Post Your Bidlists Here for Critique, Consolation & Caveats Forum

[thesealocust]

Big PSA: For every person I know who got fucked by bidding too aggressively, I know about 50 who got fucked because they attempted to 'bid conservatively' and wound up in the clusterfuck of students trying to get a tiny pool of jobs from firms who, while not extremely grade conscious, weren't hiring very many students.

It's not a license to bid the V10 with a 2.8, but watch your step if you think you're making a 'conservative' big list.

With top 1/4 grades from UVa is it too conservative to bid STB, Davis Polk, Skadden, Debevoise, and Cleary as your last 5 bids (while leaving off Paul Weiss all together)?

If I had a 3.48 / top 25%+ grades at UVA this year, I would bid each and every one of those firms. I'd use the list of how many interviews they were doing to determine order, and would feel no need to bid them dead last. If there were a few I wanted to work at for one reason or another, I would bid them in my top 10.

[barry]

When we get the list at UVA ( or at any school i guess) for how many people bid on these firms, does it usually stay about the same year to year or do people see that only 26 ppl bid for 20 spots at firm x, and then all of the sudden firm x is getting 100 bids b/c people think it will be easy to get an interview?

[Anonymous User]

Attempt #2
GULC
Top 7-8%
Want D.C. securities reg/lit or NY corporate. Prefer D.C. practice strongly, but want a market paying job.

1 Arnold & Porter DC
2 Sidley DC
3 WilmerHale DC
4 Hogan & Lovells DC
5 Jones Day DC
6 Skadden NY
7 Gibson Dunn DC
8 Latham DC
9 Cleary NY
10 Dewey & Leboeuf NY
11 Weil Gotshal NY
12 K&E DC
13 White & Case NY
14 Debevoise NY
15 Akin Gump DC
16 Fried Frank DC
17 Davis Polk NY
18 Milbank NY
19 Shearman NY
20 Paul Weiss NY
21 Baker Botts DC
22 Crowell & Moring DC
23 Cahill NY
24 Williams & Connolly DC
25 Covington DC
26 STB NY
27 Cravath NY
28 Sullivan & Cromwell NY
29 Ropes & Gray DC
30 Steptoe DC

Thanks for any help/suggestions!

Bump-- any thoughts? Thanks!

[swc65]

When we get the list at UVA ( or at any school i guess) for how many people bid on these firms, does it usually stay about the same year to year or do people see that only 26 ppl bid for 20 spots at firm x, and then all of the sudden firm x is getting 100 bids b/c people think it will be easy to get an interview?

I am curious about this too. I would think that they the ratio would say pretty much the same. Only so many people bid on V5 because most people know they dont have a chance. The median firms are probably bid on by the same number of people each year (everybody).

[swc65]

Attempt #2
GULC
Top 7-8%
Want D.C. securities reg/lit or NY corporate. Prefer D.C. practice strongly, but want a market paying job.

1 Arnold & Porter DC
2 Sidley DC
3 WilmerHale DC
4 Hogan & Lovells DC
5 Jones Day DC
6 Skadden NY
7 Gibson Dunn DC
8 Latham DC
9 Cleary NY
10 Dewey & Leboeuf NY
11 Weil Gotshal NY
12 K&E DC
13 White & Case NY
14 Debevoise NY
15 Akin Gump DC
16 Fried Frank DC
17 Davis Polk NY
18 Milbank NY
19 Shearman NY
20 Paul Weiss NY
21 Baker Botts DC
22 Crowell & Moring DC
23 Cahill NY
24 Williams & Connolly DC
25 Covington DC
26 STB NY
27 Cravath NY
28 Sullivan & Cromwell NY
29 Ropes & Gray DC
30 Steptoe DC

Thanks for any help/suggestions!

Bump-- any thoughts? Thanks!

Obvi grades aren't going to hold you back. But the DC market has been notoriously difficult. You are in a great position for all of the firms on this list, though some are reaches. Are you on law review? Also why not cover your bases and throw in K&L DC? They have a strong Reg practice there and we not hit too bad by the downturn.

Do you plan on clerking?

[barry]

When we get the list at UVA ( or at any school i guess) for how many people bid on these firms, does it usually stay about the same year to year or do people see that only 26 ppl bid for 20 spots at firm x, and then all of the sudden firm x is getting 100 bids b/c people think it will be easy to get an interview?

I am curious about this too. I would think that they the ratio would say pretty much the same. Only so many people bid on V5 because most people know they dont have a chance. The median firms are probably bid on by the same number of people each year (everybody).

