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How risky is it to bid only on one market during OCI?

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 12:38 pm
by Anonymous User
Around median at a T6, have ties to the west coast and want to go back there. How risky is it to bid only on one market during OCI?

Re: How risky is it to bid only on one market during OCI?

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 12:45 pm
by potted plant
Well it completely depends on how competitive you are and the market you're bidding. Bidding all NY with median grades at a NY T6 is probably not risky at all. Bidding all SF/SV with LA ties and median grades at T6 and no IP interest would be much riskier.

Re: How risky is it to bid only on one market during OCI?

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 12:46 pm
by rinkrat19
And I hope it doesn't need to be said, but bidding only Seattle (or Portland, lol) would just be insane.

Re: How risky is it to bid only on one market during OCI?

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 12:50 pm
by bk1
NYC? Not risky.
Any other market? Risky as fuck.

Re: How risky is it to bid only on one market during OCI?

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 1:02 pm
by Anonymous User
potted plant wrote:Well it completely depends on how competitive you are and the market you're bidding. Bidding all NY with median grades at a NY T6 is probably not risky at all. Bidding all SF/SV with LA ties and median grades at T6 and no IP interest would be much riskier.
OP here. Not going to portland or seattle.

What about bidding only on a market that i have ties to-- my house is there -- that's not NY?

Re: How risky is it to bid only on one market during OCI?

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 1:03 pm
by bk1
Anonymous User wrote:OP here. Not going to portland or seattle.

What about bidding only on a market that i have ties to-- my house is there -- that's not NY?
Was my post above not clear? By far the safest thing you can do is bid NYC. Every other market is essentially a crapshoot due to the low number of jobs.

Re: How risky is it to bid only on one market during OCI?

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 1:14 pm
by Anonymous User
How about if you only have ties to really one market? Grades are below median, secondary journal. Have networked as much as I can and know 5-6 attorneys that might be able to help me.

Went to college in OC and now law school in LA. At best I can say that I have a cousin in SF at medical school and another in Boston at medical school, but I doubt that counts as ties, or does it? No other ties to major markets. Should I also try stretch for reasons to work in other areas? I personally don't care about working anywhere in the country but I don't know if the firms are gonna look and ding me for the fact that I never left the LA/OC area. The best I can come up with for other major markets is that I took a vacation to NYC and liked it...

Re: How risky is it to bid only on one market during OCI?

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 1:20 pm
by bk1
Well if you're at USC/UCLA then that's a different story. You might as well go all in on LA at that point unless you can spare bids for unselective NYC firms.

Re: How risky is it to bid only on one market during OCI?

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 3:04 pm
by Anonymous User
bk187 wrote:Well if you're at USC/UCLA then that's a different story. You might as well go all in on LA at that point unless you can spare bids for unselective NYC firms.
At USC/UCLA. I was thinking that but was wondering if I'm shooting myself in the foot by not also targeting unselective firms elsewhere. Guess I will continue doing as I'm doing.

Re: How risky is it to bid only on one market during OCI?

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 6:41 pm
by 20160810
I think LA is less risky than SF, but it's ironic that you mention ties because the reason those markets are risky is that they are smaller than NYC but don't care much about ties and get applications from all over the place. You're not just up against kids from CA schools and the T14, top students from all over the place apply to CA firms.

Re: How risky is it to bid only on one market during OCI?

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 6:50 pm
by bk1
The problem is that your best bet is with unselective firms with large class sizes. The problem is that those don't really abound in LA (they are pretty much all in NYC). However, LA firms are more impressed by your school than NYC firms are. It is a bind.

Re: How risky is it to bid only on one market during OCI?

Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2013 6:53 pm
by 20160810
Extremely competitive market + small summer class sizes + don't care about ties is basically a perfect storm. That said, if you would only be happy practicing in SF, then you know what you've gotta do.