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Can anyone talk about the VA legal market?

Very ties centric (unless you have high grades) and relatively small market.

Yes. What do you want to know?

It's very small and incredibly crowded with law schools. From what I saw doing contract paralegal work, the market is hard to get into (Though, this was 2009/2010, so it may have changed). Also depends where on the state you are: Appalachia, RVA, Coast, NOVA?

Big market in DC. Medium markets in NoVA and Richmond. Seems possibly more open to outsiders.

I don't think it is too insular. I do think that it is too saturated.

crossarmant wrote:It's very small and incredibly crowded with law schools. From what I saw doing contract paralegal work, the market is hard to get into (Though, this was 2009/2010, so it may have changed). Also depends where on the state you are: Appalachia, RVA, Coast, NOVA?

I'm from a large state and I wouldn't characterize Virgina as very small at all. It's the 12th most populous state in the country. How much bigger do you want it to get? Is every state after Chicago Illinois a pygmy colony?

Gail wrote:

crossarmant wrote:It's very small and incredibly crowded with law schools. From what I saw doing contract paralegal work, the market is hard to get into (Though, this was 2009/2010, so it may have changed). Also depends where on the state you are: Appalachia, RVA, Coast, NOVA?

I'm from a large state and I wouldn't characterize Virgina as very small at all. It's the 12th most populous state in the country. How much bigger do you want it to get? Is every state after Chicago Illinois a pygmy colony?

When you split NOVA off because it's a quasi-DC market it becomes a lot smaller. I don't think it makes sense to organize VA into one market. It's basically two NOVA, and the rest.

Go look at VA on NALP. There are only a handful of offices in Richmound or Virgina Beach.

Desert Fox wrote:

Gail wrote:

crossarmant wrote:It's very small and incredibly crowded with law schools. From what I saw doing contract paralegal work, the market is hard to get into (Though, this was 2009/2010, so it may have changed). Also depends where on the state you are: Appalachia, RVA, Coast, NOVA?

I'm from a large state and I wouldn't characterize Virgina as very small at all. It's the 12th most populous state in the country. How much bigger do you want it to get? Is every state after Chicago Illinois a pygmy colony?

When you split NOVA off because it's a quasi-DC market it becomes a lot smaller. I don't think it makes sense to organize VA into one market. It's basically two NOVA, and the rest.

Go look at VA on NALP. There are only a handful of offices in Richmound or Virgina Beach.

True plus Richmond and Virginia beach are probably very insular.

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turkeysub wrote:Sorry if this has already been asked somewhere, but what grades from UVa give you a good shot at Richmond biglaw if you grew up in VA (not Richmond, also not "NoVa") and went to UG in VA?

I had an informational interview with a lawyer at mcguirewoods who said they are looking for median or better at UVA.