UChicago OCI 2015 Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am interested in transactional work in NY and M&A work. Is there anyone who I can PM with respect to M&A work. Potential reasons why they are interested in it and some details I can use in interviews?

[2014]

Go for it

[Anonymous User]

Are there any firms that are particularly against bidding multiple offices? Or is it something we should try to avoid altogether.

Also is the bidding strategy for multiple offices that I should bid the less popular office highest and the second one at like #50?

[uchi123]

Question regarding mass-mailing.
I have little below median grade and considering mass mailing NY firms that are not coming to OCI (any recommendations that I should def. include?)
I am wondering when I should be sending all the mails. I was considering this weekend. I was seeing mixed opinions (late July or as soon as grades are out).
When I am doing the mass mailing, how many firms do people usually send 10ish or like all 50 from the NALP excel sheet that OCS put up?
I was contemplating on this because I was debating how much I shoudl customize my cover letters.
Also, what is the process like once I hear from these mass-mailed firms? I am just starting to prep for my interviews and I didn't want to get on a Skype interview like a week after I send out my mass-mails when I am not so ready.
I am new to this process so much advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

You should feel free to send as many as possible, especially if you're below median. You need to hedge wisely and reach as many possible employers out there who aren't coming to OCI.

[N.P.H.]

Question regarding mass-mailing.
I have little below median grade and considering mass mailing NY firms that are not coming to OCI (any recommendations that I should def. include?)
I am wondering when I should be sending all the mails. I was considering this weekend. I was seeing mixed opinions (late July or as soon as grades are out).
When I am doing the mass mailing, how many firms do people usually send 10ish or like all 50 from the NALP excel sheet that OCS put up?
I was contemplating on this because I was debating how much I shoudl customize my cover letters.
Also, what is the process like once I hear from these mass-mailed firms? I am just starting to prep for my interviews and I didn't want to get on a Skype interview like a week after I send out my mass-mails when I am not so ready.
I am new to this process so much advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

You should feel free to send as many as possible, especially if you're below median. You need to hedge wisely and reach as many possible employers out there who aren't coming to OCI.

Even if above median, mass mailing gives you the opportunity to see what a callback looks like and to refine your interview answers.

Mass mail every firm that's chambers-ranked in your desired practice area that you can't bid at OCI. Mention in your cover letter your interest in that practice area, and have maybe a sentence about the firm.

Others may disagree, but that's what worked for me (went into OCI with an offer in-hand and it took the stress off of everything)

[wenwen]

That is an EXTREMELY aggressive bid list for someone basically at median. You won't get Shearman that low. Probably not P Dubbs either. I don't think it's a bad idea to bid V10 NYC firms at median, but those should not be your backups in any shape or form.

Thanks for the advice!! Do you have any suggestions for what NY firms I should put in my top 10 list instead?

[skers]

I am interested in transactional work in NY and M&A work. Is there anyone who I can PM with respect to M&A work. Potential reasons why they are interested in it and some details I can use in interviews?

You can pm me.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know how many SA's Mcdermott and Locke Lord Chicago take?

[Anonymous User]

..

[skers]

Look, you'll probably still get a Chicago offer w/ that GPA, but kind of depends on how risk averse you are. I wouldn't feel comfortable going pretty much all-in on Chicago in that position, especially since STL is a pretty insular, tie-sensitive market.

[beepboopbeep]

Preface: I am utterly lost at making bid lists. I have a strong preference for Chicago, with an arguable connection to STL. No connection (or interest) in NYC.
(Side-preface: I'm right in assuming that the Journal/K&E grading cutoff never dips as low as under 178? From the threads I've seen [that I can't for the life of me find again] it seems like the cutoff is more often above 180 than 179, or something along those lines? Anyway, on to the bid list).

K&E is usually between 180.5-181. Have also heard rumors it's out for this year.

Don't remember LR grade-on, but almost positive it wouldn't dip below 179. Someone correct me if they've seen evidence to the contrary.

[Anonymous User]

Was particularly hoping to get some insight on this and any firms I might be missing or which I need to target as the list goes on. Thank you all for doing this!

