BC/BU OCI Forum

[Anonymous User]

Anyone from BC or BU have a Nutter offer? If so, when was your CB?

[Anonymous User]

Anyone from BC or BU have a Nutter offer? If so, when was your CB?

I know someone with a Nutter offer, though I'm not sure when his/her CB was.

[Anonymous User]

Question: has anyone received or accepted an offer at Ropes yet? I indicated to them that I wanted to accept the offer, but learned that there was no contract to sign. Since there was no mention of salary in the offer letter, I don't know what the salary is, especially since NALP just came out with a report saying first-year associate salaries are being slashed. I'm still waiting to hear back from them on that, but any info in the interim would be helpful. I can't imagine Ropes not paying market rate, but it's always good to double check.

[Anonymous User]

Question: has anyone received or accepted an offer at Ropes yet? I indicated to them that I wanted to accept the offer, but learned that there was no contract to sign. Since there was no mention of salary in the offer letter, I don't know what the salary is, especially since NALP just came out with a report saying first-year associate salaries are being slashed. I'm still waiting to hear back from them on that, but any info in the interim would be helpful. I can't imagine Ropes not paying market rate, but it's always good to double check.

160k/year for Ropes. They are in the midst of layoffs - great firm, but something to think about.

[Anonymous User]

they are in the midst of layoffs? can you expand on that?

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone who did an on-campus screening interview with Nelson Mullins heard either way about a callback yet? I think they were at BC about two weeks ago, but I haven't heard anything from them since my interview.

[Anonymous User]

Question: has anyone received or accepted an offer at Ropes yet? I indicated to them that I wanted to accept the offer, but learned that there was no contract to sign. Since there was no mention of salary in the offer letter, I don't know what the salary is, especially since NALP just came out with a report saying first-year associate salaries are being slashed. I'm still waiting to hear back from them on that, but any info in the interim would be helpful. I can't imagine Ropes not paying market rate, but it's always good to double check.

160k/year for Ropes. They are in the midst of layoffs - great firm, but something to think about.

That's concerning... I definitely did not hear that. More information would be helpful (e.g. where the layoffs took place, what kind of layoffs). I wonder, then, why they have such a large summer class? Are they scaling back this upcoming summer?

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone who did an on-campus screening interview with Nelson Mullins heard either way about a callback yet? I think they were at BC about two weeks ago, but I haven't heard anything from them since my interview.

I got the email for a CB last week and had my CB this week.

[Anonymous User]

Question: has anyone received or accepted an offer at Ropes yet? I indicated to them that I wanted to accept the offer, but learned that there was no contract to sign. Since there was no mention of salary in the offer letter, I don't know what the salary is, especially since NALP just came out with a report saying first-year associate salaries are being slashed. I'm still waiting to hear back from them on that, but any info in the interim would be helpful. I can't imagine Ropes not paying market rate, but it's always good to double check.

160k/year for Ropes. They are in the midst of layoffs - great firm, but something to think about.

That's concerning... I definitely did not hear that. More information would be helpful (e.g. where the layoffs took place, what kind of layoffs). I wonder, then, why they have such a large summer class? Are they scaling back this upcoming summer?

I've heard that their summer class will be smaller, which explains why it seems like so few people are getting offers.

[Anonymous User]

Ropes is a great firm, but there are rumors they just forced out most of their second years recently, laid off some senior associates, and cut their class size in half.

[Anonymous User]

Ropes is a great firm, but there are rumors they just forced out most of their second years recently, laid off some senior associates, and cut their class size in half.

Wow, I should have done my research a little more carefully. I already accepted... I hope the firm is past the worst of it. Why has this not hit Above the Law or anything? I wonder when this happened...

[Anonymous User]

Ropes is a great firm, but there are rumors they just forced out most of their second years recently, laid off some senior associates, and cut their class size in half.

Wow, I should have done my research a little more carefully. I already accepted... I hope the firm is past the worst of it. Why has this not hit Above the Law or anything? I wonder when this happened...

Original poster here. I know for a fact that class size was halved this year. 2nd year layoff thing is a rumor, but I've heard enough of it that there might be something to it. And a partner from another firm suggested that a couple mid to seniors might be getting forced out. I'm not positive on the layoffs, but I have heard the rumors from some people who would probably know, and it's consistent with class size going down to Goodwin and Wilmer levels

[zonto]

I am pretty sure Ropes class size is going down to mid 30s this year.

[Anonymous User]

Ropes is a great firm, but there are rumors they just forced out most of their second years recently, laid off some senior associates, and cut their class size in half.

Wow, I should have done my research a little more carefully. I already accepted... I hope the firm is past the worst of it. Why has this not hit Above the Law or anything? I wonder when this happened...

