Texas OCI (and non-UT students bidding on TX firms) Forum

[nonprofit-prophet]

EDIT: The OCI season is officially finished for me.

[granger]

Could really use some bidding advice.

I'm at 3.73. Hoping for NY, but not so sure of my chances, and more than willing to work in Houston or Dallas. I'm leery of bidding high on longshots at the expense of my best opportunities. Is there an established bid structure in this event? I was thinking I might just make separate lists and input them so that every other bid is in a given market. ( I'm counting HOU/DAL as one market since I don't really have a basis for distinguishing them and have ties to neither).

[Perseus_I]

Between 3.65 and 3.75: Must work on the coasts or Chicago. I chose TX over a number of higher-ranking schools in order to avoid debt but with the understanding that I would holdout for a coastal job, even if it meant doing an LLM.

Any advice on the Bay Area (strong ties)? NY (no ties)?

[nonprofit-prophet]

Between 3.65 and 3.75: Must work on the coasts or Chicago. I chose TX over a number of higher-ranking schools in order to avoid debt but with the understanding that I would holdout for a coastal job, even if it meant doing an LLM.

Any advice on the Bay Area (strong ties)? NY (no ties)?

Make sure you do NY job fair. I don't think you need NY ties as long as you have an explanation as to why you want NYC. NY is such a destination city that no one will think it's weird that you want to work there without having ties beforehand.

[Anonymous User]

I'm roughly top 40% at a similarly ranked school out of state. Grew up in Austin. Know enough that bidding Austin would be really really dumb. I would prefer Dallas, but it seems like Houston has bigger SA sizes.

Am I better off bidding Houston? Winstead and Locke Lord would probably be my top picks right now. Do I have any shot at them?

[Perseus_I]

I'm roughly top 40% at a similarly ranked school out of state. Grew up in Austin. Know enough that bidding Austin would be really really dumb. I would prefer Dallas, but it seems like Houston has bigger SA sizes.

Am I better off bidding Houston? Winstead and Locke Lord would probably be my top picks right now. Do I have any shot at them?

Actually, if you grew up in Austin, bidding on it might not be so bad. I know a girl who got Austin (Locke Lord) from Georgetown at median. The reason why most people have such a hard time breaking into Austin is because most of us are not from Austin. If you're IP, you're in particularly good shape; I'd give you an excellent chance. If not, I'd throw at least a few bids Austin's way.

I have a friend who is a hiring partner at a large Dallas firm who says Dallas is rather parochial; even if you're from other parts of Texas, they can be rather skeptical of your desire to be there. I imagine this would especially be true of Austin. Austin is about 90x more awesome than the rest of Texas, so Dallas firms might view you as a flight risk. I'd go with Houston for that reason, but mix it up with a few Dallas and Austin bids thrown in.

[de5igual]

Haven't seen a UT bid list/OCI discussion, so I figured I'd start one.

I'm right around a 4.0 (I guess 2-3%) and I'm looking to stay in TX, but I threw in LA and NYC just in case I had a change of heart at the last minute. I wasn't really sure how to structure my bids. I guessed that more UT students would bid on TX than NY/LA, so I bid those firms higher. Does anyone see any glaring mistakes? Am I bidding too low for NYC? Any firms I missed? Also, I'm not completely sure how our OCI works. If we don't get an interview with a firm we like through the bidding process, can we still send them a resume?

1 Vinson & Elkins, L.L.P. (Dallas, TX)
2 Baker Botts L.L.P. (Houston, TX)
3 Susman Godfrey L.L.P. (Houston, TX)
4 Jones Day (Houston, TX)
5 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (Dallas, TX)
6 Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. (Houston, TX)
7 Bracewell & Giuliani LLP (Houston, TX)
8 Andrews Kurth LLP (Houston, TX)
9 Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP (Dallas, TX)
10 Thompson & Knight L.L.P. (Dallas, TX)
11 McKool Smith, PC (Dallas, TX)
12 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (Dallas, TX)
13 Latham & Watkins (Houston, TX)
14 Bickel and Brewer (Dallas, TX)
15 Gibbs & Bruns, L.L.P. (Houston, TX)
16 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP (New York, NY)
17 Locke Lord LLP (Houston, TX)
18 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (Los Angeles, CA)
19 Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP (Los Angeles, CA)
20 Sullivan & Cromwell LLP (New York, NY)
21 Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (New York, NY)
22 Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP (Los Angeles, CA)
23 Proskauer Rose, LLP (Los Angeles, CA)
24 Debevoise & Plimpton (New York, NY)
25 Cooley LLP (Palo Alto, CA)

it's 70/30 preselect/lottery. with a 4.0, you will pretty much be preselected wherever you apply, so your bid order won't really matter (as long as you list your top 25 first)

[nonprofit-prophet]

it's 70/30 preselect/lottery. with a 4.0, you will pretty much be preselected wherever you apply, so your bid order won't really matter (as long as you list your top 25 first)

Oh awesome. I didn't realize there was also a pre-select component. Thanks

[Anonymous User]

Haven't seen a UT bid list/OCI discussion, so I figured I'd start one.

