Post Your Bidlists Here for Critique, Consolation & Caveats Forum

[Anonymous User]

I was hoping to get one final set of opinions on my list before I fully upload it today. Stanford, top quarter (8 Hs with a book prize in Fed Lit (our writing/oral argument class)), no LR but e-board of a secondary, lots of pre-law work experience. Completely litigation focused.

1. MoFo SF
2. Covington SF
3. Steptoe DC
4. Sidley DC
5. Jenner DC
6. Paul Hastings SF
7. Howard Rice SF
8. Kirkland DC
9. OMM DC
10. Simpson Thacher Palo Alto
11. Arnold & Porter DC
12. Mayer DC
13. Williams & Connolly DC
14. WilmerHale DC
15. MTO LA
16. Ropes SF
17. Hughes Hubbard NYC
18. Davis Polk Menlo Park
19. Farella Braun SF
20. Paul Weiss NYC
21. Kirkland SF
22. Crowell & Moring DC
23. Alston & Bird DC
24. Boies Schiller Oakland
25. Cleary DC
26. Manatt SF
27. Debevoise NYC

[Anonymous User]

transferring to SLS from a midwest school. top 5% there. targeting chicago/ny lit. is this too aggressive?

new york unless noted:

1. Simpson Thatcher
2. DPW
3. Cleary Gottleib
4. Paul Weiss
5. Weil
6. Paul Hastings
7. Sidley Austin - Chi
8. Latham & Watkins - Chi
9. Gibson
10. Shearman
11. Mayer Brown - Chi
12. Jenner and Block - Chi
13. Skadden
14. Jones Day - Chi
15. Quinn Emanuel
16. Debevoise
17. Dewey & LeBeouf
18. Faegre & Benson - Minn.
19. Cadwalader
20. McDermott Will - Chi
21. Milbank Tweed
22. MoFo
23. Foley - Chi
24. Hughes Hubbard
25. Allen & Overy
26. dla piper - Chi
27. WilmerHale
28. Freshfields
29. Baker Hostetler
30. Alston & Bird

[Anonymous User]

SLS
Top 10%? (10Hs with 2 prizes, 3 Ps)

Want SV, strong ties to area. All firms are SV except for the few otherwise indicated (thinking about taking out WLRK and W&C, but not sure who to replace them with). Worried that I might be overshooting (especially considering the tiny class sizes in a lot of the SV firms) and would appreciate any advice about who to take off/add/move around. Tried to list firms with larger class sizes higher in list, but otherwise mostly according to how they were bid last year and personal preferences.

Wilson Sonsini
Morrison & Foerster
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
Keker & Van Nest (SF)
Altshuler Berzon (SF)
Cooley
Wachtell (NYC)
Latham & Watkins
Wilmer Hale
Kirkland & Ellis
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
Quinn Emanuel
Weil, Gotshal & Manges
Fenwick & West
Munger, Tolles, Olsen (LA)
Gunderson Dettmer
Davis Polk & Wardwell
Skadden
Sullivan & Cromwell
Williams & Connolly (DC)
Orrick
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
Goodwin Procter
Shearman & Sterling
Ropes & Gray
Dewey & LeBoeuf
Baker Botts
Paul Hastings
Susman Godfrey (LA)
Sidley Austin

Also at SLS; out of curiosity, why Altshuler and no Lieff Cabraser (or other PI firms/jobs)?

[Anonymous User]

Top 10% but no journal at a T25 that is all pre-select. Bid on 31 firms, got selected by 20 of them.

I'm listed as an alternate for 9 and there are two "pending." Are select and alternate the only two choices or is alternate a legit thing? I can't decide how happy I should be about these results...So you tell me: how happy/optimistic should I be?

[Anonymous User]

Top 10% but no journal at a T25 that is all pre-select. Bid on 31 firms, got selected by 20 of them.

I'm listed as an alternate for 9 and there are two "pending." Are select and alternate the only two choices or is alternate a legit thing? I can't decide how happy I should be about these results...So you tell me: how happy/optimistic should I be?

Only top 10% with no journal at a T-25? You should be very happy your results were this good.

[Anonymous User]

Top 15% at a T2, secondary, strong ties to the area - bid on 24, got 7 market paying firms, and all should be within my reach (kind of happy I got dinged at the reaches in my market anyway). We'll see how it goes. I interview well, so here's to hoping.

Am I fucked?

[Anonymous User]

Top 10% but no journal at a T25 that is all pre-select. Bid on 31 firms, got selected by 20 of them.

I'm listed as an alternate for 9 and there are two "pending." Are select and alternate the only two choices or is alternate a legit thing? I can't decide how happy I should be about these results...So you tell me: how happy/optimistic should I be?