Yeah i think that some firms like you said V5, ones in undesirable markets, etc will stay the same. The thing I was concerned with was I noticed that less selective firm 1 got like a 100 bids for 9 spots and less selective firm 2 got like 40 bids for 20 spots, so I'm concerned when people see these numbers firm 2 is going to be heavily overbidded firm this time around.

[dailygrind]

When we get the list at UVA ( or at any school i guess) for how many people bid on these firms, does it usually stay about the same year to year or do people see that only 26 ppl bid for 20 spots at firm x, and then all of the sudden firm x is getting 100 bids b/c people think it will be easy to get an interview?

I am curious about this too. I would think that they the ratio would say pretty much the same. Only so many people bid on V5 because most people know they dont have a chance. The median firms are probably bid on by the same number of people each year (everybody).

I would imagine that there's some slight variation. Some people might look at firms that were overbid last year, don't know why they were overbid, and just use rule of thumb to rule them out for this year. Same might happen for firms that were underbid. You might almost expect some slight yo-yoing between over and underbid.

[Anonymous User]

Attempt #2
GULC
Top 7-8%
Want D.C. securities reg/lit or NY corporate. Prefer D.C. practice strongly, but want a market paying job.

1 Arnold & Porter DC
2 Sidley DC
3 WilmerHale DC
4 Hogan & Lovells DC
5 Jones Day DC
6 Skadden NY
7 Gibson Dunn DC
8 Latham DC
9 Cleary NY
10 Dewey & Leboeuf NY
11 Weil Gotshal NY
12 K&E DC
13 White & Case NY
14 Debevoise NY
15 Akin Gump DC
16 Fried Frank DC
17 Davis Polk NY
18 Milbank NY
19 Shearman NY
20 Paul Weiss NY
21 Baker Botts DC
22 Crowell & Moring DC
23 Cahill NY
24 Williams & Connolly DC
25 Covington DC
26 STB NY
27 Cravath NY
28 Sullivan & Cromwell NY
29 Ropes & Gray DC
30 Steptoe DC

Thanks for any help/suggestions!

Bump-- any thoughts? Thanks!

Obvi grades aren't going to hold you back. But the DC market has been notoriously difficult. You are in a great position for all of the firms on this list, though some are reaches. Are you on law review? Also why not cover your bases and throw in K&L DC? They have a strong Reg practice there and we not hit too bad by the downturn.

Do you plan on clerking?

K&L DC is only taking 7 this summer, but I guess they're worth a bid in the 20s-30s. We don't find out about law review until August, but with my grades and (I thought) relatively strong submission, I think that I'll be in good shape (or on a "good" secondary).

One other thing that I didn't include in my original post is that I have WE in the securities industry pre-LS.

Is my rank-ordering good? Thanks so much for your help!

[swc65]

Attempt #2
GULC
Top 7-8%
Want D.C. securities reg/lit or NY corporate. Prefer D.C. practice strongly, but want a market paying job.

1 Arnold & Porter DC
2 Sidley DC
3 WilmerHale DC
4 Hogan & Lovells DC
5 Jones Day DC
6 Skadden NY
7 Gibson Dunn DC
8 Latham DC
9 Cleary NY
10 Dewey & Leboeuf NY
11 Weil Gotshal NY
12 K&E DC
13 White & Case NY
14 Debevoise NY
15 Akin Gump DC
16 Fried Frank DC
17 Davis Polk NY
18 Milbank NY
19 Shearman NY
20 Paul Weiss NY
21 Baker Botts DC
22 Crowell & Moring DC
23 Cahill NY
24 Williams & Connolly DC
25 Covington DC
26 STB NY
27 Cravath NY
28 Sullivan & Cromwell NY
29 Ropes & Gray DC
30 Steptoe DC

Thanks for any help/suggestions!

Bump-- any thoughts? Thanks!

Obvi grades aren't going to hold you back. But the DC market has been notoriously difficult. You are in a great position for all of the firms on this list, though some are reaches. Are you on law review? Also why not cover your bases and throw in K&L DC? They have a strong Reg practice there and we not hit too bad by the downturn.

Do you plan on clerking?

K&L DC is only taking 7 this summer, but I guess they're worth a bid in the 20s-30s. We don't find out about law review until August, but with my grades and (I thought) relatively strong submission, I think that I'll be in good shape (or on a "good" secondary).

One other thing that I didn't include in my original post is that I have WE in the securities industry pre-LS.