I'm right around a 4.0 (I guess 2-3%) and I'm looking to stay in TX, but I threw in LA and NYC just in case I had a change of heart at the last minute. I wasn't really sure how to structure my bids. I guessed that more UT students would bid on TX than NY/LA, so I bid those firms higher. Does anyone see any glaring mistakes? Am I bidding too low for NYC? Any firms I missed? Also, I'm not completely sure how our OCI works. If we don't get an interview with a firm we like through the bidding process, can we still send them a resume?

1 Vinson & Elkins, L.L.P. (Dallas, TX)
2 Baker Botts L.L.P. (Houston, TX)
3 Susman Godfrey L.L.P. (Houston, TX)
4 Jones Day (Houston, TX)
5 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (Dallas, TX)
6 Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. (Houston, TX)
7 Bracewell & Giuliani LLP (Houston, TX)
8 Andrews Kurth LLP (Houston, TX)
9 Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP (Dallas, TX)
10 Thompson & Knight L.L.P. (Dallas, TX)
11 McKool Smith, PC (Dallas, TX)
12 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (Dallas, TX)
13 Latham & Watkins (Houston, TX)
14 Bickel and Brewer (Dallas, TX)
15 Gibbs & Bruns, L.L.P. (Houston, TX)
16 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP (New York, NY)
17 Locke Lord LLP (Houston, TX)
18 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (Los Angeles, CA)
19 Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP (Los Angeles, CA)
20 Sullivan & Cromwell LLP (New York, NY)
21 Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (New York, NY)
22 Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP (Los Angeles, CA)
23 Proskauer Rose, LLP (Los Angeles, CA)
24 Debevoise & Plimpton (New York, NY)
25 Cooley LLP (Palo Alto, CA)

Are you from Texas...if so, where? It seems you have mainly Dallas firms/offices listed, but then you do have Houston listed in a few places. I feel like you might be better off if you picked one of DAL/HOU and bid on that solely. The SA classes are for the most part much larger in Houston, so I'm not sure why you don't bid V&E Houston #1, for example. Also, why not do the Dal office of Locke Lord instead of Houston? It's based out of Dallas if I'm not mistaken

Very similar to how I'm probably gonna bid as far as sprinkling in NY/LA firms with Texas ones.

[Anonymous User]

Top 3% at UH, have no idea where to even start with this bidding thing. I have the strongest Austin ties possible (minus going to UT law) but don't know how much that'll help me with UH Law. There's no Austin offices coming to our OCI so I'm assuming I'm bidding on Houston offices only.

[Anonymous User]

I'm roughly top 40% at a similarly ranked school out of state. Grew up in Austin. Know enough that bidding Austin would be really really dumb. I would prefer Dallas, but it seems like Houston has bigger SA sizes.

Am I better off bidding Houston? Winstead and Locke Lord would probably be my top picks right now. Do I have any shot at them?

Actually, if you grew up in Austin, bidding on it might not be so bad. I know a girl who got Austin (Locke Lord) from Georgetown at median. The reason why most people have such a hard time breaking into Austin is because most of us are not from Austin. If you're IP, you're in particularly good shape; I'd give you an excellent chance. If not, I'd throw at least a few bids Austin's way.

I have a friend who is a hiring partner at a large Dallas firm who says Dallas is rather parochial; even if you're from other parts of Texas, they can be rather skeptical of your desire to be there. I imagine this would especially be true of Austin. Austin is about 90x more awesome than the rest of Texas, so Dallas firms might view you as a flight risk. I'd go with Houston for that reason, but mix it up with a few Dallas and Austin bids thrown in.

Original Anon here. I'm sadly not IP. This was super helpful! My CSO said they hadn't sent someone to Austin in a long time so I was worried about my chances. You are right about Austin being a billion times cooler than the rest of Texas. I'd love to end up there.

It seems at our OCI that firms have 2 schedules - Dallas/Austin or Houston and I can only bid one. Should I go Dallas/Austin?

[Anonymous User]

Haven't seen a UT bid list/OCI discussion, so I figured I'd start one.

I'm right around a 4.0 (I guess 2-3%) and I'm looking to stay in TX, but I threw in LA and NYC just in case I had a change of heart at the last minute. I wasn't really sure how to structure my bids. I guessed that more UT students would bid on TX than NY/LA, so I bid those firms higher. Does anyone see any glaring mistakes? Am I bidding too low for NYC? Any firms I missed? Also, I'm not completely sure how our OCI works. If we don't get an interview with a firm we like through the bidding process, can we still send them a resume?

