Mountain West Big Law Forum

[nmare]

What school will offer the greatest shot of getting into Denver Big law or somewhere of the liking? I am hoping to get into t14 but really like the Mountain West area (I'm from New Mexico) and am hoping to work in their market. Is there a t14 school that fairs better there or would regional schools give me a greater shot? Thanks in advance.

[CanadianWolf]

Colorado.

[monarchylover]

Wyoming because of Gerry Spence

[CanadianWolf]

The University of Denver is also an option for Denver firms.

[LeDique]

Colorado.

[duckmoney]

T14 w/ ties > Colorado w/ $$ > Denver with full ride and no stipulations > killself

[AffordablePrep]

just out of curiosity - how does one get ties at these schools? is it a "you need to be born there or marry in kind of thing?" what if someone at a t-14 really wants to live in a different city from that where they've spent their life?

[nealric]

For Colorado, ties pretty much means born and raised or a Colorado law school.

I did a screener at a Colorado firm (I did undergrad in Colorado) and they piratically put hot lights over my head to grill me about why I was interested in coming to Colorado.

[dudders]

Colorado is the kind of state where people put "native" and "go home" bumper stickers on their cars.

[LeDique]

Colorado is the kind of state where people put "native" and "go home" bumper stickers on their cars.

I thought those were for the large Hispanic population....

[minnbills]

I didn't know there was biglaw in denver?

Not to sound like a jerk, but lookin at LST, boulder's placement stats are abysmal.

[NewLobo]

I didn't know there was biglaw in denver?

Not to sound like a jerk, but lookin at LST, boulder's placement stats are abysmal.

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNL ... hbxlogin=1

[Bildungsroman]

Colorado is the kind of state where people put "native" and "go home" bumper stickers on their cars.

I'm from Colorado, and while there are people who put "native" bumper stickers on their cars (never once seen a "go home" bumper sticker or anything like that, at least not in the Denver, Boulder, or Fort Collins area), the state seems very open to non-Coloradans. I can't speak to the market and I'm not saying it doesn't require ties, but the quoted post indicates a more hostile general population reaction to non-natives than I've witnessed.

Also, I have a question about "ties" to a market. I'd very much like to work in Colorado biglaw after graduation, but I'm going to a T14 instead of a Colorado school. Is living in Colorado since you were 5 years old, including going to college there, considered good enough to be strong enough ties to overcome going out of state for law school?

[duckmoney]

Colorado is the kind of state where people put "native" and "go home" bumper stickers on their cars.

I'm from Colorado, and while there are people who put "native" bumper stickers on their cars (never once seen a "go home" bumper sticker or anything like that, at least not in the Denver, Boulder, or Fort Collins area), the state seems very open to non-Coloradans. I can't speak to the market and I'm not saying it doesn't require ties, but the quoted post indicates a more hostile general population reaction to non-natives than I've witnessed.

Also, I have a question about "ties" to a market. I'd very much like to work in Colorado biglaw after graduation, but I'm going to a T14 instead of a Colorado school. Is living in Colorado since you were 5 years old, including going to college there, considered good enough to be strong enough ties to overcome going out of state for law school?

Yes, absolutely. That is the definition of "strong ties." Big Denver firms will be impressed that you're going to a T14 and not the T1 state school that everyone else applying to their jobs are going to.

[dudders]

Colorado is the kind of state where people put "native" and "go home" bumper stickers on their cars.

I'm from Colorado, and while there are people who put "native" bumper stickers on their cars (never once seen a "go home" bumper sticker or anything like that, at least not in the Denver, Boulder, or Fort Collins area), the state seems very open to non-Coloradans. I can't speak to the market and I'm not saying it doesn't require ties, but the quoted post indicates a more hostile general population reaction to non-natives than I've witnessed.

Also, I have a question about "ties" to a market. I'd very much like to work in Colorado biglaw after graduation, but I'm going to a T14 instead of a Colorado school. Is living in Colorado since you were 5 years old, including going to college there, considered good enough to be strong enough ties to overcome going out of state for law school?