Is my rank-ordering good? Thanks so much for your help!

It's tough to say anything about your order because I have no idea how over/underbid these firms are at your school or how bidding for DC differs.

Also why not PW DC?

[Anonymous User]

Attempt #2
GULC
Top 7-8%
Want D.C. securities reg/lit or NY corporate. Prefer D.C. practice strongly, but want a market paying job.

1 Arnold & Porter DC
2 Sidley DC
3 WilmerHale DC
4 Hogan & Lovells DC
5 Jones Day DC
6 Skadden NY
7 Gibson Dunn DC
8 Latham DC
9 Cleary NY
10 Dewey & Leboeuf NY
11 Weil Gotshal NY
12 K&E DC
13 White & Case NY
14 Debevoise NY
15 Akin Gump DC
16 Fried Frank DC
17 Davis Polk NY
18 Milbank NY
19 Shearman NY
20 Paul Weiss NY
21 Baker Botts DC
22 Crowell & Moring DC
23 Cahill NY
24 Williams & Connolly DC
25 Covington DC
26 STB NY
27 Cravath NY
28 Sullivan & Cromwell NY
29 Ropes & Gray DC
30 Steptoe DC

Thanks for any help/suggestions!

It's tough to say anything about your order because I have no idea how over/underbid these firms are at your school or how bidding for DC differs.

Also why not PW DC?

The thing about GULC is that every firm is overbid, so it's tough to game the system beyond ranking the most overbid firms highest.

I keep getting conflicting advice about bidding multiple cities. PW DC is accepting bids for multiple cities-- should I bid on them as well? But I have read that bidding multiple cities might indicate indecision and it's best just to commit to one office. Thoughts?

Finally, not planning on clerking-- does that change anything?

Thanks again!

[swc65]

Attempt #2
GULC
Top 7-8%
Want D.C. securities reg/lit or NY corporate. Prefer D.C. practice strongly, but want a market paying job.

1 Arnold & Porter DC
2 Sidley DC
3 WilmerHale DC
4 Hogan & Lovells DC
5 Jones Day DC
6 Skadden NY
7 Gibson Dunn DC
8 Latham DC
9 Cleary NY
10 Dewey & Leboeuf NY
11 Weil Gotshal NY
12 K&E DC
13 White & Case NY
14 Debevoise NY
15 Akin Gump DC
16 Fried Frank DC
17 Davis Polk NY
18 Milbank NY
19 Shearman NY
20 Paul Weiss NY
21 Baker Botts DC
22 Crowell & Moring DC
23 Cahill NY
24 Williams & Connolly DC
25 Covington DC
26 STB NY
27 Cravath NY
28 Sullivan & Cromwell NY
29 Ropes & Gray DC
30 Steptoe DC

Thanks for any help/suggestions!

It's tough to say anything about your order because I have no idea how over/underbid these firms are at your school or how bidding for DC differs.

Also why not PW DC?

The thing about GULC is that every firm is overbid, so it's tough to game the system beyond ranking the most overbid firms highest.

I keep getting conflicting advice about bidding multiple cities. PW DC is accepting bids for multiple cities-- should I bid on them as well? But I have read that bidding multiple cities might indicate indecision and it's best just to commit to one office. Thoughts?

Finally, not planning on clerking-- does that change anything?

Thanks again!

I only asked about clerking because if you were going to clerk right after school (which is becoming less and less common) then it wouldn't matter as much where you spent your summer. Also, clerking would make you more competitive, especially in DC lithouses. DC is still a tough market though.

I don't think that bidding the same firm in mult cities shows indecision. Tons of people would be happy in more than one city. However, splitting bids on two cities probably lowers your chance of getting an offer in either one. With your grades, I don't think it should matter that much though.

[Anonymous User]

BU/BC
Top 10%, Law Review
70% preselect, 30% lottery

I have no idea what I'm doing. Help would be appreciated. (Boston unless otherwise indicated)


Jones Day (DC)
Cooley
Proskauer Rose
Arnold Porter (NY)
Skadden (NY)
Foley Lardner
K&L Gates
Bingham McCutchen
Weil Gotshal & Manges
Ropes & Gray
Wilmer Hale
Goodwin Procter
foley hoag
Dechert (DC)
Mintz Levin
Choate Hall
Edward Angell Palmer
Brown Rudnick
Nutter McClennen
Cadwalader (NY)
Skadden
Hahn Hessen (NY)
Sullivan & Worcester
McDermott
Holland & Knight
Nixon Peabody

[Anonymous User]

HLS – Top 5% (best assumption based off available information. 8 Hs (4 DS), 2 Ps) I want to do litigation on the West Coast, leaning towards the Bay area. I have WE in Los Angeles. Would like to avoid a sweatshop environment, which is why I have Quinn and Boies low. Ranked OMM and Orrick low because they seem shaky. Largely unsure of how to rank the muddle of SF Firms.

