas I mentioned, would be invaluable

I'll tell you there is not much "major m&a/corporate work" in MIA. There is some m&a and a good deal of corporate, but it is on a much smaller scale. So you are applying to law school in the fall? If so, don't worry too much about what you think you want right now, because it will most likely change after you get into law school! You'll have a lot of opportunities from those schools and as great as MIA is, it will not offer top level legal work. Maybe for capital markets and m&a in Brazil, which is still blowing up (assuming you can speak the language).

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vincanity1

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by vincanity1 » Fri Jul 29, 2011 4:22 pm

Lol yep, applying in a few weeks. I'm the kind of guy who calculates minimum test grades needed to get the A so this was sort of a natural question for me lol. I'm too committed to staying put in my hometown so I guess I'll just have to take whatever the market gives me. Hopefully an acceptance from and the lack of grades at hls will make all of this moot lol. Good luck with your job hunt. I'd love to hear about your experiences with Miami firms

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by gulcregret » Fri Jul 29, 2011 4:33 pm

vincanity1 wrote:Lol yep, applying in a few weeks. I'm the kind of guy who calculates minimum test grades needed to get the A so this was sort of a natural question for me lol. I'm too committed to staying put in my hometown so I guess I'll just have to take whatever the market gives me. Hopefully an acceptance from and the lack of grades at hls will make all of this moot lol. Good luck with your job hunt. I'd love to hear about your experiences with Miami firms
Well if you're set on MIA then it should be an easy sell when you are looking for jobs. UF undergrad and a law student at any of those schools will get you noticed and should land you a few interviews. It's a small legal market and everyone knows each other. Just get good grades (top third) and try to get back to FL your 1L summer for something law related. Check Stearns Weaver, because they hire 1Ls primarily for their summer positions. They have FTL and MIA offices.

I'm a 3L now, I got offers from a few firms including H&K, Gunster, Broad Cassel, etc. which I turned down because of the kind of work I was going to be doing. I did not get offers from Boies or Hughes Hubbard and would have taken either one. Boies pays 174k in its Florida offices! If you decide you want to litigate and have the grades, shoot for Boies (any of their FL offices). Bilzin has a diverse corporate practice in MIA and are well regarded. I still think Greenberg is the best FL firm though. And Hughes Hubbard was great, and is mostly support for NY deals and litigation, but they take maybe 1-2 summers, so it's harder to get in. Hughes is different from the other FL firms in that it does not really practice FL law at all. That might be the place you get the "major" corporate work. Ultimately, I ended up with a big firm in DC and am trying to get in the gov't now because I hated big firm work (but will most likely accept the offer because its better than nothing).

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by gogators » Fri Jul 29, 2011 4:36 pm

tag

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by vincanity1 » Fri Jul 29, 2011 4:39 pm

Definitely going to be referring back to this page later on. Thanks again and gl

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Sep 02, 2011 1:21 pm

anyone have any miami offers?

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Sep 02, 2011 2:17 pm

Anonymous User wrote:anyone have any miami offers?
Yes. Of course people do...

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Sep 02, 2011 2:17 pm

Anyone shed more light on Boies Miami?

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Sep 02, 2011 2:20 pm

had a CB at Bilzin Miami. EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL and I immediately withdrew. the recruiter asked which specific firms I was interviewing with and where exactly I had offers. ridiculous. i tried to give general answers such as "large firms" or "firms with international offices but a strong miami presence" but she said "no, i'm asking for the names of the firms specifically." i was appalled. floored. just want to put that out there about Bilzin. 100% do not recommend working there if you have another option.

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Sep 02, 2011 2:26 pm

Anonymous User wrote:had a CB at Bilzin Miami. EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL and I immediately withdrew. the recruiter asked which specific firms I was interviewing with and where exactly I had offers. ridiculous. i tried to give general answers such as "large firms" or "firms with international offices but a strong miami presence" but she said "no, i'm asking for the names of the firms specifically." i was appalled. floored. just want to put that out there about Bilzin. 100% do not recommend working there if you have another option.
I don't think this is really unusual. I have been on 4 CBs in the same secondary market (not Miami, but I imagine a similar market where all of the firms know the other firms). I would say that at least someone on 3 of the 4 CBs fished for where else I was interviewing, and more than one pressed me for the specific firms. Why is it so unprofessional?

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Sep 02, 2011 2:45 pm

Anonymous User wrote:had a CB at Bilzin Miami. EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL and I immediately withdrew. the recruiter asked which specific firms I was interviewing with and where exactly I had offers. ridiculous. i tried to give general answers such as "large firms" or "firms with international offices but a strong miami presence" but she said "no, i'm asking for the names of the firms specifically." i was appalled. floored. just want to put that out there about Bilzin. 100% do not recommend working there if you have another option.

Did you have other options? If you did - I don't see why you cared! If you had no other offers at that point I can see why you were offended, and I understand why you felt uncomfortable - but I don't think it was "rude."

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Sep 02, 2011 2:47 pm

gulcregret wrote: Boies pays 174k in its Florida offices!

Holy Crap! Are they the number one Miami gig?

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Sep 02, 2011 2:55 pm

I had a screener at a biglaw Miami firm and the interviewer asked me that same question, I think in more of a "let me tell you why our firm is more awesome" kind of way. I don't think it was meant to be offensive.

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by Omerta » Fri Sep 02, 2011 4:48 pm

Anonymous User wrote:had a CB at Bilzin Miami. EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL and I immediately withdrew. the recruiter asked which specific firms I was interviewing with and where exactly I had offers. ridiculous. i tried to give general answers such as "large firms" or "firms with international offices but a strong miami presence" but she said "no, i'm asking for the names of the firms specifically." i was appalled. floored. just want to put that out there about Bilzin. 100% do not recommend working there if you have another option.
I've gotten asked this a few times. After I answered, the interviewer always used my answer to distinguish their firms from other firms I had CBs with soooooo I guess I'm saying thanks for withdrawing.

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by quakeroats » Fri Sep 02, 2011 4:50 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
gulcregret wrote: Boies pays 174k in its Florida offices!

Holy Crap! Are they the number one Miami gig?
The office has 23 people, 14 of whom are partners.

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Sep 02, 2011 5:49 pm

Anonymous User wrote:anyone have any miami offers?
I know of at least one person with an offer at Weil in Miami.

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Re: Miami biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Sep 02, 2011 6:00 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:anyone have any miami offers?
I know of at least one person with an offer at Weil in Miami.
Any specifics you could provide on that person? School? Rank?

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