Criticize my bid list Forum

[Anonymous User]

2H/8P HLS. Ties to LA. Pretty good interviewer. Is this is a good bid list? What should I change? I am really hoping to be in SoCal, specifically LA.

These have not been ranked, btw (All LA/Century City offices unless specified otherwise).

Reach
Sullivan & Cromwell
Skadden
Simpson Thacher
Kirkland & Ellis
Latham
Gibson Dunn
Sidley
Jones Day
WilmerHale
Arnols & Porter
MoFo
O'Melveny
Irell

Target
Paul Hastings
Akin Gump
Mayer Brown
Milbank
DLA Piper
Orrick Herrington
Proskauer
Hogan Lovells
K & L Gates
Winston & Strawn
Jenner & Block
Cooley
Alston & Bird
Fish & Richardson (San Diego)
Foley & Lardner
Bryan Cave
Sheppard Mullin
Holland & Knight
Winson Sonsini
Pillsbury Winthrop
Ballard, Spahr
Greenberg
Baker Hostetler
Morgan Lewis

Any advice would be helpful.

This isn't a bid list. How are you ranking them?

Let me restate my statements/questions. This is a list of firms I am interested in. Is this a good list of firms to now move forward and rank, or are there firms I should not rank at all/firms that I should add?

Make a bidlist first. A lot depends on where you rank it, etc. I wouldn't say take off S&C completely if, for example, you can safely fit it #30 or something.

How does this look (Now in order)?

Sheppard Mullin (LA)
Sheppard Mullin (CC)
Paul Hastings (LA)
Jones Day (LA)
Proskauer (LA)
Skadden (LA)
Winston & Strawn (LA)
Latham (LA)
Akin Gump (LA)
Goodwin Procter (LA)
Arnold & Porter (LA)
Millbank (LA)
MoFo (LA)
K & L Gates (LA)
Irell (LA)
Irell (Newport)
Jenner & Block (LA)
Foley & Lardner (LA)
Sidley (LA)
O’Melveny (LA)
Pillsbury Winthrop (LA)
Ballard Spahr (LA)
Mayer Brown (LA)
Holland & Knight (LA)
dla piper (LA)
Cooley (LA)
Baker Hostetler (LA)
MTO (LA)
Greenberg (LA)
Alston & Bird (LA)
Gibson Dunn (LA)
O’Melveny (Newport)
SullCrom (LA)
Simpson Thacher (LA)

[Anonymous User]

How does this look (Now in order)?

Sheppard Mullin (LA)
Sheppard Mullin (CC)
Paul Hastings (LA)
Jones Day (LA)
Proskauer (LA)
Skadden (LA)
Winston & Strawn (LA)
Latham (LA)
Akin Gump (LA)
Goodwin Procter (LA)
Arnold & Porter (LA)
Millbank (LA)
MoFo (LA)
K & L Gates (LA)
Irell (LA)
Irell (Newport)
Jenner & Block (LA)
Foley & Lardner (LA)
Sidley (LA)
O’Melveny (LA)
Pillsbury Winthrop (LA)
Ballard Spahr (LA)
Mayer Brown (LA)
Holland & Knight (LA)
DLA Piper (LA)
Cooley (LA)
Baker Hostetler (LA)
MTO (LA)
Greenberg (LA)
Alston & Bird (LA)
Gibson Dunn (LA)
O’Melveny (Newport)
SullCrom (LA)
Simpson Thacher (LA)

Check with OCS on bidding for 2 offices of the same firm. Move Irell down. Move MTO down. Both are long shots at median (and MTO at least is usually underscubscribed because people know they are grade selective). Move O'Melveny up. They should be a target. I would also move Simpson Thacher and Sidley up.

Caveat: disregard my advice if it doesn't make sense with the ratio of interview bids:interviews.

[Anonymous User]

How does this look (Now in order)?

Sheppard Mullin (LA)
Sheppard Mullin (CC)
Paul Hastings (LA)
Jones Day (LA)
Proskauer (LA)
Skadden (LA)
Winston & Strawn (LA)
Latham (LA)
Akin Gump (LA)
Goodwin Procter (LA)
Arnold & Porter (LA)
Millbank (LA)
MoFo (LA)
K & L Gates (LA)
Irell (LA)
Irell (Newport)
Jenner & Block (LA)
Foley & Lardner (LA)
Sidley (LA)
O’Melveny (LA)
Pillsbury Winthrop (LA)
Ballard Spahr (LA)
Mayer Brown (LA)
Holland & Knight (LA)
DLA Piper (LA)
Cooley (LA)
Baker Hostetler (LA)
MTO (LA)
Greenberg (LA)
Alston & Bird (LA)
Gibson Dunn (LA)
O’Melveny (Newport)
SullCrom (LA)
Simpson Thacher (LA)

Check with OCS on bidding for 2 offices of the same firm. Move Irell down. Move MTO down. Both are long shots at median (and MTO at least is usually underscubscribed because people know they are grade selective). Move O'Melveny up. They should be a target. I would also move Simpson Thacher and Sidley up.