Keker & Van Nest SF
Munger, Tolles & Olsen LA
Altshuler Berzon SF
Sussman Godfrey LA
MoFo SF
Gibson Dunn LA
Gibson Dunn SF
Irell LA
Bingham SF
Covington Burling SF
Paul Hastings SF
DPW Menlo Park
Latham SF
Kirkland SF
Sidley Austin SF
Jones Day SF
Howard Rice SF
Skadden Palo Alto
S & C Palo Alto
Ropes & Gray SF
Wilson Sonsini SF
Quinn Emmanuel SF
Jenner & Block LA
Latham LA
Skadden LA
Sidley LA
Bingham LA
MoFo LA
Sullivan & Cromwell LA
Kirkland LA
Quinn LA
Wilmer Hale SV
Cooley SF Perkins Coie
Fenwick & West Mountain View
Ropes Gray SF
Boies Oakland
Orrick SF
OMM SF
Farella Braun SF
OMM LA

[thesealocust]

Looks good to me. With those credentials you can afford to screw it up or care less, but it looks like you've got a coherent and well thought out strategy.

[Anonymous User]

CLS Median, good work experience (All NY firms for transactional)

Morrison Foerster
Proskauer Rose
Kramer Levin
Arent Fox
O’Melveny & Myers
Paul Hastings
Baker & McKenzie
Latham & Watkins
Paul Weiss
Gibson Dunn
Hughes Hubbard
Jones Day
Shulte Roth
Simpson Thacher
Willkie Farr
Cooley
Patterson Belknap
Stroock
Dechert
Goodwin Procter
Greenberg Traurig
Kaye Scholer
Locke Lord
Brown Rudnick
Sheppard Mullin
Katten Muchin
Mannatt Phelps
Troutman Sanders
Pryor Cashman
Cahill Gordon

[vamedic03]

Attempt #2
GULC
Top 7-8%
Want D.C. securities reg/lit or NY corporate. Prefer D.C. practice strongly, but want a market paying job.

Thanks for any help/suggestions!

If you really want securities lit, then you'd probably be better off in NYC. Others will disagree, probably, but most would consider a DC practice to be heavier on regulatory, general commercial lit, and admin lit.

[Anonymous User]

Would love some feedback on my top 30 (of 50). Obviously looking to maximize the number of interviews. Slight preference for getting back to LA (have ties), but very open to Chi. 3.7x at NU with relatively little W/E. Litigation.


LATHAM & WATKINS LLP (LA) - 9
sidley austin llp (CHI) - 56
KIRKLAND & ELLIS LLP (CHI) - 80
QUINN EMANUEL URQUHART & SULLIVAN LLP (LA) - 15
PAUL HASTINGS JANOFSKY & WALKER LLP (LA) - 20
WINSTON & STRAWN LLP (CHI) - 60
JENNER & BLOCK LLP (CHI) - 80
IRELL & MANELLA LLP (LA) - 20
JONES DAY (LA) - 20
sidley austin llp (LA) - 20
SKADDEN ARPS SLATE MEAGHER & FLOM LLP (LA) - 20
mayer brown llp (CHI) - 60
LATHAM & WATKINS LLP (CHI) - 64
JONES DAY (CHI) - 40
BAKER & MCKENZIE LLP (CHI) - 20
SKADDEN ARPS SLATE MEAGHER & FLOM LLP (CHI) - 60
MCDERMOTT WILL & EMERY LLP (CHI) - 80
schiff hardin llp (CHI) - 80
MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP (LA) - 9
BARACK FERRAZZANO KIRSCHBAUM & NAGELBERG LLP (CHI) - 20
EIMER STAHL KLEVORN & SOLBERG LLP (CHI) - 20
GRIPPO & ELDEN LLC (CHI) - 20
ROPES & GRAY LLP (CHI ) - 20
mcguirewoods LLP (CHI) - 20
SNR DENTON (CHI) - 20
SULLIVAN & CROMWELL LLP (LA) - 20
SIMPSON THACHER & bartlett llp (LA) - 40
dla piper LLP (CHI) - 20
FOLEY & LARDNER LLP (CHI) - 40
GREENBERG TRAURIG LLP (CHI) - 20

Don't hold back. I feel like a novice when it comes to juggling reaches/targets/safeties and maximizing interviews. Number of available interview slots is provided.