1 Vinson & Elkins, L.L.P. (Dallas, TX)
2 Baker Botts L.L.P. (Houston, TX)
3 Susman Godfrey L.L.P. (Houston, TX)
4 Jones Day (Houston, TX)
5 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (Dallas, TX)
6 Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. (Houston, TX)
7 Bracewell & Giuliani LLP (Houston, TX)
8 Andrews Kurth LLP (Houston, TX)
9 Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP (Dallas, TX)
10 Thompson & Knight L.L.P. (Dallas, TX)
11 McKool Smith, PC (Dallas, TX)
12 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (Dallas, TX)
13 Latham & Watkins (Houston, TX)
14 Bickel and Brewer (Dallas, TX)
15 Gibbs & Bruns, L.L.P. (Houston, TX)
16 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP (New York, NY)
17 Locke Lord LLP (Houston, TX)
18 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (Los Angeles, CA)
19 Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP (Los Angeles, CA)
20 Sullivan & Cromwell LLP (New York, NY)
21 Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (New York, NY)
22 Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP (Los Angeles, CA)
23 Proskauer Rose, LLP (Los Angeles, CA)
24 Debevoise & Plimpton (New York, NY)
25 Cooley LLP (Palo Alto, CA)

Good list, but Kinda surprised with your bickel and brewer pick. Personally, I would pick Carrington Coleman or Fulbright & Jaworski over Bickel Brewer unless you really want to work long (and I mean long) hours. The first thing they tell you is that the work week is Monday through Saturday and you should work half days on Sundays. Then they show you the onsite showers when you need to pull all-nighters, and then they show you the fleet of vans they use to transport you home because they know you are too tired to drive. You get tons of work experience and they pay better than most firms, but I don't think it is worth the hours.

[Anonymous User]

I'm top 20% (.00x away) at T25 out of state + secondary LR. TX native. I'll be forever grateful if someone can give me a list of Dallas and Houston firms to mass mail.

[philosoraptor]

I'm top 20% (.00x away) at T25 out of state + secondary LR. TX native. I'll be forever grateful if someone can give me a list of Dallas and Houston firms to mass mail.

http://nalpdirectory.com/

[Perseus_I]

I'm top 20% (.00x away) at T25 out of state + secondary LR. TX native. I'll be forever grateful if someone can give me a list of Dallas and Houston firms to mass mail.

ResumeLaunchPad.com

They are a scam that tries to take your money, but it's pretty good for firm lists, practice areas, and info, and you can always copy and paste the applications from their system if you don't want to pay them. The advantage is they have more firms than NALP, and most of them have the contact person listed.

[Anonymous User]

UT. Top 10%. Want Austin, NY, or LA equally. Don't want Dallas really but I'm from there and would rather have a job there than no job, so I've sprinkled in a healthy amount of Dallas firms. Blast away...

1. Andrews Kurth (Austin)
2. HayBoo (Dallas)
3. Baker Botts (Dallas)
4. Simpson Thatcher (NY)
5. Latham (LA)
6. Fulbright (Dallas/Austin)
7. V&E (Dallas/Austin)
8. Baker Botts (Austin)
9. Munsch Hardt Kopf Harr (Dallas)
10. Irell (LA)
11. Proskauer Rose (LA)
12. Thompson & Knight (Dallas)
13. Locke Lord (Dallas)
14. Weil (Dallas)
15. GDC (Dallas, NY)
16. Jones Day (Dallas)
17. Winstead (Dallas)
18. Lloyd Gosselink (Austin)
19. coats rose (Austin)
20. MoFo (SF/LA)
21. Locke Lord (Austin)
22. Pirkey Barber (Austin)
23. Gardere (Dallas)
24. S&C (NY)
25. Akin Gump (Dallas)
26. Carrington (Dallas)
27. Strasburger (Dallas)
28. Bracewell & Giuliani (Dallas)
29. Baker & McKenzie (Dallas)
30. Andrews Kurth (Dallas)
31. Zelle (Dallas)
32. K&L Gates (Dallas)
33. Bracewell (Austin)

Also doing the NY Job fair. Should I move the LA/NY firms to the top? I was thinking of leaving the TX ones up there for the most part b/c more ppl will be bidding on them. I was also thinking about moving the small Austin firms to the very top (Pirkey Barber, Lloyd Gosselink, etc). 75% pre-select, 25% lottery.

[Richie Tenenbaum]

UT. Top 10%. Want Austin, NY, or LA equally. Don't want Dallas really but I'm from there and would rather have a job there than no job, so I've sprinkled in a healthy amount of Dallas firms. Blast away...