Grades: 178.6+
URM/Female: No
Work Experience: Yes. Over 3 years. Fairly interesting but not particularly relevant.
Preferred Market: Los Angeles
Practice Area: Leaning litigation but not married to it

1. Gibson Dunn (LA) (13)
2. Latham (LA) (21 shared)
3. Mayer Brown (LA) (7)
4. Perkins Coie (LA) (12)
5. Morrison & Foerster (LA) (21)
6. Jones Day (LA) (21 shared)
7. Skadden (NY) (42)
8. Davis Polk (NY) (42)
9. Paul Weiss (NY) (42)
10. Ropes & Gray (NY) (42 shared)
11. O’Melveny & Myers (LA) (21 shared)
12. Cleary Gottlieb (NY) (42)
13. Sidley Austin (NY) (21)
14. Debevoise (NY) (63)
15. Sullivan & Cromwell (NY) (42)
16. Cravath (NY) (38)
17. Simpson Thacher (NY) (63 shared)
18. Kirkland & Ellis (LA) (21)
19. BakerHostetler (LA) (18 shared)
20. Cooley (LA) (42 shared)
21. Proskauer (NY) (21)
22. Paul Hastings (Costa Mesa) (3) [Are they not interviewing for LA?]
23. Pillsbury (LA) (2)
24. Irell (LA) (27)

[Anonymous User]

Preface: I am utterly lost at making bid lists. I have a strong preference for Chicago, with an arguable connection to STL. No connection (or interest) in NYC.
(Side-preface: I'm right in assuming that the Journal/K&E grading cutoff never dips as low as under 178? From the threads I've seen [that I can't for the life of me find again] it seems like the cutoff is more often above 180 than 179, or something along those lines? Anyway, on to the bid list).

K&E is usually between 180.5-181. Have also heard rumors it's out for this year.

Don't remember LR grade-on, but almost positive it wouldn't dip below 179. Someone correct me if they've seen evidence to the contrary.

I can confirm that K&E designations have been released. I don't have enough data points to put together the cutoff, but the lowest I've heard of is 181.5+.

LR grade on is usually around 179.5-180 I think.

[Anonymous User]

Interview Qs

Started prepping for interveiws. Is there any list of Qs (including curveballs) that I can practice on? OCS only has a few questions (Why law school, Why certain area, Which practice area etc.)? Googling gives me a long list of questions where some don't really seem to fit.
Do OCIs usually go with the standard array of questions?

[N.P.H.]

Interview Qs

Started prepping for interveiws. Is there any list of Qs (including curveballs) that I can practice on? OCS only has a few questions (Why law school, Why certain area, Which practice area etc.)? Googling gives me a long list of questions where some don't really seem to fit.
Do OCIs usually go with the standard array of questions?

This is in the OCI alums taking questions thread, I believe.

[N.P.H.]

Grades: 178.6+
URM/Female: No
Work Experience: Yes. Over 3 years. Fairly interesting but not particularly relevant.
Preferred Market: Los Angeles
Practice Area: Leaning litigation but not married to it

1. Gibson Dunn (LA) (13)
2. Latham (LA) (21 shared)
3. Mayer Brown (LA) (7)
4. Perkins Coie (LA) (12)
5. Morrison & Foerster (LA) (21)
6. Jones Day (LA) (21 shared)
7. Skadden (NY) (42) Hit
8. Davis Polk (NY) (42) Hit
9. Paul Weiss (NY) (42) Hit
10. Ropes & Gray (NY) (42 shared) 60/40 hit/miss? I know Ropes Boston is popular with that crowd so you risk competing with them.
11. O’Melveny & Myers (LA) (21 shared)
12. Cleary Gottlieb (NY) (42) Hit
13. Sidley Austin (NY) (21) why are you bidding Sidley NY?
14. Debevoise (NY) (63) Hit
15. Sullivan & Cromwell (NY) (42) Probably hit
16. Cravath (NY) (38) Hit
17. Simpson Thacher (NY) (63 shared) Probably hit
18. Kirkland & Ellis (LA) (21)
19. BakerHostetler (LA) (18 shared)
20. Cooley (LA) (42 shared)
21. Proskauer (NY) (21) Miss
22. Paul Hastings (Costa Mesa) (3) [Are they not interviewing for LA?]
23. Pillsbury (LA) (2)
24. Irell (LA) (27)

Answered the NY above to the best of my ability.

Any reason you're bidding Sidley NY? Because you've heard of the name, right? Just realize that everyone else is doing the same, so it'll require a higher bid than it's worth.

