Top Law Schools

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 12:55 pm**

1) Vault ranking

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 1:07 pm**

prestige - for quality of work, non-firm exit options, and lateralling prospects proxy only.

compensation - hard to peg historically for most, but some real differences emerge.

geography - where in the country; where in the city

leverage - as a proxy for partnership prospects, fungibility of associates, and firm profit structure.

work available to juniors - early responsibility vs, mega firm hierarchy (pros and cons to both)

size, strength, and accessibility of desired practice areas. Rotations? Free market? Rigid divisions?

path to practice area - how do summers get work, how do first year's get assigned to their group / partner / office location?

people and vibe - maybe most important. Do you like the people that the firm attracts?

other lawstudents - is the firm popular with your friends? Is the firm popular with your enemies?

financial health ITE: what has the firm done and why? What does the future look like?

clients: who will you be dealing with? It matters for personality as much as exit options. Bankers will have different demands than small corporations, etc.

obviously different factors get different weights, and many will run together or be impossibl to pin down during OCI.

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 1:11 pm**

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 1:12 pm**

In order:
1. Offer rate for summer associates
2. Whether the firm allows split summers (if so, does it require to be first/second)
3. Diversity in the makeup of the office extending the offer (associates/partners)
4. The strength of the office in the areas of law that I'm interested in (how many attorneys work in this area/chambers rankings in this area/etc.)
5. How many lawyers the office in question has laid off over the last two years
6. Geographic preferences (is the office in the region I really want/ if not, is the offer better than my other options?)
7. Weekly pay (this is generally tied to geographics - i.e. major markets v. secondary markets)
8. Vault rankings

This is pretty much it.

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 1:13 pm**

Whether it gave me an offer

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 1:45 pm**

Some recent data to consider if you see yourself at a firm long term:

http://www.law.com/jsp/tal/PubArticleTA ... 2470242761

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 1:55 pm**

Subjective fit -- the vibe I got from the partners, associates, secretaries, recruiters, and paralegals during all my interactions with them
Objective practice-area strengths (per chambers)
int'l presence and relevance
historical alumni of the firm
artwork on the walls -- i fucking hate corporate artwork; i want a firm with good fucking taste/ whether the place felt like home versus a hotel

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 1:58 pm**

Chambers & Fit.

Chambers is a great tool for evaluating the strengths of firms in secondary markets.

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 3:10 pm**

- one that gives an offer
- fit, which factors in how nice their interviewer was

If firms tend to send their most personable people to interview, then some firms are just filled with complete a-holes.

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 3:27 pm**

disco_barred wrote:prestige - for quality of work, non-firm exit options, and lateralling prospects proxy only.

compensation - hard to peg historically for most, but some real differences emerge.

geography - where in the country; where in the city

leverage - as a proxy for partnership prospects, fungibility of associates, and firm profit structure.

work available to juniors - early responsibility vs, mega firm hierarchy (pros and cons to both)

size, strength, and accessibility of desired practice areas. Rotations? Free market? Rigid divisions?

path to practice area - how do summers get work, how do first year's get assigned to their group / partner / office location?

people and vibe - maybe most important. Do you like the people that the firm attracts?

other lawstudents - is the firm popular with your friends? Is the firm popular with your enemies?

financial health ITE: what has the firm done and why? What does the future look like?

clients: who will you be dealing with? It matters for personality as much as exit options. Bankers will have different demands than small corporations, etc.

obviously different factors get different weights, and many will run together or be impossibl to pin down during OCI.

This. Well, and that:

Unemployed wrote:Whether it gave me an offer

I don't expect to get a big firm offer, but working with people I like and respect in a comfortable environment is more important than anything else. Whatever I do have to evaluate, such as my new internship, is judged thus. If and when the time comes, it will be down to that.

EDIT: and geography is pretty important too! That one almost goes without saying.

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 3:35 pm**

Unemployed wrote:Whether it gave me an offer

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 3:37 pm**

Unemployed wrote:Whether it gave me an offer

TITMFCR

If you don't have top 5% stats, you're not choosing a firm, they're choosing you and you take what you can mother fucking get.

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 3:48 pm**

radek wrote:
Unemployed wrote:Whether it gave me an offer
TITMFCR

If you don't have top 5% stats, you're not choosing a firm, they're choosing you and you take what you can mother fucking get.

This. I don't know what its like at other schools, but it seems like here theres a lot of CBs, but i haven't heard of a single offer. I have heard of a bunch of rejections after CBs though.

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 3:54 pm**

Blindmelon wrote:
radek wrote:
Unemployed wrote:Whether it gave me an offer
TITMFCR

If you don't have top 5% stats, you're not choosing a firm, they're choosing you and you take what you can mother fucking get.
This. I don't know what its like at other schools, but it seems like here theres a lot of CBs, but i haven't heard of a single offer. I have heard of a bunch of rejections after CBs though.

I don't know of anyone with an offer yet here, either, but it's still really early. Some people did have a lot of CBs to go on, and I am guessing my classmates will receive offers after CCN, as is traditional here. For my own part I would forgo biglaw before going to a firm where I felt unwelcome or uncomfortable. That would likely be the choice, as I only know ~~two~~ three people offhand who have more than one offer. (This is out of all the law students I am acquainted with, at every school up and down the rankings.)

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:11 pm**

OperaSoprano wrote: I don't know of anyone with an offer yet here, either, but it's still really early. Some people did have a lot of CBs to go on, and I am guessing my classmates will receive offers after CCN, as is traditional here. For my own part I would forgo biglaw before going to a firm where I felt unwelcome or uncomfortable. That would likely be the choice, as I only know ~~two~~ three people offhand who have more than one offer. (This is out of all the law students I am acquainted with, at every school up and down the rankings.)

