Cornell Updated Bid List - Bottom 3rd Forum

[Anonymous User]

OP here: did not get a journal. Didn't even get JLPP work on. now am i fucked?

Kind of OT: How common is no journal?

There are around 120 spots on the journals, if I'm not mistaken. About 160 1Ls do the writing competition out of a class of about 210. One caveat to those numbers: A number of people who get journals transfer out, moving everyone below them up a notch.

So not having one isn't exactly a death blow?

[Arbiter213]

OP here: did not get a journal. Didn't even get JLPP work on. now am i fucked?

Kind of OT: How common is no journal?

There are around 120 spots on the journals, if I'm not mistaken. About 160 1Ls do the writing competition out of a class of about 210. One caveat to those numbers: A number of people who get journals transfer out, moving everyone below them up a notch.

More than 160 registered for the writing competition, but at least 12 didn't finish. So about 182 competed. There are 42 law review spots, ~40 ILJ spots, and 35 JLPP spots + ~20 JLPP work ons, from my knowledge. So about 135 total journal spots for 182, account for ~10 transfers, and around ~40 people don't make any journal.

[Anonymous User]

Honestly, I don't really care about outing at this point. People will know eventually, and I've long decided that law school performance does not influence my sense of self-worth.

With that Oprah moment over, I think I did reasonably well on bidding. 18 screeners from the lottery, picked up two more.
Flexible firms: Cadwalader, Dechert, Stroock, Blank Rome, Seward & Kissel, Chadbourne & Park, Brown Rudnick, Willkie Farr, Schulte, Reed Smith, Pillsbury, Bressler (NJ).
Moderate firms: clifford chance, Richards Layton (DE), Young Conaway (DE), Perkins Coie, Cahill, Morgan Lewis (Philly), Morris Nichols (DE).
Very grades selective: Wilmerhale.

[Anonymous User]

You did a good job on bidding. I think you'll get something if you prepare extra hard for each interview.

[Anonymous User]

Honestly, I don't really care about outing at this point. People will know eventually, and I've long decided that law school performance does not influence my sense of self-worth.

With that Oprah moment over, I think I did reasonably well on bidding. 18 screeners from the lottery, picked up two more.
Flexible firms: Cadwalader, Dechert, Stroock, Blank Rome, Seward & Kissel, Chadbourne & Park, Brown Rudnick, Willkie Farr, Schulte, Reed Smith, Pillsbury, Bressler (NJ).
Moderate firms: Clifford Chance, Richards Layton (DE), Young Conaway (DE), Perkins Coie, Cahill, Morgan Lewis (Philly), Morris Nichols (DE).
Very grades selective: Wilmerhale.

I'm not sure if you have ties to DE or if DE is a market that requires ties but I think you did pretty good job bidding.

Have you mass mailed yet?

[Arbiter213]

Honestly, I don't really care about outing at this point. People will know eventually, and I've long decided that law school performance does not influence my sense of self-worth.

With that Oprah moment over, I think I did reasonably well on bidding. 18 screeners from the lottery, picked up two more.
Flexible firms: Cadwalader, Dechert, Stroock, Blank Rome, Seward & Kissel, Chadbourne & Park, Brown Rudnick, Willkie Farr, Schulte, Reed Smith, Pillsbury, Bressler (NJ).
Moderate firms: Clifford Chance, Richards Layton (DE), Young Conaway (DE), Perkins Coie, Cahill, Morgan Lewis (Philly), Morris Nichols (DE).
Very grades selective: Wilmerhale.

20 interviews, with firms like that, puts you in very good stead.

[Anonymous User]

OP Here: I've mass-mailed about 40 firms so far, and then I sent out a mini-mass mail to all the OCI firms that I didn't get a screener with. So in total I have 85 firms mass-mailed. Gonna try to really hit DE/MD/PA/VA firms now. My family lives in northern-ish maryland, which isn't much, but I'm gonna try to spin that to ties to DE (I also did a lot of informational interviews with DE firms).

[HeavenWood]

Honestly, I don't really care about outing at this point. People will know eventually, and I've long decided that law school performance does not influence my sense of self-worth.

With that Oprah moment over, I think I did reasonably well on bidding. 18 screeners from the lottery, picked up two more.
Flexible firms: Cadwalader, Dechert, Stroock, Blank Rome, Seward & Kissel, Chadbourne & Park, Brown Rudnick, Willkie Farr, Schulte, Reed Smith, Pillsbury, Bressler (NJ).
Moderate firms: Clifford Chance, Richards Layton (DE), Young Conaway (DE), Perkins Coie, Cahill, Morgan Lewis (Philly), Morris Nichols (DE).
Very grades selective: Wilmerhale.

I'm not sure if you have ties to DE or if DE is a market that requires ties but I think you did pretty good job bidding.

Have you mass mailed yet?

DE is the size of a smaller secondary market, but the caliber of work is on par with NYC (and the compensation is light-years ahead of NYC) so it's not that unusual for people without ties to snag DE firms. Make sure to know your stuff about both the firm and the nature of the market, and have a good "why DE?" answer prepared. You will be grilled.

[Anonymous User]

OP Here: I've mass-mailed about 40 firms so far, and then I sent out a mini-mass mail to all the OCI firms that I didn't get a screener with. So in total I have 85 firms mass-mailed. Gonna try to really hit DE/MD/PA/VA firms now. My family lives in northern-ish maryland, which isn't much, but I'm gonna try to spin that to ties to DE (I also did a lot of informational interviews with DE firms).

Sounds like you are doing everything right. Goodluck OP.

Just curious, how do you plan on explaining no journal? May be in a similar position.

