How dumb is it to bid on secondary markets with no ties? Forum

[Lateral2013]

My resume has a TON of Southern shit on it

Every NYC interview I got grilled on why NYC

And "how often do you go/have you been to NYC" was common

Just say its thd biggest firms with the best cases

Edit: I've actually heard biglaw senior partners say (about other senior people) that if they'd have had any real ambition they wouldn't be in Minnesota/St. Louis (yes, about those actual cities)

I'm just saying it doesn't always work

I know a few other people w similar experiences

I mean

I actually did OCI and all

Fair point.
Could be grilling for the sake of grilling, or whatnot, but I'll admit not ever being on either end if OCI. Still, it's usually not hard to convince NYers that you want to be in NY

I think you do need to have an answer of why NYC, especially if you aren't from a big city or the Northeast. NYC isn't for everyone and firms are really trying to weed out the people who get to NY, work for one year, hate it and move home. Maybe I missed it in the OP, but where do you have ties to? For some reason I just assumed it was NYC. If you've never so much as visited NYC, I would frame my answer around how you think you want to do a specific type of work and that NYC is the place for it. But from a practical standpoint, NYC is a rough place to live, and you may want to come visit for a bit before you commit to working here.

[Anonymous User]

OP here.



Girl I have a crush on just liked my status. Can I do Dallas with no real ties?

[jsmith201]

Just to clarify...if I want Charlotte BigLaw but I go to lower T-14 and I am from upstate NY I have zero percent chance and should shut my mouth and bid NYC ?

[2014]

Just to clarify...if I want Charlotte BigLaw but I go to lower T-14 and I am from upstate NY I have zero percent chance and should shut my mouth and bid NYC ?

Charlotte has like 10 firms and odds are not all or even most of them are going to be at your OCI unless your lower T14 is Duke. If your lower T14 is in fact Duke, you will have classmates with better ties competing, if it is another T14, I would think you could get those firms with pretty low bids and/or mass mail the ones that don't show up. This might enable you to focus heavily on NYC and snag a few Charlotte interviews.

[Anonymous User]

OP here.



Girl I have a crush on just liked my status. Can I do Dallas with no real ties?

Just give it a shot bro. I knew several people who went to Chicago with no ties (maybe vague midwestern ties, but not IL or Chi directly), and from a slightly crappier school to boot. It's hard to predict how one will fair, but in my experience it doesn't appear impossible to get into other markets with no ties. Some interviews won't even bring it up. Having top grades would help though....

[aces]

You can overcome lack of ties with a good narrative, especially if you can tie it to tangible evidence of that narrative. For instance, if you wanted to work in Texas, you could express an interest in oil & gas work, especially if you have prior coursework/research assistant experience/internships in that area. Obviously, this is easier for some markets than others, but do your research and you can come up with something.

[09042014]

OP here.



Girl I have a crush on just liked my status. Can I do Dallas with no real ties?

Just give it a shot bro. I knew several people who went to Chicago with no ties (maybe vague midwestern ties, but not IL or Chi directly), and from a slightly crappier school to boot. It's hard to predict how one will fair, but in my experience it doesn't appear impossible to get into other markets with no ties. Some interviews won't even bring it up. Having top grades would help though....

Vague midwestern is a halfway decent tie to midwestern cities. Chicago is filled with people from Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, etc. etc. Especially if they aren't from a major city in that state.

There isn't BIG JANESVILLE, WISCONSIN LAW. Going to Chicago makes sense. And that's all that ties are: a plausible reason you actually want to stay longterm.

[thesealocust]

I was looking at some new big law stats this week. Total SAs in major legal markets in 2007: 7500. Total SAs in those same markets last year: 3800.

But here's the kicker: NYC didn't see nearly as big a decline as most markets. There are a lot of cities that have literally a third as many SA slots now as they did five years ago.

If you're at a lower t-14 and want big law and aren't near the top of the class you have to bid NYC hard.

This is terrific advice, but more importantly: does Paul Campos actually post on TLS, and if so how on earth did I miss that fact?

[dixiecupdrinking]

I was looking at some new big law stats this week. Total SAs in major legal markets in 2007: 7500. Total SAs in those same markets last year: 3800.

But here's the kicker: NYC didn't see nearly as big a decline as most markets. There are a lot of cities that have literally a third as many SA slots now as they did five years ago.

If you're at a lower t-14 and want big law and aren't near the top of the class you have to bid NYC hard.

This is terrific advice, but more importantly: does Paul Campos actually post on TLS, and if so how on earth did I miss that fact?

You need to [definitely should never?] peruse the Choosing a Law School forum more.

[Yukos]

I was looking at some new big law stats this week. Total SAs in major legal markets in 2007: 7500. Total SAs in those same markets last year: 3800.

But here's the kicker: NYC didn't see nearly as big a decline as most markets. There are a lot of cities that have literally a third as many SA slots now as they did five years ago.

If you're at a lower t-14 and want big law and aren't near the top of the class you have to bid NYC hard.

This is terrific advice, but more importantly: does Paul Campos actually post on TLS, and if so how on earth did I miss that fact?

Paul Campos (and yes, it's really him) is pretty active in the on-topic forums.

[NYstate]

I was looking at some new big law stats this week. Total SAs in major legal markets in 2007: 7500. Total SAs in those same markets last year: 3800.

But here's the kicker: NYC didn't see nearly as big a decline as most markets. There are a lot of cities that have literally a third as many SA slots now as they did five years ago.

If you're at a lower t-14 and want big law and aren't near the top of the class you have to bid NYC hard.

This is terrific advice, but more importantly: does Paul Campos actually post on TLS, and if so how on earth did I miss that fact?

Paul Campos (and yes, it's really him) is pretty active in the on-topic forums.

Professor Campos: where did you see these numbers? I would love to see the numbers of SAs for this summer by market. I feel that people still don't realize how competitive hiring remains. Perhaps an actual number of biglaw SAs by market will give some perspective. People rely on stats from schools but not so much stats from firms.

Not everyone at a T-14 school is getting biglaw. But it seems like many 0Ls will assume that they will get biglaw, pay their debt in a few years and then exit into some other high paying job. Maybe some indication as to how few slots exist in a particular market would give them insight.