What is the best secondary legal market right now? Forum

[Larry David]

Any insight into...
Houston
Dallas
New Orleans
Atlanta
Miami
Richmond/Charlotte/Raleigh
Nashville
Denver

[03121202698008]

New Orleans is hard to break into and there is the whole civil law thing if you didn't go to a school that teaches it.

[Grizz]

Not ATL. Highly desirable, and only 100ish 2L SAs in the whole city. And they want ties.

Not Miami, for the same season, but only about 50 2L SAs in the whole city. And strong ties.

Not Nashville. Far fewer than 50 2L SAs, and they want strong ties.

[hooma]

Curious about this too, especially Richmond. I wasn't able to turn much up researching...

[monkey85]

What about Boston - is that considered secondary?

Great firms and quality of work; new york pay (somewhat new york hours); but more space to live in.

[03121202698008]

What about Boston - is that considered secondary?

Great firms and quality of work; new york pay (somewhat new york hours); but more space to live in.

LOL. Boston is extremely hard to break into...even from top 1/3 at T14. You're not thinking secondary enough. Think Baltimore, Charlotte, Denver, Wilmington (DE), Detroit, Toledo, etc.

[Larry David]

New Orleans is hard to break into and there is the whole civil law thing if you didn't go to a school that teaches it.

is this a good thing for tulane/lsu or a bad?

[03121202698008]

New Orleans is hard to break into and there is the whole civil law thing if you didn't go to a school that teaches it.

is this a good thing for tulane/lsu or a bad?

It's good for both but only so much as you have other ties to the city.

[Gail]

New Orleans is hard to break into and there is the whole civil law thing if you didn't go to a school that teaches it.

Would going to school in Louisiana be the only necessary tie, or would you have to be born and bred too. I can't think that NOLA is THAT insular considering that its best school is made up primarily of non-Louisianans.

[03121202698008]

New Orleans is hard to break into and there is the whole civil law thing if you didn't go to a school that teaches it.

Would going to school in Louisiana be the only necessary tie, or would you have to be born and bred too. I can't think that NOLA is THAT insular considering that its best school is made up primarily of non-Louisianans.

From family that live there and are in LS...you need independent ties. It's extremely insular and has a good 'ole boys thing going on. It's also not that big of a market and a desirable city to live in so that will always create insularity.

[ahduth]

What about Boston - is that considered secondary?

Great firms and quality of work; new york pay (somewhat new york hours); but more space to live in.

LOL. Boston is extremely hard to break into...even from top 1/3 at T14. You're not thinking secondary enough. Think Baltimore, Charlotte, Denver, Wilmington (DE), Detroit, Toledo, etc.

Anybody have the specifics about why Boston is so weird? I don't want to go... I'm just curious. Everything I've heard makes it sound mob run.

[Aberzombie1892]

How do you define best?

The most SA's? The likelihood that you would be successful if you started your own firm there? The percentage of the population that is bar-passed lawyers?

Clarification is needed.

As far as ties to New Orleans is concerned, you can create your own ties during law school by working here over 1L summer and during 2L. As long as your work experiences here involve dealing with Louisiana law, you will be fine even if you don't really have any ties here.

[moandersen]

NC legal market is small. Charlotte is hurting bad due to the banks, while Raleigh seems to be doing ok. However, Raleigh's market is smaller than Charlotte's. Raleigh also tends to look for local ties much more so than Charlotte.

So...both arent great choices.

[American_in_China]

.

[minnbills]

LOL. Boston is extremely hard to break into...even from top 1/3 at T14. You're not thinking secondary enough. Think Baltimore, Charlotte, Denver, Wilmington (DE), Detroit, Toledo, etc.

Boston is that hard?

[Grizz]

Well, every secondary market seems to value ties very highly; its really not different from market to market.

If you're talking about health of the market, then Nashville and all of the Texas markets seems to be doing well. Atlanta seems pretty terrible right now. Don't know anything about Florida.

Nashville is on the upswing, but it was pretty small to begin with.