Yes, absolutely. That is the definition of "strong ties." Big Denver firms will be impressed that you're going to a T14 and not the T1 state school that everyone else applying to their jobs are going to.

No, Colorado isn't "hostile" to outsiders, but just as the legal industry is elitist about top schools, Colorado has this weird native-elitist streak. Every case is different, but I wouldn't bank on most firms considering a sincere desire to move but having never lived/had family there "strong ties," especially in Colorado.

The "Go Home" stickers aren't for new residents (or Mexicans, as someone suggested earlier) - they're anti-tourist.

[duckmoney]

The "Go Home" stickers aren't for new residents (or Mexicans, as someone suggested earlier) - they're anti-tourist.

Those bastard tourists, coming in to pump their dirty east coast money into Colorado's economy. That's our economy, dammit!

[dudders]

The "Go Home" stickers aren't for new residents (or Mexicans, as someone suggested earlier) - they're anti-tourist.

Those bastard tourists, coming in to pump their dirty east coast money into Colorado's economy. That's our economy, dammit!

Texas money. And they double-park @ City Market.

[milljp02]

The "Go Home" stickers aren't for new residents (or Mexicans, as someone suggested earlier) - they're anti-tourist.

Those bastard tourists, coming in to pump their dirty east coast money into Colorado's economy. That's our economy, dammit!

Texas money. And they double-park @ City Market.

+1 Also, where I live we have a bunch of roundabouts, if you see TX or CA plates in the winter, give them a wide berth through those things.

[BeautifulSW]

You might find that the legal employment market is better in N.Mex., Arizona, or Wyoming than in Colorado. And I would be reluctant to recommend attending DU unless they give you lots of money.

[Veyron]

Denver is one of the toughest legal markets in the country to crack. It requires strong ties. Phoenix used to not require ties but is increasingly requiring ties. New Mexico loves natives, you've got a great shot at a legal job "somewhere" in new mexico if you go to UNM. You will probably be able to get a BIGNEWMEXICOLAW job out of a T-14 but it would be difficult to service above 100k in debt on what they pay. Even a native with ties and a T-14 is going to find BIGROCKYMOUNTAINOYSTERSLAW difficult to crack.

[darknightbegins]

In terms of New Mexico, and I believe Colorado as well, if you are going to a T-14 school then try to get a biglaw job in a major market then open your own smaller firm in one of the MountainWest/Southwest states. Some of these states have tons of small firms that do alright.

[RVP11]

In terms of New Mexico, and I believe Colorado as well, if you are going to a T-14 school then try to get a biglaw job in a major market then open your own smaller firm in one of the MountainWest/Southwest states. Some of these states have tons of small firms that do alright.

BigLaw firms in major markets (NY, DC, Chicago, etc.) would be terrible places to learn how to "open your own smaller firm" in the Southwest.

[darknightbegins]

Not if you are a native of the Southwest. I've known attorneys (message me for specific citation, don't want to start plugging people on here) that have done just that. Go to NYU, work in a large firm for several years, open own law office in Southwest. Successful business even in this climate.

[janderson]

The Denver legal market is VERY small and there aren't enough jobs for even the local graduates. There are a lot of DU JDs doing the same paralegal type work I'm doing with my worthless BA in Political Science.

Everybody knows everybody and it's all about networking. Some Denver "Big Law" firms pull most of their associates from T14 schools, but an overwhelming majority of practicing Colorado attorneys went to DU or CU.

[RVP11]

Not if you are a native of the Southwest. I've known attorneys (message me for specific citation, don't want to start plugging people on here) that have done just that. Go to NYU, work in a large firm for several years, open own law office in Southwest. Successful business even in this climate.

Even if you're a native, I can't imagine this is anything close to the best route.

1. Big firms aren't good places to learn how to open your own shop. Few, if any, partners at a big firm have ever opened their own firm, so they won't have much to pass on to you in that regard.

2. If you were really set on working for a big firm immediately out of law school, and your long-term goal was to open your own firm in the Southwest, why not choose a big Southwest firm?