Only top 10% with no journal at a T-25? You should be very happy your results were this good.

Thanks. From talking to a few others at my school, it seems I am pretty lucky!

[Anonymous User]

.

[Anonymous User]

My CSO told me this list looked pretty solid, but I would love some feedback from the TLS experts:

CCN Transfer --> Top 10% at T25 school where most big firms do some form of recruiting from (so the whole "we don't interview there" isn't a big deal). I'm interested in litigation, as well as employment law. The factors I weighed in my calculation were class size, employment law strength, quality of life, and litigation strength. All offices are NY except as noted. We only bid against all other transfers, so the strategy is a bit different.

1. Paul Weiss
2. Ropes & Gray
3. Gibson Dunn
4. Cleary
5. Paul Hastings
6. Jones Day
7. Skadden
8. Sidley Austin
9. Weil
10. Dewey & LeBoeuf
11. Sullivan & Cromwell
12. Dechert
13. Davis Polk
14. Milbank
15. Hughes Hubbard
16. Quinn Emanuel
17. Latham
18. Cravath
19. Kirkland
20. White & Case
21. Orrick
22. Debevoise
23. Shearman & Sterling
24. Allen & Overy
25. Proskauer Rose
26. Chadbourne & Park
27. Fried Frank
28. Schulte Roth
29. Simpson Thatcher
30. Kramer Levin
31. Morrison & Foerster
32. Cadwalader
33. Kasowitz Benson
34. Crowell & Moring
35. Arnold & Porter
36. Willkie
37. O’Melvaney
38. Bingham
39. Kaye Scholer
40. Seward & Kissel
41. Lowenstein Sandler (NJ)
42. Patton Boggs (NJ)
43. Morgan Lewis (Princeton)
44. Skadden (Wilmington)
45. Riker Danzig (NJ)
46. Cozen O’Connor (Philadelphia)
47. Drinker Biddle (NJ)
48. Fox Rothschild (Philadelphia)
49. Bressler Amery & Ross (NJ)
50. Cole Schotz (NJ)

[imchuckbass58]

My CSO told me this list looked pretty solid, but I would love some feedback from the TLS experts:

CCN Transfer --> Top 10% at T25 school where most big firms do some form of recruiting from (so the whole "we don't interview there" isn't a big deal). I'm interested in litigation, as well as employment law. The factors I weighed in my calculation were class size, employment law strength, quality of life, and litigation strength. All offices are NY except as noted. We only bid against all other transfers, so the strategy is a bit different.

I think it's a good list, but maybe a little aggressive in terms of ordering. Broadly speaking, you've basically rank ordered your bid list in terms of selectivity. If you end up getting only the top 15 or 20 on your list, that might be a bit of an aggressive slate of firms.

That said, if you plan on getting a sprinkling from the bottom half of your list just because those firms are typically underbid, then you're probably fine. I just have no idea how bidding works at your school so it's hard to tell.

[Anonymous User]

My CSO told me this list looked pretty solid, but I would love some feedback from the TLS experts:

CCN Transfer --> Top 10% at T25 school where most big firms do some form of recruiting from (so the whole "we don't interview there" isn't a big deal). I'm interested in litigation, as well as employment law. The factors I weighed in my calculation were class size, employment law strength, quality of life, and litigation strength. All offices are NY except as noted. We only bid against all other transfers, so the strategy is a bit different.

I think it's a good list, but maybe a little aggressive in terms of ordering. Broadly speaking, you've basically rank ordered your bid list in terms of selectivity. If you end up getting only the top 15 or 20 on your list, that might be a bit of an aggressive slate of firms.

That said, if you plan on getting a sprinkling from the bottom half of your list just because those firms are typically underbid, then you're probably fine. I just have no idea how bidding works at your school so it's hard to tell.

So would you recommend I swap out 2 or 3 of the highly-selective firms in my top 20 for firms that are more "targets" (i.e. taking out something like SullCrom or Cravath for less-selective firms)? They made it sound like we may very likely get all of our top 10, and likely around 20-25 total. But I obviously don't want to have a full slate of firms that will be difficult to get into given my stats.