Really? A lot of people here have more than one offer.

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:12 pm**

OperaSoprano wrote:
Blindmelon wrote:
radek wrote:
Unemployed wrote:Whether it gave me an offer
TITMFCR

If you don't have top 5% stats, you're not choosing a firm, they're choosing you and you take what you can mother fucking get.
This. I don't know what its like at other schools, but it seems like here theres a lot of CBs, but i haven't heard of a single offer. I have heard of a bunch of rejections after CBs though.
I don't know of anyone with an offer yet here, either, but it's still really early. Some people did have a lot of CBs to go on, and I am guessing my classmates will receive offers after CCN, as is traditional here. For my own part I would forgo biglaw before going to a firm where I felt unwelcome or uncomfortable. That would likely be the choice, as I only know ~~two~~ three people offhand who have more than one offer. (This is out of all the law students I am acquainted with, at every school up and down the rankings.)

Well, I think thats the problem with our OCI. Why take a BU student, even in the top 10%, when theres Harvard students sweating the OCI process?

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:14 pm**

booyakasha wrote:
OperaSoprano wrote: I don't know of anyone with an offer yet here, either, but it's still really early. Some people did have a lot of CBs to go on, and I am guessing my classmates will receive offers after CCN, as is traditional here. For my own part I would forgo biglaw before going to a firm where I felt unwelcome or uncomfortable. That would likely be the choice, as I only know ~~two~~ three people offhand who have more than one offer. (This is out of all the law students I am acquainted with, at every school up and down the rankings.)
Really? A lot of people here have more than one offer.

School? Define "a lot."

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:21 pm**

radek wrote:
booyakasha wrote:
OperaSoprano wrote: I don't know of anyone with an offer yet here, either, but it's still really early. Some people did have a lot of CBs to go on, and I am guessing my classmates will receive offers after CCN, as is traditional here. For my own part I would forgo biglaw before going to a firm where I felt unwelcome or uncomfortable. That would likely be the choice, as I only know ~~two~~ three people offhand who have more than one offer. (This is out of all the law students I am acquainted with, at every school up and down the rankings.)
Really? A lot of people here have more than one offer.
School? Define "a lot."

Columbia

. I just mentioned it because I know OS has friends here.

I can't really define a lot, it's just the impression I've gotten from talking to people.

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:23 pm**

booyakasha wrote:
radek wrote:
booyakasha wrote:
OperaSoprano wrote: I don't know of anyone with an offer yet here, either, but it's still really early. Some people did have a lot of CBs to go on, and I am guessing my classmates will receive offers after CCN, as is traditional here. For my own part I would forgo biglaw before going to a firm where I felt unwelcome or uncomfortable. That would likely be the choice, as I only know ~~two~~ three people offhand who have more than one offer. (This is out of all the law students I am acquainted with, at every school up and down the rankings.)
Really? A lot of people here have more than one offer.
School? Define "a lot."
Columbia . I just mentioned it because I know OS has friends here.

I can't really define a lot, it's just the impression I've gotten from talking to people.

I guess you can thank Bush and Obama for bailing out all the NYC banks and thus indirectly giving law firms money to hire SAs in NYC. The rest of the country seems to be struggling.

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:28 pm**

location and salary

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:31 pm**

radek wrote:
I guess you can thank Bush and Obama for bailing out all the NYC banks and thus indirectly giving law firms money to hire SAs in NYC. The rest of the country seems to be struggling.

um... ok.

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:34 pm**

booyakasha wrote:
radek wrote:
booyakasha wrote:
OperaSoprano wrote: I don't know of anyone with an offer yet here, either, but it's still really early. Some people did have a lot of CBs to go on, and I am guessing my classmates will receive offers after CCN, as is traditional here. For my own part I would forgo biglaw before going to a firm where I felt unwelcome or uncomfortable. That would likely be the choice, as I only know ~~two~~ three people offhand who have more than one offer. (This is out of all the law students I am acquainted with, at every school up and down the rankings.)
Really? A lot of people here have more than one offer.
School? Define "a lot."
Columbia . I just mentioned it because I know OS has friends here.

I can't really define a lot, it's just the impression I've gotten from talking to people.

It wouldn't surprise me if this were happening at CLS. Your classmates are outstanding people, though. They are not going to come find me and tell me all about the multiple offers they have. (The data I have may thus be less than a true representation, if people are looking out for me in this way.) I am curious to get a sense of this, though. Would you say it's just the top of the class, or a more widespread phenomenon at this point?

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:35 pm**

booyakasha wrote:
radek wrote:
booyakasha wrote:
OperaSoprano wrote: I don't know of anyone with an offer yet here, either, but it's still really early. Some people did have a lot of CBs to go on, and I am guessing my classmates will receive offers after CCN, as is traditional here. For my own part I would forgo biglaw before going to a firm where I felt unwelcome or uncomfortable. That would likely be the choice, as I only know ~~two~~ three people offhand who have more than one offer. (This is out of all the law students I am acquainted with, at every school up and down the rankings.)
Really? A lot of people here have more than one offer.
School? Define "a lot."
Columbia . I just mentioned it because I know OS has friends here.

I can't really define a lot, it's just the impression I've gotten from talking to people.

Yea.... my school is a teensy bit weaker than Columbia, hehe. Btw, Booya can you tell your classmates to stay out of Boston? K, thx. I keep having flashbacks to that South Park Episode - "They took our jobs!" I only say this because during the callback I was on I met a Columbia guy doing the same.

Posted: **Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:41 pm**

booyakasha wrote:
radek wrote:
I guess you can thank Bush and Obama for bailing out all the NYC banks and thus indirectly giving law firms money to hire SAs in NYC. The rest of the country seems to be struggling.
um... ok.

just tellin it like it is

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