[Anonymous User]

UVA - median (maybe a hair above). looking for transactional/corporate. I've been going crazy, so any advice or firms that I should be bidding higher would be great

1) Katten- Chi
2) Schulte
3) Linklaters
4)Milbank
5) Shearman
6) JD -Chi
7)Dewey
Cahill
9) Brown Rudnick
10) White and Case
11) Weil
12) Cadawalader
13) Seward Kissel
14) Sidley Austin
15) Curtis Mallet
16) Morgan Lewis
17) Alston Bird
18) Willkie Farr
19) Chadbourne
20) Dechert

after the first 20 i cant imagine the lottery mattering (all firms are NY unless otherwise noted)

[Anonymous User]

NU
SKADDEN ARPS SLATE MEAGHER & FLOM LLP (LA) - 20

don't have much advice, but does anyone else think it's strange that Skadden LA is interviewing more NU students than UCLA students? 12 seems awfully low.

[Anonymous User]

NU
SKADDEN ARPS SLATE MEAGHER & FLOM LLP (LA) - 20

don't have much advice, but does anyone else think it's strange that Skadden LA is interviewing more NU students than UCLA students? 12 seems awfully low.

Agree that it's weird. Even weirder, I would submit, is that Latham LA is only doing 9 interviews at NU while the other (and smaller) LA firms are doing 20. That's kind of why I have it pinned at #1.

[alumniguy]

BU/BC
Top 10%, Law Review
70% preselect, 30% lottery

I have no idea what I'm doing. Help would be appreciated. (Boston unless otherwise indicated)


Jones Day (DC)
Cooley
Proskauer Rose
Arnold Porter (NY)
Skadden (NY)
Foley Lardner
K&L Gates
Bingham McCutchen
Weil Gotshal & Manges
Ropes & Gray
Wilmer Hale
Goodwin Procter
Foley Hoag
Dechert (DC)
Mintz Levin
Choate Hall
Edward Angell Palmer
Brown Rudnick
Nutter McClennen
Cadwalader (NY)
Skadden
Hahn Hessen (NY)
Sullivan & Worcester
McDermott
Holland & Knight
Nixon Peabody

Is this list in a particular order? Seems very, very all over the map (which may be due to not many non-Boston firms interviewing on campus).

I get the fact that you've included almost every single Boston firm (which by the way you should be a lock at getting an offer from one of them - if at BC, likely Ropes). I think you need to figure out (i) whether you are a lit/trans person, (ii) which cities you want to work in and (iii) delve into some of the publications that discuss firm strengths/weaknesses (e.g., Chambers USA).

[alumniguy]

UVA - median (maybe a hair above). looking for transactional/corporate. I've been going crazy, so any advice or firms that I should be bidding higher would be great

1) Katten- Chi
2) Schulte
3) Linklaters
4)Milbank
5) Shearman
6) JD -Chi
7)Dewey
Cahill
9) Brown Rudnick
10) White and Case
11) Weil
12) Cadawalader
13) Seward Kissel
14) Sidley Austin
15) Curtis Mallet
16) Morgan Lewis
17) Alston Bird
18) Willkie Farr
19) Chadbourne
20) Dechert

after the first 20 i cant imagine the lottery mattering (all firms are NY unless otherwise noted)

Some of these choices seem pretty odd...for example, you have Alston & Bird, Brown Rudnick and Seward & Kissel, but have left out Fried Frank.

Also, I would probably add some of the major NYC shops - Kramer Levin, Kaye Scholer, Proskauer and even Hogan.

At the very least, you should take a look at the Chambers rankings and start researching which firms have strong NY transactional practices. Some on your list just don't seem to fit with what you want (Alston & Bird jumps out at me).

[Anonymous User]

What Vault range is not overly conservative and not overly aggressive for someone who is top 33%-40% at Berkeley and is bidding SF and LA?

[Anonymous User]

What Vault range is not overly conservative and not overly aggressive for someone who is top 33%-40% at Berkeley and is bidding SF and LA?

Preferably answered by thesalocust.

[Grizz]

What Vault range is not overly conservative and not overly aggressive for someone who is top 33%-40% at Berkeley and is bidding SF and LA?

The answer is that Vault ranges don't mecessarily correspond to selectivity.