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Let's say a firm lets you bid on multiple offices (LA and NYC; etc.), is this considered ok if you are bidding in both markets?

Sure- what would be the problem? Firms aren't stupid- they know that you are bidding on more than just a single office of a single firm. If anything, it shows that you want to work for the firm and are willing to be flexible with location.

What if I am interviewing with different offices at different job fairs? Do firms know? Assume that I'm interviewing with law firms big enough to have different recruitment directors for each office I'm interested in. I'm trying to figure out what to say during my interviews.

Thanks.

I have a personal opinion on this, but I don't know the gospel. My opinion is that since you have to put on your big boy panties at some point and choose one firm over another, it's bad strategy to bid on multiple offices from the same firm. You'll sort of automatically call into question your commitment to Name Ampersand and Name's office in Location, State if you have to admit (or they automatically share) that you're also bidding on their office in Other Location, Different State. Firms are picky about regions, and even if you have 'ties' to both trying to straddle them might be risky. I've heard a lot about people for whom targeted geography contributed to their success.

And, in general, I feel that bidding on discrete firms is a wise thing to do. Also, most firms don't have several offices with healthy summer associate classes - they'll have a giant HQ and a tiiinnny sattelite office in a few places. And if you're bidding on several of their offices with only like 2 summers per year, it's just not a great bet ITE...

But those thoughts are fairly detached from anecdote or data, just my reasoning on the issue.

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Sauer Grapes wrote:

disco_barred wrote:I have a personal opinion on this, but I don't know the gospel. My opinion is that since you have to put on your big boy panties at some point and choose one firm over another, it's bad strategy to bid on multiple offices from the same firm. You'll sort of automatically call into question your commitment to Name Ampersand and Name's office in Location, State if you have to admit (or they automatically share) that you're also bidding on their office in Other Location, Different State. Firms are picky about regions, and even if you have 'ties' to both trying to straddle them might be risky. I've heard a lot about people for whom targeted geography contributed to their success.

And, in general, I feel that bidding on discrete firms is a wise thing to do. Also, most firms don't have several offices with healthy summer associate classes - they'll have a giant HQ and a tiiinnny sattelite office in a few places. And if your bidding on several of their offices with only like 2 summers per year, it's just not a great bet ITE...

But those thoughts are fairly detached from anecdote or data, just my reasoning on the issue.

We were told that it's OK within reason. You don't want to give the impression that you'll work anywhere, even if it is true. You want to have reasons for why you selected each office.

Yeah. I'd personally still avoid it where possible, but that makes sense.

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The advice I trust says it's not good to use this kind of "shotgun" approach to firms. They want to know (more now than ever) that you're seriously committed to a single location. So I would be careful bidding on a bunch of different locations.

As to your question about job fairs, I guarantee they will know. Firm hiring is well-coordinated, despite the differing recruiting contacts.

I shotgun-applied for my 1L summer to a bunch of different firm offices, and I don't think it was well-received by a lot of places (in fact, I didn't get an interview at a single place I did that...obviously there are lots of factors that play into that, but I believe the shotgun approach was one of them).

The one thing I'll say is if a firm asks in an interview if you're interested in other locations, I personally don't think it'd be a bad thing to mention one other location (but not more than one).

doyleoil wrote:The advice I trust says it's not good to use this kind of "shotgun" approach to firms. They want to know (more now than ever) that you're seriously committed to a single location. So I would be careful bidding on a bunch of different locations.

As to your question about job fairs, I guarantee they will know. Firm hiring is well-coordinated, despite the differing recruiting contacts.

I shotgun-applied for my 1L summer to a bunch of different firm offices, and I don't think it was well-received by a lot of places (in fact, I didn't get an interview at a single place I did that...obviously there are lots of factors that play into that, but I believe the shotgun approach was one of them).

The one thing I'll say is if a firm asks in an interview if you're interested in other locations, I personally don't think it'd be a bad thing to mention one other location (but not more than one).

thank god, because I just used all my bids on NYC and several people told me it was a bad idea.

booyakasha wrote:

doyleoil wrote:The advice I trust says it's not good to use this kind of "shotgun" approach to firms. They want to know (more now than ever) that you're seriously committed to a single location. So I would be careful bidding on a bunch of different locations.

As to your question about job fairs, I guarantee they will know. Firm hiring is well-coordinated, despite the differing recruiting contacts.

I shotgun-applied for my 1L summer to a bunch of different firm offices, and I don't think it was well-received by a lot of places (in fact, I didn't get an interview at a single place I did that...obviously there are lots of factors that play into that, but I believe the shotgun approach was one of them).

The one thing I'll say is if a firm asks in an interview if you're interested in other locations, I personally don't think it'd be a bad thing to mention one other location (but not more than one).

thank god, because I just used all my bids on NYC and several people told me it was a bad idea.

Actually, I've heard countless times that's the smartest way to do it. "What other firms are you bidding on?" "Oh, I only bid on This Region firms" is probably worth more Interview Points than all of the other stupid shit law students do to try and get firm jobs combined. Other than the grades thing

^ excellent.

interviews are awkward enough, and I wasn't about to go in there feigning ties to places I've never even been.

booyakasha wrote:^ excellent.

interviews are awkward enough, and I wasn't about to go in there feigning ties to places I've never even been.

Sounds like you're well on your way to not needing to enjoy dla piper.

amyLAchemist wrote:I am debating this too. My deal though is that I want to bid on multiple offices in the same general region. i.e. LA and/or OC and/or San Diego. Does this make it any more acceptable? I am having some trouble getting a long enough bid list anyways...

I did it with one firm (bid on offices in 4 cities) and ended up with CBs in 3/4 (and offers at each of those 3). The one that I didn't get a CB at said that it was because I had the other CBs.

I believe you're interested in IP, as am I, and I think that may make this more acceptable for us than others who aren't looking at getting into IP.

My story is I've actually lived in a bunch of places, so I can genuinely show an interest and tie to every market I am applying to. I was just wondering the level of coordination in the HR department of a large law firm. I certainly don't want to interview in LA one week and then interview in Boston three weeks later if they know I'm not really gunning to work in Boston.

I just want to clarify. The advice I received was not geared toward bidding on different firms in multiple regions (which is probably still okay, as long as you don't overdo it and spread yourself too thin). It was geared toward bidding on the same firm in multiple regions.