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Best Atlanta Firm?

AB

can you elaborate a little bit on this? why A+B over K&S?

All

K&S is marginally better than A&B at what it does, but it's a sweatshop. So balance it how you will, I come up with A&B.

Anonymous User wrote:can you elaborate a little bit on this? why A+B over K&S?

Dude, what exactly do you mean by “best?” Personally speaking, I’ve heard some pretty awesome things about both KS and AB. I lean more toward AB only because I know quite a few young lawyers who actually love working for them. Hey, check out this link http://www.averyindex.com/atlanta.php

Bondurant?

rad law wrote:Bondurant?

I haven’t heard much about them lately. I know they were the talk of "the town" a few years ago...

I hear great stuff about Morris Manning - although mainly regional they seem to have an similar reputation as other national firms in ATL. Their pay was also at the 145k range before firms started to seriously cut back. Surprised at the difference between Troutman and AB or KS. I though Troutman was a solid #3 in ATL.

Anonymous User wrote:I hear great stuff about Morris Manning - although mainly regional they seem to have an similar reputation as other national firms in ATL. Their pay was also at the 145k range before firms started to seriously cut back. Surprised at the difference between Troutman and AB or KS. I though Troutman was a solid #3 in ATL.

Yea, I was surprised also. I heard that both AB and KS had to cut a few of the “perks,” maybe that factored into the standing somewhere down the line?

Is Atlanta really an unpopular market? This post has less responses than the Best Wilmington Firm poll. Come on really? And pardon my anonymity, I got personal reasons.

How selective are these ATL firms? Is it as tough to get an entry level associate gig at these as it is in NYC / DC biglaw?

What would be the cutoffs in class rank from CCN and MVPD (throwing in Duke because I assume it has a major rep boost in the South)

Would love to settle down in Atl eventually... great city, and ridiculously cheap. $145k / year in Atlanta is pretty amazing, and if you're single that's an insane amount haha (eh, let's forget about law school debt for a second

This will be of great interest to me . . . until my grades come out.

skoobily doobily wrote:This will be of great interest to me . . . until my grades come out.

This. Someone needs to start posting a list of insurance defense firms and whatnot.

Atlanta was really selective at OCI this year from my experience. I was top 1/4 at Emory and landed a biglaw job but Atlanta firms refused to talk to me.

Atlanta was very selective at Duke this year. I'm guessing there are a few reasons for that:

1) There were at least five law review members looking to end up in Atlanta. Two or three of the same five people got callbacks at every Atlanta firm.

2) IIRC, only seven or so Atlanta firms were at Duke's OCI.

3) It was my impression that Atlanta hiring, while picking up slightly this year, is still down relative to some other markets (this is just my guess based on talking to Atlanta attorneys, so it could be wrong).

My advice if you're looking to go to Atlanta is to apply to at least one other market, preferably NY, to make sure you don't strike out.

Anonymous User wrote:Atlanta was very selective at Duke this year. I'm guessing there are a few reasons for that:

1) There were at least five law review members looking to end up in Atlanta. Two or three of the same five people got callbacks at every Atlanta firm.

2) IIRC, only seven or so Atlanta firms were at Duke's OCI.

3) It was my impression that Atlanta hiring, while picking up slightly this year, is still down relative to some other markets (this is just my guess based on talking to Atlanta attorneys, so it could be wrong).

My advice if you're looking to go to Atlanta is to apply to at least one other market, preferably NY, to make sure you don't strike out.

Crazy... you mean all the ATL firms at Duke were only looking for 1-2 associates tops, and I guess there were only a few firms at that? That's a bit depressing, considering duke is supposed to be the stronghold for the South...

hellojd wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Atlanta was very selective at Duke this year. I'm guessing there are a few reasons for that:

1) There were at least five law review members looking to end up in Atlanta. Two or three of the same five people got callbacks at every Atlanta firm.

2) IIRC, only seven or so Atlanta firms were at Duke's OCI.

3) It was my impression that Atlanta hiring, while picking up slightly this year, is still down relative to some other markets (this is just my guess based on talking to Atlanta attorneys, so it could be wrong).