[WheninLaw]

Preface: I am utterly lost at making bid lists. I have a strong preference for Chicago, with an arguable connection to STL. No connection (or interest) in NYC.
(Side-preface: I'm right in assuming that the Journal/K&E grading cutoff never dips as low as under 178? From the threads I've seen [that I can't for the life of me find again] it seems like the cutoff is more often above 180 than 179, or something along those lines? Anyway, on to the bid list).

K&E is usually between 180.5-181. Have also heard rumors it's out for this year.

Don't remember LR grade-on, but almost positive it wouldn't dip below 179. Someone correct me if they've seen evidence to the contrary.

I can confirm that K&E designations have been released. I don't have enough data points to put together the cutoff, but the lowest I've heard of is 181.5+.

LR grade on is usually around 179.5-180 I think.

Definitely not 181.5. c/o 2015 was 180.5, while c/o 2016 was 180.8. 180.5-1 sounds right.

LR depends on who does the write-on, but it's usually 179.5-180.3(ish).

[Anonymous User]

Preface: I am utterly lost at making bid lists. I have a strong preference for Chicago, with an arguable connection to STL. No connection (or interest) in NYC.
(Side-preface: I'm right in assuming that the Journal/K&E grading cutoff never dips as low as under 178? From the threads I've seen [that I can't for the life of me find again] it seems like the cutoff is more often above 180 than 179, or something along those lines? Anyway, on to the bid list).

K&E is usually between 180.5-181. Have also heard rumors it's out for this year.

Don't remember LR grade-on, but almost positive it wouldn't dip below 179. Someone correct me if they've seen evidence to the contrary.

I can confirm that K&E designations have been released. I don't have enough data points to put together the cutoff, but the lowest I've heard of is 181.5+.

LR grade on is usually around 179.5-180 I think.

Definitely not 181.5. c/o 2015 was 180.5, while c/o 2016 was 180.8. 180.5-1 sounds right.

LR depends on who does the write-on, but it's usually 179.5-180.3(ish).

For what it's worth, it looks like I missed out on K&E at 180.7.

[Anonymous User]

Does anybody know anything about the types of people who have gotten callbacks/offered at Cleary NY. There are no stats available for them on the callback report, but I assume their NY numbers are lower than DC?

Thanks.

[Anonymous User]

Does anybody know anything about the types of people who have gotten callbacks/offered at Cleary NY. There are no stats available for them on the callback report, but I assume their NY numbers are lower than DC?

Thanks.

179ish from what I've seen.

I feel like Cleary preaches culture more than any other firm but then hires based mostly on grades. I outperformed my grades at OCI and I thought I nailed the interview with Cleary, but no dice. Many of my friends felt the same way.

Anyone else get this impression or am I just butthurt?

[sandwhich]

Did anyone get an impression that callbacks during a certain time of day was better than during others? I have one coming up, and they want to do it from either 10:00-2:00 or from 12:00-4:00. Is there any reason to choose one or the other? It seems that if I do the later one we will likely be eating lunch first then interviewing, but I'm not sure.

[jbagelboy]

Did anyone get an impression that callbacks during a certain time of day was better than during others? I have one coming up, and they want to do it from either 10:00-2:00 or from 12:00-4:00. Is there any reason to choose one or the other? It seems that if I do the later one we will likely be eating lunch first then interviewing, but I'm not sure.

this is pretty much grounded in baseless speculation from my experience, but I would do the morning callback, with lunch after your interviews.

[N.P.H.]

Did anyone get an impression that callbacks during a certain time of day was better than during others? I have one coming up, and they want to do it from either 10:00-2:00 or from 12:00-4:00. Is there any reason to choose one or the other? It seems that if I do the later one we will likely be eating lunch first then interviewing, but I'm not sure.

Seems like one has a lunch break in the middle and one in the beginning. Since lunch generally is with associates and/or doesn't matter as much as the actual interviews, I'd probably go with the afternoon one because it gives you time to "warm up."

But no, it doesn't really matter.

[2014]

Did anyone get an impression that callbacks during a certain time of day was better than during others? I have one coming up, and they want to do it from either 10:00-2:00 or from 12:00-4:00. Is there any reason to choose one or the other? It seems that if I do the later one we will likely be eating lunch first then interviewing, but I'm not sure.

Doesn't matter. Assume that when you interview everyone you speak to will get to review you so it can either help or hurt you to add a meal in because it's more faces you are in front of. If it's just a matter of meal before or after then it truly doesn't matter unless you are concerned about spilling stuff on yourself.

[skers]

I don't think interview time matters at all. I always went w/ the meal b/c duh.