[Anonymous User]

Ok, so bids are due in 24 hours. My first list was a bit aggressive up top, so I re-worked it in order to get some more match firms into the top 20 (which I've posted below). Please let me know if you think this is still too aggressive. And is there any point in bidding on very selective and in-demand firms (i.e. Cravath, Debevoise, etc.) below 20 or do you think those are wasted bids? (we get 50, and a proportional amount of spots are held open for transfers with each employer)

1. Paul Weiss
2. Ropes & Gray
3. Gibson Dunn
4. Cleary
5. Paul Hastings
6. Jones Day
7. Skadden
8. Sidley
9. Weil
10. SullCrom
11. Dewey
12. Dechert
13. Milbank
14. Orrick
15. Davis Polk
16. Hughes Hubbard
17. Quinn Emanuel
18. White & Case
19. Latham
20. Fried Frank

[BenJ]

Information you've provided shows you're transferring into NYU (clearly not Chicago, and pretty sure Columbia has fewer bid slots and doesn't have the ten-not-in-NY requirement), so advice is a little bit tailored based on my knowledge of the NYU lottery.

Many of your bids between 30 and 40 are wasted as they are. There's no way you will get any of those interviews, not with NYC firms that hire close to median. Those are some of the most overbid firms. You should populate that region with reaches. Not sure what places are good at employment law, but V10s other than Skadden and Weil should go in that general vicinity, for example. No way SullCrom should be bid #10, or (especially) Cleary #4. For what it's worth, people who bid Cleary last got interviews in the regular lottery--they didn't even fill up.

Just looking at the top 20, make numbers 11-20 numbers 1-10 (except Quinn, no need to bid them high), and numbers 1-10 numbers 11-20 (but keep Ropes, Paul Hastings and Skadden in the top 10).

Edit: Screw it, here's how I would order those 20:

1. Skadden
2. Ropes
3. Paul Hastings
4. Dewey
5. Dechert
6. Milbank
7. Orrick
8. Hughes Hubbard
9. White & Case
10. Sidley
11. Latham
12. Fried Frank
13. Weil
14. Quinn Emanuel
15. Paul Weiss
16. Gibson Dunn
17. Jones Day
18. SullCrom
19. Davis Polk
20. Cleary

With that ordering, you should bat close to 20/20, maybe losing out on some the ones ranked from 10-13 (assuming transfer is not that different from regular lottery). TBH, though, I might put a few more less selective firms in above Quinn (which is where this list turns from firms likely to be very overbid to firms that should be less overbid or possibly even underbid).

Absolutely bid Cravath, Debevoise, etc. below 20. You won't get that many NYC interviews anywhere below your 20th slot anyway.

[Anonymous User]

Information you've provided shows you're transferring into NYU (clearly not Chicago, and pretty sure Columbia has fewer bid slots and doesn't have the ten-not-in-NY requirement), so advice is a little bit tailored based on my knowledge of the NYU lottery.

Many of your bids between 30 and 40 are wasted as they are. There's no way you will get any of those interviews, not with NYC firms that hire close to median. Those are some of the most overbid firms. You should populate that region with reaches. Not sure what places are good at employment law, but V10s other than Skadden and Weil should go in that general vicinity, for example. No way SullCrom should be bid #10, or (especially) Cleary #4. For what it's worth, people who bid Cleary last got interviews in the regular lottery--they didn't even fill up.

Just looking at the top 20, make numbers 11-20 numbers 1-10 (except Quinn, no need to bid them high), and numbers 1-10 numbers 11-20 (but keep Ropes, Paul Hastings and Skadden in the top 10).

Edit: Screw it, here's how I would order those 20:

1. Skadden
2. Ropes
3. Paul Hastings
4. Dewey
5. Dechert
6. Milbank
7. Orrick
8. Hughes Hubbard
9. White & Case
10. Sidley
11. Latham
12. Fried Frank
13. Weil
14. Quinn Emanuel
15. Paul Weiss
16. Gibson Dunn
17. Jones Day
18. SullCrom
19. Davis Polk
20. Cleary

With that ordering, you should bat close to 20/20, maybe losing out on some the ones ranked from 10-13 (assuming transfer is not that different from regular lottery). TBH, though, I might put a few more less selective firms in above Quinn (which is where this list turns from firms likely to be very overbid to firms that should be less overbid or possibly even underbid).

Absolutely bid Cravath, Debevoise, etc. below 20. You won't get that many NYC interviews anywhere below your 20th slot anyway.

Thank you very much for this advice. I just want to make sure I clarify something just in case your advice was based on a differing presumption. Transfers only bid against other transfers, so there would be no need to consider what below-median kids would do (i.e. that they would not bid on the highest firms). Given that transfers almost uniformly have excellent grades from good schools, I feel like many will bid the selective firms high. Would that change your calculus?

[BenJ]

Information you've provided shows you're transferring into NYU (clearly not Chicago, and pretty sure Columbia has fewer bid slots and doesn't have the ten-not-in-NY requirement), so advice is a little bit tailored based on my knowledge of the NYU lottery.