Caveat: disregard my advice if it doesn't make sense with the ratio of interview bids:interviews.

I believe 2H/8P is a bit below median, from what I hear. Does your advice stand as is with that being said?

[Anonymous User]

How does this look (Now in order)?

Sheppard Mullin (LA)
Sheppard Mullin (CC)
Paul Hastings (LA)
Jones Day (LA)
Proskauer (LA)
Skadden (LA)
Winston & Strawn (LA)
Latham (LA)
Akin Gump (LA)
Goodwin Procter (LA)
Arnold & Porter (LA)
Millbank (LA)
MoFo (LA)
K & L Gates (LA)
Irell (LA)
Irell (Newport)
Jenner & Block (LA)
Foley & Lardner (LA)
Sidley (LA)
O’Melveny (LA)
Pillsbury Winthrop (LA)
Ballard Spahr (LA)
Mayer Brown (LA)
Holland & Knight (LA)
DLA Piper (LA)
Cooley (LA)
Baker Hostetler (LA)
MTO (LA)
Greenberg (LA)
Alston & Bird (LA)
Gibson Dunn (LA)
O’Melveny (Newport)
SullCrom (LA)
Simpson Thacher (LA)

Check with OCS on bidding for 2 offices of the same firm. Move Irell down. Move MTO down. Both are long shots at median (and MTO at least is usually underscubscribed because people know they are grade selective). Move O'Melveny up. They should be a target. I would also move Simpson Thacher and Sidley up.

Caveat: disregard my advice if it doesn't make sense with the ratio of interview bids:interviews.

I believe 2H/8P is a bit below median, from what I hear. Does your advice stand as is with that being said?

Yes. Also, drop Irell (Newport) completely. Where are your ties? Consider adding in some of the OC firms/offices if you have adequate ties there.

Edit: I didn't mean target in any technical sense. I just meant you should try and get an interview with them because they have a great LA practice. Also, make sure to (1) submit your bid list to OCS; and (2) talk to a regional headhunter for LA.

[Anonymous User]

After thinking about it a little more, drop Irell and MTO entirely and fill up on less-selective firms. Probably consider dropping S&C and Gibson as well. Are there more firms you can bid on? Or did you fit all of the LA firms? Make sure to mass mail too.

[Anonymous User]

How does this look (Now in order)?

Sheppard Mullin (LA)
Sheppard Mullin (CC)
Paul Hastings (LA)
Jones Day (LA)
Proskauer (LA)
Skadden (LA)
Winston & Strawn (LA)
Latham (LA)
Akin Gump (LA)
Goodwin Procter (LA)
Arnold & Porter (LA)
Millbank (LA)
MoFo (LA)
K & L Gates (LA)
Irell (LA)
Irell (Newport)
Jenner & Block (LA)
Foley & Lardner (LA)
Sidley (LA)
O’Melveny (LA)
Pillsbury Winthrop (LA)
Ballard Spahr (LA)
Mayer Brown (LA)
Holland & Knight (LA)
DLA Piper (LA)
Cooley (LA)
Baker Hostetler (LA)
MTO (LA)
Greenberg (LA)
Alston & Bird (LA)
Gibson Dunn (LA)
O’Melveny (Newport)
SullCrom (LA)
Simpson Thacher (LA)

Check with OCS on bidding for 2 offices of the same firm. Move Irell down. Move MTO down. Both are long shots at median (and MTO at least is usually underscubscribed because people know they are grade selective). Move O'Melveny up. They should be a target. I would also move Simpson Thacher and Sidley up.

Caveat: disregard my advice if it doesn't make sense with the ratio of interview bids:interviews.

I believe 2H/8P is a bit below median, from what I hear. Does your advice stand as is with that being said?

Yes. Also, drop Irell (Newport) completely. Where are your ties? Consider adding in some of the OC firms/offices if you have adequate ties there.

Edit: I didn't mean target in any technical sense. I just meant you should try and get an interview with them because they have a great LA practice. Also, make sure to (1) submit your bid list to OCS; and (2) talk to a regional headhunter for LA.

Which firms are the "good OC firms?"

[Anonymous User]

Which firms are the "good OC firms?"

The handful that come to HLS EIP.

[wert3813]

Post this stuff in the HLS EIP thread. It's better for the board and you will get more of a response.

[jrf12886]

The order of your bid list is less about the selectivity of the firms are more about the likelihood of getting a screener. For example, some very selective firms will interview 150+ people, so it's quite easy to get a screener even though getting a callback may be difficult with lower grades.

OCS provides data on last year's EIP that shows how many interviews each firm did and how many people bid each firm. You should use that data to determine how high you need to bid a firm in order to get a screener. Identify the firms you like and then rank them based on the percentage of people who received interviews after bidding them. The only exception would be if have a special reason for wanting to guarantee a screener with a particular firm, in which case you should bid it higher than it's yield would suggest. I ended up with 31 screeners using this strategy...although, I think that was too many to handle in retrospect.

As for the content of your list, poster with 8 Ps and 2Hs, overall it looks good. Your reaches are indeed reaches, but you should include some of those in your bid list.