Chances of getting job out of state Forum
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Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are revealing sensitive employment related information about a firm, job, etc. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.
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Anonymous User
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Chances of getting job out of state
I'm at a 50ish ranked school in Florida in the top third of my class and had a summer clerkship during my 1L summer. I'm wondering what you guys think my chances are of getting a summer associate position at a Boston law firm (doesn't need to be Biglaw) for summer 2011. I know I don't attend a T-14 law school or anything but I'm hoping having clerked during 1L summer will maybe give me a one-up over people attending slightly better schools without the employment. Any advice is appreciated.
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digitalcntrl
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Re: Chances of getting job out of state
Pretty tough there even if it is not BigLaw. BigLaw of course looks for top schools and/or top grades, however, other areas tend to hire locally. Employers like to hire an known quantity rather than gamble on a far away non T-20 school.Anonymous User wrote:I'm at a 50ish ranked school in Florida in the top third of my class and had a summer clerkship during my 1L summer. I'm wondering what you guys think my chances are of getting a summer associate position at a Boston law firm (doesn't need to be Biglaw) for summer 2011. I know I don't attend a T-14 law school or anything but I'm hoping having clerked during 1L summer will maybe give me a one-up over people attending slightly better schools without the employment. Any advice is appreciated.
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Blindmelon
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Re: Chances of getting job out of state
Yea.. its going to be rough. Biglaw is an almost definite no barring connections (even then?). Shoot for small firms and try to network like hell. You are at a disadvantage being that there will be BC/BU/NE/Suffolk/NESL/UMass/UConn people looking for the same jobs...digitalcntrl wrote:Pretty tough there even if it is not BigLaw. BigLaw of course looks for top schools and/or top grades, however, other areas tend to hire locally. Employers like to hire an known quantity rather than gamble on a far away non T-20 school.Anonymous User wrote:I'm at a 50ish ranked school in Florida in the top third of my class and had a summer clerkship during my 1L summer. I'm wondering what you guys think my chances are of getting a summer associate position at a Boston law firm (doesn't need to be Biglaw) for summer 2011. I know I don't attend a T-14 law school or anything but I'm hoping having clerked during 1L summer will maybe give me a one-up over people attending slightly better schools without the employment. Any advice is appreciated.
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GatorStudent
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Re: Chances of getting job out of state
Yeah, I agree with the others that it doesn't look good for you. :0/
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Anonymous User
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Re: Chances of getting job out of state
Top third is kind of the no-man's-land of grades. (I know, because that's where I am too). I am also cold applying for SA jobs out of state. I will share with you the advice I've been given, however take it with a grain of salt for two reasons:
1.) I haven't gotten a job yet.
2.) I attend a T30 school. While top third at a T30 isn't great, it's better than top third at a T2 by a lot. I don't say this to brag, I say this because I probably have just about the lowest possible grades-to-rank ratio where applying out of market makes any sense, and even that might be optimistic.
If you're going to apply out of market without stellar grades/LR, you're going to need to shoot for smaller and mid sized firms. Go on NALP and make a list of firms in the Boston area. Then cross off all the 300-person-plus Vault-type firms. It just ain't happening and you shouldn't waste your time. Spend a little time on each of the websites for the remaining smaller firms and craft a cover letter which contains the following two things:
1.) Information about their specific firm, how it dovetails with your background and interests, and why you can be an asset to that specific firm.
2.) Why (and not just "I visited once LOLZ") you want to work in that market. In Boston, there are a lot of out-of-staters trying to get in because it's a cool city, so you have this going for you. It's a lot easier to break into Boston than to break into, say, Lincoln, NE. That said, you need to convince them you didn't just freak out because your grades are borderline and apply to every firm in the USA (even if that's precisely what you did).
Good luck. As I said, we top-thirders are in no man's land, but this can be done. Really stress anything in your background that might make you uniquely appealing in your cover letters. Cast a wide net, and hope something breaks your way.
1.) I haven't gotten a job yet.
2.) I attend a T30 school. While top third at a T30 isn't great, it's better than top third at a T2 by a lot. I don't say this to brag, I say this because I probably have just about the lowest possible grades-to-rank ratio where applying out of market makes any sense, and even that might be optimistic.
If you're going to apply out of market without stellar grades/LR, you're going to need to shoot for smaller and mid sized firms. Go on NALP and make a list of firms in the Boston area. Then cross off all the 300-person-plus Vault-type firms. It just ain't happening and you shouldn't waste your time. Spend a little time on each of the websites for the remaining smaller firms and craft a cover letter which contains the following two things:
1.) Information about their specific firm, how it dovetails with your background and interests, and why you can be an asset to that specific firm.
2.) Why (and not just "I visited once LOLZ") you want to work in that market. In Boston, there are a lot of out-of-staters trying to get in because it's a cool city, so you have this going for you. It's a lot easier to break into Boston than to break into, say, Lincoln, NE. That said, you need to convince them you didn't just freak out because your grades are borderline and apply to every firm in the USA (even if that's precisely what you did).
Good luck. As I said, we top-thirders are in no man's land, but this can be done. Really stress anything in your background that might make you uniquely appealing in your cover letters. Cast a wide net, and hope something breaks your way.
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