Many of your bids between 30 and 40 are wasted as they are. There's no way you will get any of those interviews, not with NYC firms that hire close to median. Those are some of the most overbid firms. You should populate that region with reaches. Not sure what places are good at employment law, but V10s other than Skadden and Weil should go in that general vicinity, for example. No way SullCrom should be bid #10, or (especially) Cleary #4. For what it's worth, people who bid Cleary last got interviews in the regular lottery--they didn't even fill up.

Just looking at the top 20, make numbers 11-20 numbers 1-10 (except Quinn, no need to bid them high), and numbers 1-10 numbers 11-20 (but keep Ropes, Paul Hastings and Skadden in the top 10).

Edit: Screw it, here's how I would order those 20:

1. Skadden
2. Ropes
3. Paul Hastings
4. Dewey
5. Dechert
6. Milbank
7. Orrick
8. Hughes Hubbard
9. White & Case
10. Sidley
11. Latham
12. Fried Frank
13. Weil
14. Quinn Emanuel
15. Paul Weiss
16. Gibson Dunn
17. Jones Day
18. SullCrom
19. Davis Polk
20. Cleary

With that ordering, you should bat close to 20/20, maybe losing out on some the ones ranked from 10-13 (assuming transfer is not that different from regular lottery). TBH, though, I might put a few more less selective firms in above Quinn (which is where this list turns from firms likely to be very overbid to firms that should be less overbid or possibly even underbid).

Absolutely bid Cravath, Debevoise, etc. below 20. You won't get that many NYC interviews anywhere below your 20th slot anyway.

Thank you very much for this advice. I just want to make sure I clarify something just in case your advice was based on a differing presumption. Transfers only bid against other transfers, so there would be no need to consider what below-median kids would do (i.e. that they would not bid on the highest firms). Given that transfers almost uniformly have excellent grades from good schools, I feel like many will bid the selective firms high. Would that change your calculus?

Maybe, but probably not enormously. I think a lot of transfers bid conservatively as well, though I would imagine you get more polarization (more people bid too conservatively, and more people bid too aggressively). A lot of transfers wouldn't have gotten a second look by Cleary or SullCrom at their original law school, and that scares people even though they have a chance now at NYU. Still, I can't see you missing out on an interview with SullCrom or Cleary just because you bid them in the high teens. Maybe if you bid them in the mid-30s there might be some risk.

And, even if you miss out on some firms at the lottery, the huge firms with a ton of interview slots (which correspond strongly to the selective firms) are supposed to be very easy to get interviews with by visiting their hospitality suite at EIW and inquiring whether you could be fit into their schedule. (And transfers will be doing this alongside those of us currently at NYU, so that advice holds.)

[Anonymous User]

Bump. Anyone still out there? I really need help with my bid list because I'm just figuring out how to organize it (transfer student).

Top 10%, T1, LR, ---> (transfer) lower T14. Wanting DC Litigation. Lottery system.

1. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (DC)
2. WilmerHale (DC)
3. hogan lovells (DC)
4. Jones Day (DC)
5. Skadden (DC)
6. Kirkland & Ellis (DC)
7. Latham & Watkins (DC)
8. Venable (DC)
9. Arnold & Porter (DC)
10. [secondary market]
11. [secondary market]
12. [secondary market]
13. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (DC)
14. Morgan, Lewis & Bockus (DC)
15. Baker Botts (DC)
16. Foley & Lardner (DC)
17. O’Melveny & Meyers (DC)
18. Miller & Chevalier Chartered (DC)
19. Baker & Hostetler (DC)
20. White & Case (DC)
21. K&L Gates (DC)
22. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft (DC)
23. [secondary market]
24. Goodwin Procter (DC)
25. Holland & Knight (DC)
26. [secondary market]
27. Vinson & Elkins (DC)
28. Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton (DC)
29. Paul Hastings (DC)
30. Ropes & Gray (DC)
31. Morrison & Foerster (DC)
32. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (DC)
33. Cooley (DC)
34. Sullivan & Cromwell (DC)
35. Allen & Overy (DC)
36. Norton Rose Fulbright (DC)
37. Dechert (DC)
38. Covington & Burling (DC)
39. Williams & Connolly
40. [secondary market]

PLEASE, any help is greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous User]

Berkeley transfer. Third in my class at a T1 in the Midwest, from Southern California, want SF but bidding NY for safety purposes.

