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Can any speak to the opportunities in Rochester? I grew up there and am familiar with some associates in the industry, but I'm curious to see what opinions people on this board have of the area. I applying to upstate law schools (and to schools in other geographical locations) and am concerned about getting a job ITE.

At least this past year, Rochester and other upstate cities were pretty tough for the larger firms (Nixon, Harris Beach, Harter Secrest, Ward Greeburg, etc.). I know a couple people who had above median grades and were at T14 schools who got locked out, despite substantial ties to the area.

The problem is that a lot of the firms have cut back their summer classes from 10-20 to 2-6 due to the economy. Since any given firm normally had 2-4 students coming back to their home markets from T14s, it seems (from what I've heard/experienced) that these jobs are going to those students, whereas normally there was also room for 7-15 students from Syracuse, UB and Albany. I bet students at the tippy top of their classes at UB, Albany and Syracuse can still find jobs at large firms, but the students in the top 20ish% who used to get those jobs no longer are, since students in the top 20% at T14s are also gunning for them.

The firm I'm going to used to always take students from Syracuse and Buffalo. This year every summer associate is coming from the T14.

Depressing, but as far as I can tell, that's what's going on.

Very depressing indeed. My other option is to attend law school in Chicago, but my most important criteria in choosing a school is my ability to be employed once I earn a degree.

I have strong ties to Rochester and upstate NY in general, but would your advise be to pursue opportunities in Chicago rather than risk it in Rochester. Should I ask friends (two of whom work for firms you parenthetically mentioned) directly how useful their connections might be in three years?

I don't know anything about Chicago - if you have questions about that, I would suggest you change the thread name to include Chicago.

Chicago's legal market has taken a huge hit lately (>50% decline in SA positions). I wouldn't even consider any Chicago school besides UC and NU, unless they offered me a full-ride.