My advice if you're looking to go to Atlanta is to apply to at least one other market, preferably NY, to make sure you don't strike out.

Crazy... you mean all the ATL firms at Duke were only looking for 1-2 associates tops, and I guess there were only a few firms at that? That's a bit depressing, considering duke is supposed to be the stronghold for the South...

The class sizes in Atlanta are really small. A&B, which is (I think) the biggest Atlanta firm only had 13 SAs last year, K&S had 6, and Kilpatrick Stockton and Jones Day had 10. Having 1-2 from Duke makes sense when you figure that Harvard is likely to have a decent number of their 500 person class looking to Atlanta, and there are a handful of students from other schools higher ranked than Duke who want Atlanta as well.

Also, I think you might be overestimating the number of people who want to go to Atlanta from Duke. I think it was a fluke that five law review kids wanted Atlanta in the same year, which made it significantly harder to get for the non-LR students. The vast majority of Duke's class wants NYC or DC. I'm not going to pretend to know how many people wanted Atlanta and didn't get it either, though. I'm just saying that for smaller markets where class sizes are small it is really important to have a backup city like NY in case half of law review randomly decides that Atlanta is their first choice. I've heard the same thing happened to one of the Texas markets this year, and it hurt some top 30-40% people who otherwise would have gotten offers (or more/better offers).

As for the number of firms at OCI, I was surprised that it was so low. Talking to UVA people, I think they had a couple more Atlanta firms come than we did, but it was about the same.

Anonymous User wrote:
Also, I think you might be overestimating the number of people who want to go to Atlanta from Duke. I think it was a fluke that five law review kids wanted Atlanta in the same year, which made it significantly harder to get for the non-LR students. The vast majority of Duke's class wants NYC or DC. I'm not going to pretend to know how many people wanted Atlanta and didn't get it either, though. I'm just saying that for smaller markets where class sizes are small it is really important to have a backup city like NY in case half of law review randomly decides that Atlanta is their first choice. I've heard the same thing happened to one of the Texas markets this year, and it hurt some top 30-40% people who otherwise would have gotten offers (or more/better offers).

As for the number of firms at OCI, I was surprised that it was so low. Talking to UVA people, I think they had a couple more Atlanta firms come than we did, but it was about the same.

A&B is having a 20-25 person class this year. UVA had approximately 18 Atlanta firms (of all sizes) come to our OGI, and many of those firms gave several callbacks and offers. But it ebbs and flows. Last year for instance, A&B did not take anyone from UVA (made some offers, no acceptances though).

As for cutoff, if you're median at UVA you've got a decent shot at any Atlanta firm except the top ones (K&S, A&B, Jones Day and the like). But even at those great firms, the chances aren't 0. They give callbacks even to some people below the median.

A&B conducted video conference interviews at other T-14s where it did not have on-campus interviews and called back students from those T-14s. (I know this because I had a callback on the same day as other non-UVA, non-Duke, T-14 students from different regions of the country.) I think you have a shot with above median grades at the top Atlanta firms like K&S and A&B, but since Atlanta in general is a very insular market, Atlanta firms will grill you about having ties, so be prepared.

Anonymous User wrote:The class sizes in Atlanta are really small. A&B, which is (I think) the biggest Atlanta firm only had 13 SAs last year, K&S had 6, and Kilpatrick Stockton and Jones Day had 10. Having 1-2 from Duke makes sense when you figure that Harvard is likely to have a decent number of their 500 person class looking to Atlanta, and there are a handful of students from other schools higher ranked than Duke who want Atlanta as well.

Also, I think you might be overestimating the number of people who want to go to Atlanta from Duke. I think it was a fluke that five law review kids wanted Atlanta in the same year, which made it significantly harder to get for the non-LR students. The vast majority of Duke's class wants NYC or DC. I'm not going to pretend to know how many people wanted Atlanta and didn't get it either, though. I'm just saying that for smaller markets where class sizes are small it is really important to have a backup city like NY in case half of law review randomly decides that Atlanta is their first choice. I've heard the same thing happened to one of the Texas markets this year, and it hurt some top 30-40% people who otherwise would have gotten offers (or more/better offers).