Morrison & Foerster (SF) (21)
Kirkland & Ellis (SF) (~22)
Fenwick & West (Mountain View) (25)
Wilson Sonsini (Palo Alto) (17)
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher (SF) (13)
Jones Day (SF) (9)
Ropes & Gray (SF) (8)
Cooley (Palo Alto) (15)
Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett (Palo Alto) (9)
Morgan, Lewis & Bocklus (SF) (7)
Arnold & Porter (SF) (6)
Pillsbury Winthrow Shaw Pittman (SF) (5)
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft (NY) (25)
Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton (NY) (98)
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (NY) (73)
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (NY) (81)
Davis Polk & Wardwell (NY)
Reed Smith (SF) (4)
Perkins Coie (Palo Alto) (7)
Paul Hastings (Palo Alto) (8)
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (Menlo Park) (7)
Sidley Austin (Chi) (42)
Jenner & Block (Chi) (20)
Mayer Brown (Chi) (27)
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton (LA)
Proskauer Rose (LA) (8)
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy (LA) (5)
WilmerHale (NY) (23)
Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle (NY) (8)
Kramer, Levin Naftalis & Frankel (NY) (18)
Kaye Scholer (NY) (21)
Dechert (NY)
Troutman Sanders (Irvine)
O’Melveny & Myers (Newport Beach)
Rutan & Tucker (Costa Mesa)
Farella Braun + Martel (SF) (2)
Baker & McKenzie (SF) (2)
Bryan Cave (SF) (2)
Nixon Peabody (SF) (3)
Schiff Hardin (NY) (5)
Foley & Lardner (NY) (3)
Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villenuve Franklin & Hachigian (NY) (3)
King & Spalding (NY) (5)
Shearman & Sterling (SF) (2)
Holland & Knight (SF) (1)
Drinker Biddle & Reath (SF)
Crowell & Moring (SF) (2)
Shartsis Friese (SF) (1)
Winston & Strawn (SF) (1)
Altshuler Berzon (5)
Covington & Burling (SF) (6)
Irell & Manella (Newport Beach)
Munger, Tolles & Olsen (LA)
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (NY) (26)
Weil, Gotshal & Manges (NY) (53)
Sullivan & Cromwell (NY)
Cravath (NY)
Littler Mendelson (Chi)

[Anonymous User]

Lower T14 (not GULC), estimated top 25-30%, law review. Spent 1 year as a paralegal in NYC Biglaw and had a 1L SA spot in a secondary market. I'm expecting an offer to come back and the only thing that might pull me away is NYC V10, so I'm gunning hard for that (thus the front-loading of those firms):

1. Cleary Gottlieb
2. Simpson Thatcher
3. Skadden
4. Davis Polk
5. Latham & Watkins
6. Paul Weiss
7. Gibson Dunn
8. Weil Gotshal
9. Debevoise & Plimpton
10. Kirkland & Ellis
11. Sidley Austin
12. WilmerHale
13. White & Case
14. Paul Hastings
15. Ropes & Gray
16. Sherman & Sterling
17. Jones Day
18. Proskauer Rose
19. Milbank
20. Boies Schiller

Bids are due tomorrow at noon. Thought I'd get a final critique before that happens. Any comments / criticism welcomed.

[Anonymous User]

Median MVP URM with relevant work experience

NYC Offices

1. Weil Gotshal
2. Simpson Thatcher
3. Skadden
4. Davis Polk
5. Sidley Austin
6. Paul Weiss
7. Shearman
8. Weil Gotshal
9. Debevoise & Plimpton
10. Latham & Watkins
11. Ropes
12. Linkaters
13. Proskauer
14. Chadbourne
15. DLA Piper

[Anonymous User]

SLS, 8 Hs, 5 Ps, 4 Book Prize, no LR, want to do corporate or antitrust. Want NYC or bay area, but really have no geographic preference. Added some DC offices since they have strong antitrust practice. Is this bid list too aggressive? Any firm that I should move/replace? Any input appreciated.

1. Sullivan & Cromwell (NY)
2. MoFo (SF)
3. WLRK
4. Simpson Thacher (NY)
5. GDC (NY)
6. Cleary (NY)
7. Skadden (NY)
8. Davis Polk (NY)
9. Cravath
10. GDC (DC)
11. Weil Gotshal (NY)
12. K&E (NY)
13. Wilson Sonsini
14. Jones Day (DC)
15. Latham (SF)
16. Weil Gotshal (SV)
17. Covington (DC)
18. A&P (DC)
19. Cooley (SF)
20. Paul Weiss
21. Sidley (NY)
22. Orrick (SF)
23. Paul Hastings (NY)
24. Ropes & Gray
25. Shearman (NY)
26. GDC (LA)
27. Cleary (DC)
28. Debevoise (NY)