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How competitive is Orange County compared to NY, DC, LA?

It seems that in terms of overall competitiveness there's not a whole lot of difference between the two. Just based on the sampling of OC firms that did OCI at my school, it seems like there's more of an IP focus there than there is in LA, for what that's worth. Also, OC firms have been a lot more vigorous about asking people about ties to the area than LA ones.

I would say more competitive than LA. Def was asked by all for firm ties to OC and theres not a whole lot of SA spots to begin with.

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dood wrote:All my CA firms asked for ties to the market

Have some ties, didn't grow up there.

Probably more competitive than LA. There are not that many offices in the OC and the few offices there have very small SA class sizes.

few offices, small SA class, you need a VERY COMPELLING REASON to show that you want to be in OC (I.E. its not your LA backup). If you didn't grow up in the OC don't waste your time.

Friends with IP backgrounds did fine in the OC area with no ties to CA at all.

LawSchoolWannaBe wrote:Friends with IP backgrounds did fine in the OC area with no ties to CA at all.

I could see this being true. A lot of IP work down there, and they're going to be a hell of a lot more relaxed about ties to Irvine if you've got a chem-E B.S. from MIT.

That said, OP, unless you're going for IP, if you have weak ties to CA ("I've got family there" kind of thing), I'd recommend shooting for LA or SF instead of SD/OC, just to maximize your odds.

dood wrote:All my CA firms asked for ties to the market

Same. I hate CA now.

Kohinoor wrote:

dood wrote:All my CA firms asked for ties to the market

Same. I hate CA now.

Even within CA there are sub-levels of this. As long as you're from CA somewhere, LA/SF firms could give a shit about ties, but SV/Oakland/Sac/Fresno/SD/OC care a lot.

This topic is making me miss Taco Mesa.

And yes, you don't need ties to the OC if you're going there for IP. General SoCal ties should probably be OK if you want to be there for other reasons.

--ImageRemoved--

"Don't call it that."

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SBL wrote:

Kohinoor wrote:

dood wrote:All my CA firms asked for ties to the market

Same. I hate CA now.

Even within CA there are sub-levels of this. As long as you're from CA somewhere, LA/SF firms could give a shit about ties, but SV/Oakland/Sac/Fresno/SD/OC care a lot.

Is it enough for LA that my entire mom's side of the family (including my G-d daughter) lives in SOCAL?

I grew up in Lake Forest/Irvine. My parents still live in Irvine. But i went to school in Texas, and will be attending UVA, is my growing up there and parents there VERY strong ties? even though i left for undergrad and grad school? I would love to work in Irvine/live in Newport

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use her address on your resume for LA targets, when u interview, say "my family lives in LA and i plan on living here after law school." thats what i did and it seemed to be more than enough.

i also told stories of surfing, etc. if i saw pictures and post cards of CA things on their wall, i would always try to tie that in (i.e. a partner had a bunch of pics from california speedway and i talked about taking my customers up there for NASCAR, and how i went to the long beach grand prix every year). make a personal and geographic connection.

My mom and dad don't live in LA tho. Grew up in a neighboring state.

Veyron wrote:

SBL wrote:

Kohinoor wrote:

dood wrote:All my CA firms asked for ties to the market

Same. I hate CA now.

Even within CA there are sub-levels of this. As long as you're from CA somewhere, LA/SF firms could give a shit about ties, but SV/Oakland/Sac/Fresno/SD/OC care a lot.

Is it enough for LA that my entire mom's side of the family (including my G-d daughter) lives in SOCAL?

This is basically the generic "I have family there." It's a weak tie, but if you've got good grades from a good school, and you're headed to a big market like LA, weak ties will probably do the job. However for smaller markets in SoCal (OC, SD), you'll really need to play it up a bit more.

[/quote]

Is it enough for LA that my entire mom's side of the family (including my G-d daughter) lives in SOCAL?[/quote]
This is basically the generic "I have family there." It's a weak tie, but if you've got good grades from a good school, and you're headed to a big market like LA, weak ties will probably do the job. However for smaller markets in SoCal (OC, SD), you'll really need to play it up a bit more.[/quote]

Why is LA so much more freaked out than NYC about people leaving?

Veyron wrote:

Is it enough for LA that my entire mom's side of the family (including my G-d daughter) lives in SOCAL?[/quote]
This is basically the generic "I have family there." It's a weak tie, but if you've got good grades from a good school, and you're headed to a big market like LA, weak ties will probably do the job. However for smaller markets in SoCal (OC, SD), you'll really need to play it up a bit more.[/quote]

Why is LA so much more freaked out than NYC about people leaving?[/quote]
I wouldn't say much moreso, I think it's just that pretty much everyone from top schools seems to go to NYC, whereas only a few (mainly from CA schools) seem to want LA by comparison. As a city, it's comparable to NYC in terms of size/scope/shit it contains, but as a legal market, it's much, much smaller.

From what I've heard though, CA markets aren't nearly as bad as other large markets (especially Texas) in terms of demanding ties.

I had callbacks with both LA firms and OC firms. I thought the OC firms - I interviewed with both OC-based firms like Stradling/Rutan and national firms like GDC/OMM/Latham - were actually less concerned with ties. But even LA firms were not nearly as concerned with ties as SD firms, where often the first question in a callback interview (if you don't have obvious ties on the face of your resume) is why you're looking in San Diego.

dood did talking about surfing help at all? I feel like at some of the socal esp. orange/sd firms there have to be some partners that surf. It seems like that could definitely express a tie but i'm wondering if maybe some partner that surfed was more into hiring you.

This probably sounds stupid but I think it would kinda be like if you were really good at golf (not sure if that actually helps but I think it might)

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