FL is HORRIBLE. Probably 125ish SA positions in the whole state. Heavily targeted by people from prestigious schools. Can be quite good 'ol boy (even more than just having ties). 11 law schools (LOL).

A good example for the decline in FL hiring is Tampa. Probably 25ish SA positions there (no more than 30). H&K Tampa alone used to hire 15ish back when the economy was good.

[Grizz]

Well, every secondary market seems to value ties very highly; its really not different from market to market.

Some more than others. ATL? Not so bad. Nashville? VERY ties heavy.

[un-vordox]

I was hoping to see more about Denver, Pittsburgh, or the PNW here.

[stratocophic]

Not ATL. Highly desirable, and only 100ish 2L SAs in the whole city. And they want ties.

Not Miami, for the same season, but only about 50 2L SAs in the whole city. And strong ties.

Not Nashville. Far fewer than 50 2L SAs, and they want strong ties.

CR. ATL is like Chicago, only there are probably even fewer spots per person trying to break in. Nashville is almost a non-factor, and Florida's evidently unspeakable.

Honestly, the state of Texas is probably the answer. Doesn't seem super insular from my experience (I.e. they might believe you if you BS a little on reasons for the state), economy's still pretty good, pays on the NY scale while expecting fewer hours.

[Richie Tenenbaum]

Not ATL. Highly desirable, and only 100ish 2L SAs in the whole city. And they want ties.

Not Miami, for the same season, but only about 50 2L SAs in the whole city. And strong ties.

Not Nashville. Far fewer than 50 2L SAs, and they want strong ties.

CR. ATL is like Chicago, only there are probably even fewer spots per person trying to break in. Nashville is almost a non-factor, and Florida's evidently unspeakable.

Honestly, the state of Texas is probably the answer. Doesn't seem super insular from my experience (I.e. they might believe you if you BS a little on reasons for the state), economy's still pretty good, pays on the NY scale while expecting fewer hours.

Texas has always had a reputation of being very insular (just read stuff about bigtex before the economy tanked). That said, hiring is picking up and there may be more spots to fill than in other markets. So there may be less people fighting over each spot. But that doesn't mean Texas firms are extremely open to "outsiders."

[TwelveBeeSicks]

From what I've heard, the state of Texas has priced themselves out of a lot of clients. They're very insular and have kept a lot of national firms from coming into the market. In doing so they've cut out some clients in terms of regulatory work that can be done in places like D.C.

[ben4847]

Chicago is a pretty decent secondary market right now.

[Grizz]

Not ATL. Highly desirable, and only 100ish 2L SAs in the whole city. And they want ties.

Not Miami, for the same season, but only about 50 2L SAs in the whole city. And strong ties.

Not Nashville. Far fewer than 50 2L SAs, and they want strong ties.

CR. ATL is like Chicago, only there are probably even fewer spots per person trying to break in. Nashville is almost a non-factor, and Florida's evidently unspeakable.

Honestly, the state of Texas is probably the answer. Doesn't seem super insular from my experience (I.e. they might believe you if you BS a little on reasons for the state), economy's still pretty good, pays on the NY scale while expecting fewer hours.

Texas has always had a reputation of being very insular (just read stuff about bigtex before the economy tanked). That said, hiring is picking up and there may be more spots to fill than in other markets. So there may be less people fighting over each spot. But that doesn't mean Texas firms are extremely open to "outsiders."

It's less insular than I expected. I know people who've swung TX sans ties if they can articulate a pretty good reason for being there. Good grades help too, but these people weren't LR grade-ons.

[03121202698008]

LOL. Boston is extremely hard to break into...even from top 1/3 at T14. You're not thinking secondary enough. Think Baltimore, Charlotte, Denver, Wilmington (DE), Detroit, Toledo, etc.

Boston is that hard?

I wasn't aiming for it so I don't know specific but I know a few people, including some with ties, that struck out of Boston altogether from several T10s. They were all top 1/3.

[splitster1221]

Anyone have any info on Denver specifically?