Original poster here. I know for a fact that class size was halved this year. 2nd year layoff thing is a rumor, but I've heard enough of it that there might be something to it. And a partner from another firm suggested that a couple mid to seniors might be getting forced out. I'm not positive on the layoffs, but I have heard the rumors from some people who would probably know, and it's consistent with class size going down to Goodwin and Wilmer levels

Another poster here. Class size is definitely smaller this year but my info suggests it wont be quite down to half. As far as 2nd year layoff rumors, its highly unlikely that there are layoffs targeting 2nd years. Current 2nd years were in the c/o 2010 and many were deferred like crazy. As a result, there are hardly any 2nd years to target. In fact, there are more 3rd years at the firm than 2nd (by a pretty large number).

If you are making decisions in Boston based on rumors then I have no clue where you are going to go b/c I have heard rumors about all of Goodwin/Ropes/Wilmer.

ETA: What I have been told is consistent with the Ropes class being in the mid to upper 30s.

[Anonymous User]

Mind elaborating on the Goodwin and Wilmer rumors please? Summer class sizes are staying about the same from what I have heard.

[Anonymous User]

Mind elaborating on the Goodwin and Wilmer rumors please? Summer class sizes are staying about the same from what I have heard.

+1

[Anonymous User]

Mind elaborating on the Goodwin and Wilmer rumors please? Summer class sizes are staying about the same from what I have heard.

Summer class sizes are not indicative of anything besides entry-level hiring. Same stuff the rumors always cover. Wilmer reducing office space and cuts in corporate. Goodwin horrible morale and unhappy associates (though havent heard much about layoffs).

[Anonymous User]

What have people heard about Bingham?

[Anonymous User]

A good way to compare Ropes to other firms is that they, at least, have their New Alternatives Program (NAP). They pay you to explore for a year.

You get a $60k stipend to go do WHATEVER you want for one year instead of returning immediately after graduation (e.g., get an MPH or a Tax LLM, go work in Legal Aid, go clerk, or go non-profit). With this, they don't have to no-offer or rescind full-time offers, instead they just tell you to delay returning for a year and hope the economy gets better before you return.

I would rather go to a firm that gives me an opportunity, than to one that will just rescind my offer when times get tough.

[Anonymous User]

A good way to compare Ropes to other firms is that they, at least, have their New Alternatives Program (NAP). They pay you to explore for a year.

You get a $60k stipend to go do WHATEVER you want for one year instead of returning immediately after graduation (e.g., get an MPH or a Tax LLM, go work in Legal Aid, go clerk, or go non-profit). With this, they don't have to no-offer or rescind full-time offers, instead they just tell you to delay returning for a year and hope the economy gets better before you return.

I would rather go to a firm that gives me an opportunity, than to one that will just rescind my offer when times get tough.

If you have an offer at Ropes, you likely have one of GP/WH who haven't deferred/mass no offered (GP did when things tanked). Ropes is only hurting because their strongest point is their transactional work (PE/M&A) which overall is doing very poorly now. GP/WH are super busy and both gave 3L/post clerks offers mostly because a lot of their Boston business is lit. While Ropes is doing layoffs now, if transaction heats up, they will likely start killing it again.

I'm not saying don't go to Ropes by any means. Its a great firm, but its more bottom-heavy (more associates to partners) than the other two and its bread and butter is not lit., which is doing well right now.

[Anonymous User]

I heard that Ropes was ending that New Alternatives Program for our class. Can anyone confirm/has anyone else heard the same thing?

[Anonymous User]

If you have an offer at Ropes, you likely have one of GP/WH who haven't deferred/mass no offered (GP did when things tanked). Ropes is only hurting because their strongest point is their transactional work (PE/M&A) which overall is doing very poorly now. GP/WH are super busy and both gave 3L/post clerks offers mostly because a lot of their Boston business is lit. While Ropes is doing layoffs now, if transaction heats up, they will likely start killing it again.

I'm not saying don't go to Ropes by any means. Its a great firm, but its more bottom-heavy (more associates to partners) than the other two and its bread and butter is not lit., which is doing well right now.

By lit, you mean IP lit... if you are doing IP lit then choose any of the three. IP lit is smaller but booming at Ropes as well. No one here has any inside info on what firms are about to do layoffs or what any firm will look like in 2014. The nature of law firm business makes all the attempted predictions on TLS ridiculous. Firms are year to year entities. As someone who worked at one of the major firms that collapsed, I can guarantee you that 99.9% of the associates and 95% of the partners you talk to about the market are about as clueless as people on TLS, with the obvious exception of informing you about major departures.

I heard that Ropes was ending that New Alternatives Program for our class. Can anyone confirm/has anyone else heard the same thing?

I dont have any info but I wouldn't be shocked.. people are returning from NAP now and the class size was reduced to avoid deferrals

[ryanmot]

Transactional work is booming in Boston right now and it's litigation (non-ip) that is hurting. Where are the above posters getting their info?

[Anonymous User]

Transactional work is booming in Boston right now and it's litigation (non-ip) that is hurting. Where are the above posters getting their info?

This is not true at all.

Edit: I have no idea about lit, but I know transactions are down.

[ryanmot]

Transactional work is booming in Boston right now and it's litigation (non-ip) that is hurting. Where are the above posters getting their info?

This is not true at all.

I guess it depends on the firm. My firm's Boston office has an overload of transactional/corporate work and it is really slow for anyone in litigation.