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Does anyone have advice on bidding as a transfer? What types of firms should transfers bid on (ie, V10, V50 etc)? What firms are known to hire transfer students? I am transferring from a T40-50 to MVP. I would like a position in NYC and have ties to the area.

It's going to be tough. I'd recommend sticking to a major market (like NYC) and bidding like a crazy person - up and down the rankings. Keep it middle/bottom heavy, focus on schools that hired from around median and/or schools that may have hired you from your old school. I'd say V10 (possible exception Skadden) are tough enough to be not worth bids, but this is going to be really hard for anyone but you + career services to sort out. Transfers had big problems last year if they didn't start at great schools, so make sure you focus your bids on firms with nice big class sizes where possible. You can't afford to be bidding on the cool firm that usually hires 3 summers.

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thanks disco...if i have a very good connections at a V10 or V20 firm, would it be worth bidding?

NYAssociate..do you mean "incorrect" as in, Skadden is not an exception so dont bid on it, or do you mean "incorrect" as in the entire statement is incorrect and I should bid on V10 firms

also, if anyone else has advice, id appreciate it

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NYAssociate wrote:

disco_barred wrote: I'd say V10 (possible exception Skadden) are tough enough to be not worth bids,

Incorrect.

NYAssociate wrote:I don't think V10 firms are locked out as a matter of principle, though I think disco is right to the extent that your original school does matter to an extent.

But V10, as a barrier, is pointless. There are several unselective firms in that grouping. There are several selective firms that love transfers. Skadden, IMO, is going to be tough to get in this economy, so that's probably worth avoiding. WLRK, S&C, CSM, DPW are out. But I think one or two of Weil, CGSH, STB, or Kirkland are worth it.

You seem to take special pride in being contrary. You clearly have a lot of inside information, and I think that's great. Your existence on this website is a bit puzzling - clearly you're already legally employed, so whatever purpose drives you to read and post here is a little beyond me. But honestly, I appreciate your being here and providing advice.

That being said, you constantly toss around your superiority and shoot people down in an extraordinarily condescending way. If you were doing so while being correct, and slamming the moron 0Ls kiddies or whatever, it would honestly be endearing. But here and in countless other threads, you take these extremist views and slam other posters without actually having things like 'facts' on your side. It makes your contributions much less effective, because when you are right (as you undoubtedly often are from your place of experience) its colored by the fact that many regular readers are growing weary of the way you flaunt your superiority, which really damages your credibility.

I know several T10 law students, and actually amusingly know several transfers to T10 law schools from, roughly speaking, lower tier 1 law schools like OP. None of them came even close to cracking V10. Your right, it's a pretty arbitrary place to draw a line - but OP is the one who asked about it in those terms, and the V10 is often used in that manner. And I also know that from all of the T10s (assuming we're talking MVPB here) that I have seen data for (which is most of them) it takes top 10%, top 20% like grades to get seriously considered at those kinds of firms. Transfers even in the best years tended not to be viewed so favorably when the school gap was so large, and last year in particular transfers had a very hard time at their new schools unless they came from damn near peer schools before hand.

So I'm not wrong. My statement was not incorrect. If you had reasons for thinking it was incorrect, as you eventually decided to elaborate, it would have made for productive conversation. We come from different perspectives but we're both, I like to assume, quite informed. It's very possible that where we see the world differently it's because of minor differences in meaning or perspective that would be very helpful to pinpoint, expose, understand, and discuss.

I'm not saying you have to run your railroad a certain way, but I'm positive I'm not the only one who rolls my eyes every time I see you storm into a thread and call people morons.

OP here. thanks for both of your perspectives. Btw, outside the V100 are there firms that pay market rate? If so, would it be wise to bid on them?

Anonymous User wrote:OP here. thanks for both of your perspectives. Btw, outside the V100 are there firms that pay market rate? If so, would it be wise to bid on them?

Absolutely and absolutely. Look up vault's "best of the rest", chambers and partners recommendations for your practice area(s) and market(s) of choice, and just check out every firm listed on your T10's OCI list on NALPdirectory.com. It should tell you summer class size plus compensation information, as well as a bit about the firm in its own words. There are a lot of firms paying at or near market rate outside of the vault 100, but they are often smaller, more specialized, or more local.

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Sigh.

You're an associate, in New York City. Which means you didn't go through OCI last year, and (obviously based on your statements) you don't have data from last year's OCI process.

I do. I'm looking at it. Taking the firms that happened to shake out in the top 10 of the Vault survey, not a single one has a median callback GPA below top 15-20% or so at any of the schools I'm looking at (mid and lower T14s). Each of those firms had substantially lower numbers as recently as two years ago. Funny story - shit changed last year. Who knew?

So, OP, feel free to bid or not bid as you see fit. You'll have enough that one or two bids will hardly blow up your employment prospects. But those are the data points I'm looking at.

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NYAssociate wrote:

Which means you didn't go through OCI last year, and (obviously based on your statements) you don't have data from last year's OCI process.

Your next mistake in this thread. I actually know how my firm, a V10, hired last year. Through my contacts at other V10s, I know how they hired. I also have access to the same data you have access to, including that recently released GPA chart from NU.

What's that saying about assuming?

That when somebody misrepresents data, you should never assume it is due to lack of information ?