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GULC transfer bid list, looking for critiques
Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 1:49 am
by Anonymous User
Firstly - GULC transfer, top 10-15% (3.65) at my old t20 school. Here are the first 30 bids I plan to make. 9 of the top 15 are for SF, everything else is NYC. I've researched these firms on chambers/their websites, but nothing more and ranked them by preference. I know that a few of them (W&C comes to mind) are doing terribly and that I should prob stay away from them - any others I should take off? Pretty much all of these firms have 3.3-3.4 past GPA medians (some are slightly higher) and decent bid/interview slot ratios from prior years. I've also taken 2009 SA class size into account. Any insight, advice, or recommendations would be appreciated. I really want biglaw/a job.
Freshfields
Jones Day SF
White Case
Paul Hastings SF
latham
Linklaters
Mofo
Allen
Dewey
Sheppard Mullin
Clifford
Goodwin Procter
Omelveny
Cooley
pillsbury
Dechert
sidley
Schulte
Mayer
Kirkland SF
Fried
Perkins Coie
shearman
seward
Wilson
wiel
Orrick
Paul Hastings NYC
Gibson
kirkland NYC
Re: GULC transfer bid list, looking for critiques
Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 2:07 am
by Anonymous User
Where is NYassociate?
Re: GULC transfer bid list, looking for critiques
Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 12:48 pm
by Anonymous User
Just be aware that the GULC curve changed, so past medians are quite lower than the current Top 1/3 GPA for 1Ls (which you can find on the registrar's website), and obviously some firms have GPA cutoffs. That said, I had friends who interviewed mainly in CA and had more interviews than most b/c those markets pull less, so you have a shot at plenty at EIW.
Re: GULC transfer bid list, looking for critiques
Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 1:37 pm
by Anonymous User
Anonymous User wrote:Where is NYassociate?
TCR. Only person who knows what he is talking about in here.
Re: GULC transfer bid list, looking for critiques
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 8:43 am
by NYAssociate
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Re: GULC transfer bid list, looking for critiques
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 12:20 pm
by Anonymous User
NYAssociate wrote:I think bidding on anything SF-related is risky as a GULC transfer. If the firm is worth working at (and there are very few worth working at in SF), it's really selective. A lot of the SF firms you list are not worth working at. What's worse is that they'll still be very selective because their summer classes will be super small, and they'll satisfy their recruiting needs, for the most part, from Boalt and Stanford.
Regarding NYC, the list seems OK. I'd try to focus on firms with the largest class sizes that are still within your GPA range. I.e., if some of the firms on your list have less than 10 summers this year, I'd wager they're just as hard to get as Davis Polk.
Why are SF firms toward the top? More people will be bidding on NY firms at GULC, and less on SF firms, so you'll basically get most of your SF bids, and almost none of your NY bids. Bad strategy. I'm sure you'll get more interviews if you stick NY at the top.
Finally, are you just looking at vault ranking here? There are plenty of great and safe firms that are not very selective. Take out Linklaters and White and Case (and Latham, who is very selective ITE), and replace with places like Kramer Levin, Hughes Hubbard, and Kasowitz Benson. Look for places like those to replace rancid places like Pillsbury, Dechert, Clifford, Allen, Dewey, Seward, etc.
Stay away from those British firms ITE, except Freshfields. Haven't you been reading the news? Haven't you seen the layoff trackers? The near-universal trend for British firms is almost inhuman increase in PPP and a significant decrease in revenue. Where does the profit come from? Redundancies. Look at the layoff tracker. Most of the firms that have laid off most of their associates are the British ones. If you thought Latham and White & Case had little regard for human life, the British firms have even littler.
Back to bed. Gotta head to work in a few hrs.
Firstly, thanks a lot NYassociate - you are very helpful and have lots of great information.
I'm bidding at SF firms because I really want to live there. I did my undergrad at berkeley and have a lot of ties to the area. I'd obviously take a job anywhere over being unemployed, but I don't want to let SF go without trying. I know its risky given the small class sizes and selectivity, but I still want to try. Why would those SF firms/offices come to GULC if they weren't going to hire anyone? Also, which of those firms are not worth working at and why? Thanks again.
Re: GULC transfer bid list, looking for critiques
Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 3:44 pm
by Anonymous User
You don't want to go to Latham. They are only strong in cyclical areas, not the countercylical areas. Also, they have a lot of firm hopping partners so they're pressured to leverage up in good times and contract in bad to keep them from leaving, even though it's bad for the firm in the long run. During the next decade there will probably be recessions every few years. You do not want to be at Latham. They'll also probably keep dropping in the Vault rankings.
Re: GULC transfer bid list, looking for critiques
Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 3:45 pm
by Anonymous User
Take goodwin procter and CC off that list too. Toilets.
Re: GULC transfer bid list, looking for critiques
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:21 pm
by Anonymous User
Anonymous User wrote:Why would those SF firms/offices come to GULC if they weren't going to hire anyone?
You would surprised to learn that many firms interview at various schools OCI programs with no intention of hiring anyone from there, or only hiring someone if they get a really, really standout candidate with top grades and law review. When I was at GULC there were firms that did this. One large, multinational firm interviewed about 60 people and only hired one GULC SA. And this wasn't even a Vault 50.
Another thing to keep in mind is that a lot of big firms hit the other schools before coming to GULC. Many firms will have already scheduled callbacks into late September/early October before interviewing a single GULC student.
What NYAssoc. said about putting the NY firms at the top of your bid list and focusing on firms with larger class sizes is right, if you want a shot at getting an SA offer.
Re: GULC transfer bid list, looking for critiques
Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 1:49 am
by NYAssociate
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