[BullShitWithBravado]

OP Here: I've mass-mailed about 40 firms so far, and then I sent out a mini-mass mail to all the OCI firms that I didn't get a screener with. So in total I have 85 firms mass-mailed. Gonna try to really hit DE/MD/PA/VA firms now. My family lives in northern-ish maryland, which isn't much, but I'm gonna try to spin that to ties to DE (I also did a lot of informational interviews with DE firms).

Sounds like you are doing everything right. Goodluck OP.

Just curious, how do you plan on explaining no journal? May be in a similar position.

From what I've gathered from talking to alums, upper class men, and career services, you just have to be able to explain why your grades, not having a journal, etc. don't accurately reflect your abilities.

Expect them to ask questions like: Would you say that your grades accurately reflect your abilities? Why don't you have a journal? But then flip those questions into something positive.

You can say something like: "Something that was difficult for me was not having any feedback on my progress in my classes until the end of the semester. I've spoken with my professors to get feedback on my grades, and I plan to improve my grades next semester by doing X, Y, Z" or "I'm actually more of a hands-on learner, so I learn the best through experience and by getting feedback" etc.

When they ask about no journal, you can be like: "I really, want to focus on moot court. Since moot court has a large writing component in addition to an oral argument component, it will provide me with the opportunity to hone my legal writing skills as well as my oral argument skills. I didn't want to do journal and moot court because I want to also focus on my grades." (It's up to you to say whether or not you actually participated in the competition or not. This may be something to ask career services, but I don't think that employers would know whether or not you actually did the writing competition so...).

In short: SPIN EVERYTHING INTO SOMETHING POSITIVE. Also, don't spend too long answering these questions during the interview because the interviews are only 20 minutes long and you want to spend most of the time talking about your strengths, the firm, etc.

Also, don't forget that you go to Cornell, which is already an achievement that a lot of other law students would kill for

Hope this helps!

[Anonymous User]

When they ask about no journal, you can be like: "I really, want to focus on moot court. Since moot court has a large writing component in addition to an oral argument component, it will provide me with the opportunity to hone my legal writing skills as well as my oral argument skills. I didn't want to do journal and moot court because I want to also focus on my grades." (It's up to you to say whether or not you actually participated in the competition or not. This may be something to ask career services, but I don't think that employers would know whether or not you actually did the writing competition so...).

What if I didn't get Moot Court? Can 2Ls who didn't make it past the first round of Langfan still do Moot Court? I assume no?

[Anonymous User]

38 percent got BigLaw:
--LinkRemoved--

So, as mentioned earlier, many people around median strike out.

[BullShitWithBravado]

38 percent got BigLaw:
--LinkRemoved--

So, as mentioned earlier, many people around median strike out.

But this is for class of 2011. Class of 2013 did really well last year.

[BullShitWithBravado]

When they ask about no journal, you can be like: "I really, want to focus on moot court. Since moot court has a large writing component in addition to an oral argument component, it will provide me with the opportunity to hone my legal writing skills as well as my oral argument skills. I didn't want to do journal and moot court because I want to also focus on my grades." (It's up to you to say whether or not you actually participated in the competition or not. This may be something to ask career services, but I don't think that employers would know whether or not you actually did the writing competition so...).

What if I didn't get Moot Court? Can 2Ls who didn't make it past the first round of Langfan still do Moot Court? I assume no?

Yes, you can still do moot court. There are at least a couple of competitions during the year.

[Anonymous User]

So, OP, how did you do?

[Anonymous User]

I don't know about the OP but I'm in the bottom third had 16 interviews, 3 rejection emails and no callbacks so far.

[Anonymous User]

I don't know about the OP but I'm in the bottom third had 16 interviews, 3 rejection emails and no callbacks so far.

OP Here: To the user above, do we have comparable GPAs?

In any case, I had 26 screeners. 0 callbacks so far, and 6 rejections.

[Anonymous User]

I don't know about the OP but I'm in the bottom third had 16 interviews, 3 rejection emails and no callbacks so far.

OP Here: To the user above, do we have comparable GPAs?

In any case, I had 26 screeners. 0 callbacks so far, and 6 rejections.

I'm above 3 but my GPA is not as good as yours.

[Anonymous User]

In any case, I had 26 screeners. 0 callbacks so far, and 6 rejections.

Sounds like we're in a similar situation. Do you mind sharing what firms got back to you so far?

[Anonymous User]

OP Here: And the rejections just keep piling up. I have no fear of outing myself at this point. Here goes... Brown Rudnick, Schulte, Wilmerhale, Jones Day, Simpson Thatcher, Fried Frank, clifford chance, Pillsbury, Chadbourne.

Still hopeful on 5 or 6 firms.

1 callback from Richards Layton.

[Anonymous User]

Slightly higher GPA than OP. One CB, 5 rejections.

[Anonymous User]

Slightly higher GPA than OP. One CB, 5 rejections.

Mind sharing which firms?

[Anonymous User]

bumping this to the top.

We should create a below median club this year and commiserate with each other.

[Anonymous User]

bumping this to the top.

We should create a below median club this year and commiserate with each other.

Any of you in Ithaca? I could definitely drink 'til my liver explodes if any of you want to get together (number twins with OP).

OP Here: And the rejections just keep piling up. I have no fear of outing myself at this point. Here goes... Brown Rudnick, Schulte, Wilmerhale, Jones Day, Simpson Thatcher, Fried Frank, Clifford Chance, Pillsbury, Chadbourne.

Still hopeful on 5 or 6 firms.

1 callback from Richards Layton.

When did you get the Brown Rudnick ding? Was it snail mail? They haven't e-mailed me yet, don't know what to make of it. Just keep it together OP, we still have a fighting chance...

[Anonymous User]

I'm in Ithaca