School on East Coast, then Work on West Coast? Possible?! Forum

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anteater1

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School on East Coast, then Work on West Coast? Possible?!

Post by anteater1 » Sat Feb 05, 2011 7:12 pm

Hey guys quick question that i've always wondered about:

If you go to school on the East Coast (any random school) and then want to work on the West Coast, is it difficult to find work?

I've lived in CA my whole life and I'd like to get out of state for law school but then come back and practice in CA, is this a bad idea?

Thanks Guys.

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Moral_Midgetry

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Re: School on East Coast, then Work on West Coast? Possible?!

Post by Moral_Midgetry » Sat Feb 05, 2011 7:13 pm

retake

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OGR3

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Re: School on East Coast, then Work on West Coast? Possible?!

Post by OGR3 » Sat Feb 05, 2011 7:17 pm

This depends on the quality of your undergrad, strength of your law school, and how strong your legal connections are in CA.

If you went to a crappy school for undergrad, went to a crappy school for law school, and don't know anyone that can help you get a job, you're going to have a tough time.

If you went to Stanford, then go to Harvard, and come back home to your biglaw partner parents, I doubt you'll have much of a problem.

P.S. I'm sure you fall somewhere in between.

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jwrash

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Re: School on East Coast, then Work on West Coast? Possible?!

Post by jwrash » Sat Feb 05, 2011 8:52 pm

Any "random school"? Not happening. Top 17ish? It's possible.

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Pleasye

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Re: School on East Coast, then Work on West Coast? Possible?!

Post by Pleasye » Sat Feb 05, 2011 8:57 pm

Depends what school you go to on the East coast.

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Zabini

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Re: School on East Coast, then Work on West Coast? Possible?!

Post by Zabini » Mon Feb 14, 2011 4:01 am

Bumping this thread for myself specifically. I haven't received any decisions yet but I think its at least somewhat likely that I strike out at HYS, CLS and Boalt. If this happens, I'll probably be looking at choosing one of MVP, duke, and gulc vs. ucla/usc. I really would like to come back to CA to practice/live so would it make sense to skip the better-ranked schools and stay in CA or will the mid-low t14s place well enough in CA for me to come back? If i go to a school back east, how vital is it that I SA in CA to get a job back there?

edit: GWU undergrad, have a couple weak connections to CA law but nothing to really speak of, listed permanent residence in CA since 03.

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dpk711

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Re: School on East Coast, then Work on West Coast? Possible?!

Post by dpk711 » Mon Feb 14, 2011 4:06 am

Go to Yale, finding a job in CA won't be as difficult as you may imagine...

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aesis

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Re: School on East Coast, then Work on West Coast? Possible?!

Post by aesis » Mon Feb 14, 2011 4:09 am

This thread should be helpful, and I would be interested in seeing what the 2010-2011 applicants have to say about it. I won't be the one to necro it though :)

T14 for the West Coast
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... &start=100

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Re: School on East Coast, then Work on West Coast? Possible?!

Post by cchen815 » Mon Feb 14, 2011 4:36 am

1. Assuming that the economy stays the same --> I would only go to East Coast School if it were YH. Otherwise, go to the best west coast school you can get in. And, unless you go to Stanford, network like crazy once you start. Make sure you still keep up with the school work because grades are paramount ITE. Given your weak legal connections in CA, you don't want to take the chance of not getting something (decent) through OCI. After OCI, it's very difficult to find a decent job without connections ITE and especially when your school is so far from CA; half the battle of getting connections is simply to be physically in CA.

2. If the economy gets better (to pre-2008 levels), which I doubt it will --> going to any T-14 should be fine. Once again, I doubt it will get better.

Overall, unless you get YH, I think you should stay in CA. Why would you want to live in the East Coast if you want to stay in CA and thus would be able to leverage legal connections made in CA? Your legal career really starts on the first day of law school; start making connections on the first day of law school (if not now).

Good luck.

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Zabini

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Re: School on East Coast, then Work on West Coast? Possible?!

Post by Zabini » Mon Feb 14, 2011 2:36 pm

aesis wrote:This thread should be helpful, and I would be interested in seeing what the 2010-2011 applicants have to say about it. I won't be the one to necro it though :)

T14 for the West Coast
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... &start=100
Ty for this link.

I just did a search for CA firms at the OCI of the east coast schools I've applied to and found something that seems anomalous...GULC had the third most CA firms attending their OCI (55) behind Harvard (67) and Columbia (66) and ahead of schools like Michigan (52) and Duke (31) that I had heard "place well in CA" and ahead of Virginia (37) and Penn (39) as well, which are ranked higher. Obviously # of firms at OCI isn't a perfect measure of how well a school places - Yale is in the exact middle of this list with 39 - but it seems like some sort of an indicator of how likely it is you can get a CA job. Yet I've never heard GULC mentioned as a school with portability to CA (and the consensus on TLS seems to be that its impossible to get a job out of GULC anywhere). Anyone got other explanations?

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dpk711

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Re: School on East Coast, then Work on West Coast? Possible?!

Post by dpk711 » Mon Feb 14, 2011 3:39 pm

Zabini wrote:
aesis wrote:This thread should be helpful, and I would be interested in seeing what the 2010-2011 applicants have to say about it. I won't be the one to necro it though :)

T14 for the West Coast
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... &start=100
Ty for this link.

I just did a search for CA firms at the OCI of the east coast schools I've applied to and found something that seems anomalous...GULC had the third most CA firms attending their OCI (55) behind Harvard (67) and Columbia (66) and ahead of schools like Michigan (52) and Duke (31) that I had heard "place well in CA" and ahead of Virginia (37) and Penn (39) as well, which are ranked higher. Obviously # of firms at OCI isn't a perfect measure of how well a school places - Yale is in the exact middle of this list with 39 - but it seems like some sort of an indicator of how likely it is you can get a CA job. Yet I've never heard GULC mentioned as a school with portability to CA (and the consensus on TLS seems to be that its impossible to get a job out of GULC anywhere). Anyone got other explanations?
Egregious GULC trolling...

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