As for the number of firms at OCI, I was surprised that it was so low. Talking to UVA people, I think they had a couple more Atlanta firms come than we did, but it was about the same.

The small class size thing is a result of ITE. The year before last, and on a regular basis prior to that, King and Spalding as well as Alston routinely had 40 and 50 person class sizes. With it going up to 20-25 this coming summer I wouldn't be surprised if for summer 2012 and beyond (the year that OP would be looking at) they get closer to their pre ite sizes.

Bondurant is the "best" firm in Atlanta by a considerable margin; they are extremely selective. Almost all of the major Atlanta firms interview at UVA. The pre ite UVA hiring charts show Alston and King and Spalding taking mostly median and below students from UVA.

BruceWayne wrote:The small class size thing is a result of ITE. The year before last, and on a regular basis prior to that, King and Spalding as well as Alston routinely had 40 and 50 person class sizes. With it going up to 20-25 this coming summer I wouldn't be surprised if for summer 2012 and beyond (the year that OP would be looking at) they get closer to their pre ite sizes.

Bondurant is the "best" firm in Atlanta by a considerable margin; they are extremely selective. Almost all of the major Atlanta firms interview at UVA. The pre ite UVA hiring charts show Alston and King and Spalding taking mostly median and below students from UVA.

King & Spalding had a Fall 2008 OGI median GPA of a 3.65 (Roughly 90th percentile) and Alston & Bird had a Fall 2008 median GPA of 3.50 (Roughly top quarter) at UVA. HTH.

Anonymous User wrote:

BruceWayne wrote:The small class size thing is a result of ITE. The year before last, and on a regular basis prior to that, King and Spalding as well as Alston routinely had 40 and 50 person class sizes. With it going up to 20-25 this coming summer I wouldn't be surprised if for summer 2012 and beyond (the year that OP would be looking at) they get closer to their pre ite sizes.

Bondurant is the "best" firm in Atlanta by a considerable margin; they are extremely selective. Almost all of the major Atlanta firms interview at UVA. The pre ite UVA hiring charts show Alston and King and Spalding taking mostly median and below students from UVA.

King & Spalding had a Fall 2008 OGI median GPA of a 3.65 (Roughly 90th percentile) and Alston & Bird had a Fall 2008 median GPA of 3.50 (Roughly top quarter) at UVA. HTH.

You're telling me they jumped from taking median(and below) in 07 to top 10 percent in 2008? Something doesn't sound right--even for ITE that's extreme. The Michigan GPA chart shows similar numbers to the one's that I posted earlier (with the absolute highest GPA at Michigan before ITE being a 3.6). If Alston and K&S are hiring the GPAs you've quoted, they're as selective as Covington DC and Cravath. What are they hiring at UGA then--top 1 percent? Something doesn't sound right with those numbers.

Very helpful info guys, thanks!

Sorry to continue with my 0L questions, but is it the general consensus then that median at MVP is going to get you a good shot at these ATL firms, with the exception of Bondurant (how selective are they)? I am mainly asking because MVP is my target for acceptances with my numbers, and will probably end up at P if I had to guess, and I would really love a good shot at the ATL market (I went to UG in atl, so proving the connection wouldn't be too tough for me).

Interesting that I guess you have a better chance at these GA firms if you didn't go to school in GA (barring good connections).

BruceWayne wrote: You're telling me they jumped from taking median(and below) in 07 to top 10 percent in 2008? Something doesn't sound right--even for ITE that's extreme. The Michigan GPA chart shows similar numbers to the one's that I posted earlier (with the absolute highest GPA at Michigan before ITE being a 3.6). If Alston and K&S are hiring the GPAs you've quoted, they're as selective as Covington DC and Cravath. What are they hiring at UGA then--top 1 percent? Something doesn't sound right with those numbers.

Cravath did not come to UVA's OGI this year. I'm not sure if they normally do. The K&S numbers are very high, but K&S Atlanta is far more selective that K&S at any of the other offices, at least at UVA. Plus, that's just the median. If in 2008 they only gave something like 3 callbacks, that might explain it.