1. Andrews Kurth (Austin)
2. HayBoo (Dallas)
3. Baker Botts (Dallas)
4. Simpson Thatcher (NY)
5. Latham (LA)
6. Fulbright (Dallas/Austin)
7. V&E (Dallas/Austin)
8. Baker Botts (Austin)
9. Munsch Hardt Kopf Harr (Dallas)
10. Irell (LA)
11. Proskauer Rose (LA)
12. Thompson & Knight (Dallas)
13. Locke Lord (Dallas)
14. Weil (Dallas)
15. GDC (Dallas, NY)
16. Jones Day (Dallas)
17. Winstead (Dallas)
18. Lloyd Gosselink (Austin)
19. Coats Rose (Austin)
20. MoFo (SF/LA)
21. Locke Lord (Austin)
22. Pirkey Barber (Austin)
23. Gardere (Dallas)
24. S&C (NY)
25. Akin Gump (Dallas)
26. Carrington (Dallas)
27. Strasburger (Dallas)
28. Bracewell & Giuliani (Dallas)
29. Baker & McKenzie (Dallas)
30. Andrews Kurth (Dallas)
31. Zelle (Dallas)
32. K&L Gates (Dallas)
33. Bracewell (Austin)

Also doing the NY Job fair. Should I move the LA/NY firms to the top? I was thinking of leaving the TX ones up there for the most part b/c more ppl will be bidding on them. I was also thinking about moving the small Austin firms to the very top (Pirkey Barber, Lloyd Gosselink, etc). 75% pre-select, 25% lottery.

I would consider moving the small austin firms to the very top. Dallas firms with larger summer classes can be moved between 15 and 25, since you will likely be preselected for those firms. You might consider putting most Austin firms towards the top, since top 10% is not a guarantee for being preselected at them. (Maybe the best advice I can give you, though, is to call or email Drew at UT's CSO and ask him for advice on the smaller Austin firms, Austin firms in general, and NYC and Cali firms.

Why is Bracewell 33 if you want Austin? You are probably going to fill up slots before then, so if you really want to maximize chances at Austin, I would put Austin firms in the top 25.

Also, might not want to mention you are interested in NYC to Austin firms. They might be weirded out by that since most people who want Austin want it b/c they love Austin and they love the quality of life. If they think someone wants prestige or just top quality work, Austin firms might not like that as much since they don't offer either as much as major cities.

[Anonymous User]

Top 5-10% at CCN here. No ties to Texas but really interested in doing litigation there. Does anyone know what he best lit firms in Texas are? I'm applying to Susman, but I know that's a big longshot.

[Anonymous User]

Top 5-10% at CCN here. No ties to Texas but really interested in doing litigation there. Does anyone know what he best lit firms in Texas are? I'm applying to Susman, but I know that's a big longshot.

Boutiques (in dallas at least):

Carrington, Bickel and Brewer, Baron Budd, Susman, mckool smith

[nonprofit-prophet]

Top 5-10% at CCN here. No ties to Texas but really interested in doing litigation there. Does anyone know what he best lit firms in Texas are? I'm applying to Susman, but I know that's a big longshot.

fulbright, McKool, Beck Redden, VE, and susman are the better firms for lit

[Anonymous User]

@ Richie Tenenbaum

OK, so how about the Austin firms go in the first 6 or 7 slots, the NYC/LA firms go after that, and then the Dallas firms 15-30ish?

[Anonymous User]

Top 5-10% at CCN here. No ties to Texas but really interested in doing litigation there. Does anyone know what he best lit firms in Texas are? I'm applying to Susman, but I know that's a big longshot.

fulbright, McKool, Beck Redden, VE, and susman are the better firms for lit

Top 5-10% at CCN here. No ties to Texas but really interested in doing litigation there. Does anyone know what he best lit firms in Texas are? I'm applying to Susman, but I know that's a big longshot.

Boutiques (in dallas at least):

Carrington, Bickel and Brewer, Baron Budd, Susman, McKool Smith

Thanks!

[Richie Tenenbaum]

@ Richie Tenenbaum

OK, so how about the Austin firms go in the first 6 or 7 slots, the NYC/LA firms go after that, and then the Dallas firms 15-30ish?

Sounds good to me, but I would check with Drew. (He might suggest NYC firms with big classes being lower in the list.) Are you going to the NYC fair?

[Anonymous User]

(same poster from above)

Yeah, I'm going to the NY Job Fair. Haven't heard back about how many interviews I was awarded for that yet, though. I'm also planning on mass mailing some firms that aren't going to our OCI or NY Job fair (Linklaters, Mayer Brown, K&E, Willkie, Shearman, etc)

Thanks

[Anonymous User]

I'm above median at Vandy. (maybe top 40%-35%). Should I be bidding more competitive firms higher? Or stick with where I'm more likely to actually get an interview/hired? (i.e. bidding Bracewell or Locke Lord higher?)