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go to nalpdirectory, broheim.

iwantawhiteiphone4 wrote:I go to a good school and have good grades. I'm thinking about contacting some Phoenix firms and requesting interviews because (a) I'll be there for a couple of weeks, (b) few Phoenix firms come to my OCI, and (c) I kinda like the SW.

Two questions:

1) Here are the big(ish) Phoenix firms I'm aware of: Perkins Coie Brown & Bain, Fennemore Craig, Bryan Cave, Gallagher & Kennedy, Lewis & Roca, Snell & Wilmer, and Steptoe & Johnson. Are there more? Which firms are the best/most prestigious/pay the most?

2) What's market pay? 145k?

Anyone have info? Thanks.

Good school + good grades won't get you very far if you don't have Arizona ties. The firms in Phoenix are quite happy with the tippy top at ASU/UA and get enough people with Phoenix ties from T14s and local favorites like Texas, Vanderbilt, and Iowa that they don't really reach out to out-of-staters much anymore. Fifteen or twenty years ago the market was very open and welcoming - it's become a lot more insular. Another warning: the Phoenix economy is STILL in the shitter and the outlook is not bright.

Market pay is 110k. Some firms pay 125k (generally the national firms with Phoenix offices). Some firms pay 100k. But Snell & Wilmer is generally considered the market leader, and they scaled back from 125k to 110k in response to the economy. Note that 110k means you could live like a king out in the suburbs, but Phoenix has a shortage of affordable, non-ghetto housing anywhere near the city center. If you wanted to really capitalize on a market with high pay plus low cost of living, markets like Pittsburgh, Dallas, Houston, and many other markets in the Midwest and South might be better choices. When the economy was booming, Phoenix probably wasn't very far from going to 145k - the drop to 100k-110k coincides with a dip in cost of living, but I still think most people would be surprised with how little a six figure salary gets you in Phoenix proper.

As for "prestige," Phoenix is generally dominated by the traditional, local-based firms. Unlike, for example, San Diego, Phoenix has not been invaded by mega-prestigious national firms. Here are the general rankings I'd give, mostly based on visibility in the market and how much you hear about the respective firms:

Tier 1 (in no particular order): Snell & Wilmer, Fennemore Craig, Lewis & Roca, Osborn Maledon
Tier 2: Gallagher & Kennedy, Quarles & Brady, Squire Sanders, Steptoe & Johnson, Jennings Strouss
Tier 3: Bryan Cave, Polsinelli Shughart, Ryley Carlock & Applewhite, Perkins Coie, Ballard Spahr
Difficult to place because they do mostly non-lit stuff: Greenberg Traurig, dla piper