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Do DC firms care about ties to the city for callback purposes (i.e., during a callback interview) or is it more like NYC where they aren't as much of an issue?

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NYAssociate wrote:It's one of the great myths of TLS that they do. No, they don't.

Based on things I've heard from people who got DC interviews, this is untrue or at least an exaggeration. Maybe NYA is trying to say it doesn't matter as much as people here say it does, but it clearly does matter that you have a reason for wanting to be there in particular.

FWIW, I'm a T2 to T14 transfer with incredibly strong ties to the DC market. I Interviewed with an array of DC firms or offices and have not received any callbacks thus far. I have received several rejections and silence from the rest. It's been frustrating because DC is really where I was hoping to end up. In fact, it was the main reason I transferred in the first place. Oh well.

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You don't need personal ties to big markets like DC and NY.

Of course, if you have business ties, that would help.

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NYAssociate wrote:

vanwinkle wrote:

NYAssociate wrote:It's one of the great myths of TLS that they do. No, they don't.

Based on things I've heard from people who got DC interviews, this is untrue or at least an exaggeration. Maybe NYA is trying to say it doesn't matter as much as people here say it does, but it clearly does matter that you have a reason for wanting to be there in particular.

I don't think you know what "ties" mean. Of course you need to have a reason for wanting to be in any market, even NYC. I mean ties in terms of geography, relatives, etc. You don't need the latter ties for DC.

Yeah, I was more referring to the personal type of ties. What appeals to me about DC is the type of work that is available there... the nice qualities of the city itself and the fact that I have friends there already and extended family moving soon to there are secondary. I just didn't want the fact that I'm not from there / my parents aren't there or whatever to hurt me.

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From what I've seen so far/been told, firms in LA/DC/NY/SF don't care about ties at all.

Every NY and LA firm I have interviewed with has asked Why X City?

JPU wrote:Every NY and LA firm I have interviewed with has asked Why X City?

Yes, but surely you can provide them with a cogent and satisfactory answer that doesn't involve having grown up there, which latter is often virtually required by firms in small markets.

The Why c city quesiton used to matter, when jobs were plentiful and firms thought you might be wanting to spend a summer in x city- just to enjoy yourself, and then as a 3L you would choose a firm in another city. ITE that would almost never happen. 2L's are looking for an end of summer offer and would almost never play the summer in another city card.

I just don't think it's all that relevant a question any more. Also, I don;t think Big Law firms care if you are going to spend only 4 years there and then move on. 90% of associates do that anyway, so why should they care iof you have ties. Will it make you work harder? I doubt it.

NYAssociate wrote:It's one of the great myths of TLS that they do. No, they don't.

I think it's a continuum. Having done CBs in NYC, DC, and Chi, I'd say that you want to be able to show roughly this level of commitment:

NYC - I would love to live here.
DC - I worked here/went to school here.
Chi - My girlfriend is here.
Atlanta - My family is here going back to the turn of the century.

At my DC callbacks, the fact that I grew up there definitely paid well. At one place, the screening interviewer specifically wrote it down when I mentioned it.

rayiner wrote:

NYAssociate wrote:It's one of the great myths of TLS that they do. No, they don't.

I think it's a continuum. Having done CBs in NYC, DC, and Chi, I'd say that you want to be able to show roughly this level of commitment:

NYC - I would love to live here.
DC - I worked here/went to school here.
Chi - My girlfriend is here.
Atlanta - My family is here going back to the turn of the century.

At my DC callbacks, the fact that I grew up there definitely paid well. At one place, the screening interviewer specifically wrote it down when I mentioned it.

This is in line with what I've heard from others.

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NYAssociate wrote:...I had interviewers write down that I have family in NYC. Doesn't mean it's required.

Not saying its required. If you asked me to put a binary label on markets I'd put DC in with NY in the "no ties required" category. However, I do think if you have no ties to DC, you want to have a better, more careful story than you need for NY. I don't think "this seems like a great place to live" is really sufficient, ITE, the way it might be for NY.

NYAssociate wrote:...I had interviewers write down that I have family in NYC. Doesn't mean it's required.

You're talking about this in a binary sense, like either it's required fully or it's not at all. That's not the way it works. It doesn't seem as strongly required as in the secondary markets, but to still be helpful to those who do have existing ties of some sort.

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SBL wrote:From what I've seen so far/been told, firms in LA/DC/NY/SF don't care about ties at all.

Not true about LA/SF. Now, they might not care about ties as much as Texas firms or Atlanta, but they do give some extra weight to candidates who are from the area or have some reason for wanting to be there. LA gets so many people who want to do entertainment work but have never lived or worked in the city, nor spent any significant time there (either from school or otherwise). From what I saw at my school, those who got callbacks for the California firms were people from California. Those who were just trying to break into the market got very few in comparison.

I had never been east of Ohio before landing in DC for my callback interviews. 3 for 3 as far as V20 offers go. My only real reason is the type of work there.

NYAssociate wrote:I just think you could give great and sufficient reasons for wanting to practice in DC without having to resort hard ties or anything.

I agree with this, but it's not the same as the "ties mattering is a myth" thing you said at the beginning of the thread.

Firms in LA and SF care about ties. Maybe not when they recruit at Davis because the desire to be in California is clear there, but they definitely care when recruiting from east coast schools. It's also apparent that in NorCal, having SoCal ties is not sufficient (unless you go to a NorCal school, I'm sure). There's a divide in California, and they want people with real NorCal ties.

In NY and DC you just need some good reasons why you want to be in the market.

vanwinkle wrote:

NYAssociate wrote:It's one of the great myths of TLS that they do. No, they don't.

Based on things I've heard from people who got DC interviews, this is untrue or at least an exaggeration. Maybe NYA is trying to say it doesn't matter as much as people here say it does, but it clearly does matter that you have a reason for wanting to be there in particular.

a reason does not equal ties. there are a lot of compelling reasons to be in DC that have nothing to do with having lived there previously or having family there - the DC firms understand this, and if you can articulate one of these reasons, you'll be good to go.

enygma wrote:

vanwinkle wrote:

NYAssociate wrote:It's one of the great myths of TLS that they do. No, they don't.

Based on things I've heard from people who got DC interviews, this is untrue or at least an exaggeration. Maybe NYA is trying to say it doesn't matter as much as people here say it does, but it clearly does matter that you have a reason for wanting to be there in particular.

a reason does not equal ties. there are a lot of compelling reasons to be in DC that have nothing to do with having lived there previously or having family there - the DC firms understand this, and if you can articulate one of these reasons, you'll be good to go.

I feel like this is probably TCR. As long as you're not applying to DC for shits and giggles and you can articulate a reason you're going there and not NYC/LA, you should be good.