~Top 5% at UChi & no idea what I'm doing with bidlist. Halp? Forum

[ToTransferOrNot]

OP, are you considering potentially becoming a professor and clerking? What about giving Bartlit Beck a shot? I really think you would have a good shot at it OP. Also, congrats!

Edit: Also, Boies has an office in Oakland.

Barlit doesn't do a summer program, doesn't hire 2Ls, won't talk to you until you've done a CoA, doesn't have a California office, only does litigation in its Chicago office, and noone has a "good" shot there, even with a SCOTUS clerkship. So, yeah...

[Anonymous User]

OP, I honestly don't have anything to contribute, since I'm a 0L. But, reader's digest version, what do you think you'd attribute your immense success to? Congratulations is in order, in addition to bidlist critiques. Well done!

Thanks for the congrats. I wish I could offer some stellar advice, but really there are some epic posts on here that lay out a better plan than anything I could tell you. One thing that I think a lot of the "Guide to 1L Success" posts don't stress enough is that you shouldn't try to go it alone. That doesn't necessarily mean you need to be in a study group (though by all means, if it helps you you should definitely do that). IMO what is more important is surrounding yourself with positive and supportive friends. It is great to be able to have people you can bounce ideas and questions off, but even better to have people who will cheer you up when you are struggling, calm you down when you are freaking out, distract you when you need to forget about school for a while. Law school can be a lonely experience, especially since most of your 'normal' friends and family won't really understand what you are going through (and definitely don't want to hear you talking about some case you just read). I can't imagine my grades would have been anywhere close to what they were without the support of my friends at school.

One thing I would have done differently is been more disciplined about time. I studied pretty hard but I also wasted at least an hour every day messing around on the internet. I would have been better served (both mentally and physically) by spending that hour in the gym or going for a run. Before school I worked out & ran religiously but I totally let that slide during the year. I'm getting back into running this summer but I'm so slow after 9 months away.

It seems to go without saying, but another important thing IMO is not to fuck around in class. At UChi the internet is mostly shut off in the classrooms but you can still chat on Bonjour if you have a mac, or get distracted by what other people are doing. It is really easy to let your attention wander, and I found that my exams pretty much always focused on things that we had extensively discussed in class. I think if I'd been one of the people playing Solitaire in class it would have been reflected in my grades. I don't think as an 0L you can imagine that you'd ever be that person who is shopping for shoes during Torts, but halfway through a tough quarter when you are burnt out and tired, that resolve is a little harder to come by.

That's all I can think of right now. Like I said, most of the other Guide posts on here lay things out really well. I honestly wasn't as organized or disciplined as I could or should have been, so in some ways I probably just got lucky.

[Anonymous User]

I'm lucky enough to have done really well last quarter. Leaning transactional, want Bay Area but would take Chicago. I'm not sure how my "ties" to the Bay Area are going to play out, but hoping my grades make up for that to some extent. Is this too risky?

Don't know what firms are coming to our OCI yet, but so far thinking (in no real order):

SF
MoFo
Jones Day
Davis Polk (Menlo Park)
Hogan Lovells
Sheppard Mullin
Pillsbury
S&C (Palo Alto)
Baker McKenzie
Cooley
Fenwick West
Ropes Gray
Dechert

Chi
Skadden
Sidley
Paul Hastings
Proskauer
Edelson McGuire

Most random Chicago list ever.

Throw out the latter 3.

Only apply to (for Chi): Kirkland, Sidley, Skadden, Winston, Mayer

[Anonymous User]

OP, are you considering potentially becoming a professor and clerking? What about giving Bartlit Beck a shot? I really think you would have a good shot at it OP. Also, congrats!

Edit: Also, Boies has an office in Oakland.

Barlit doesn't do a summer program, doesn't hire 2Ls, won't talk to you until you've done a CoA, doesn't have a California office, only does litigation in its Chicago office, and noone has a "good" shot there, even with a SCOTUS clerkship. So, yeah...

Well boo...

[Kretzy]

OP, are you considering potentially becoming a professor and clerking? What about giving Bartlit Beck a shot? I really think you would have a good shot at it OP. Also, congrats!

Edit: Also, Boies has an office in Oakland.

Barlit doesn't do a summer program, doesn't hire 2Ls, won't talk to you until you've done a CoA, doesn't have a California office, only does litigation in its Chicago office, and noone has a "good" shot there, even with a SCOTUS clerkship. So, yeah...

Bartlit definitely does litigation in its Denver office. It's predominantly litigation, actually: http://www.bartlit-beck.com/lawyers.html

But yes, they hire post-clerks and 3Ls only.

[JollyGreenGiant]

..

[ToTransferOrNot]

OP, are you considering potentially becoming a professor and clerking? What about giving Bartlit Beck a shot? I really think you would have a good shot at it OP. Also, congrats!

Edit: Also, Boies has an office in Oakland.

Barlit doesn't do a summer program, doesn't hire 2Ls, won't talk to you until you've done a CoA, doesn't have a California office, only does litigation in its Chicago office, and noone has a "good" shot there, even with a SCOTUS clerkship. So, yeah...

Bartlit definitely does litigation in its Denver office. It's predominantly litigation, actually: http://www.bartlit-beck.com/lawyers.html

But yes, they hire post-clerks and 3Ls only.

Yeah, grammar fail on my part; I meant "does only litigation in Chicago," meaning they don't do transactional there, and OP expressed a preference for transactional.

[Kretzy]

OP, are you considering potentially becoming a professor and clerking? What about giving Bartlit Beck a shot? I really think you would have a good shot at it OP. Also, congrats!

Edit: Also, Boies has an office in Oakland.

Barlit doesn't do a summer program, doesn't hire 2Ls, won't talk to you until you've done a CoA, doesn't have a California office, only does litigation in its Chicago office, and noone has a "good" shot there, even with a SCOTUS clerkship. So, yeah...

Bartlit definitely does litigation in its Denver office. It's predominantly litigation, actually: http://www.bartlit-beck.com/lawyers.html

But yes, they hire post-clerks and 3Ls only.

Yeah, grammar fail on my part; I meant "does only litigation in Chicago," meaning they don't do transactional there, and OP expressed a preference for transactional.

That makes sense! Their corporate group only being in Denver makes it, what, 6-7 people?

[D-hops]

I'm lucky enough to have done really well last quarter. Leaning transactional, want Bay Area but would take Chicago. I'm not sure how my "ties" to the Bay Area are going to play out, but hoping my grades make up for that to some extent. Is this too risky?

Don't know what firms are coming to our OCI yet, but so far thinking (in no real order):

SF
MoFo
Jones Day
Davis Polk (Menlo Park)
Hogan Lovells
Sheppard Mullin
Pillsbury
S&C (Palo Alto)
Baker McKenzie
Cooley
Fenwick West
Ropes Gray
Dechert

Chi
Skadden
Sidley
Paul Hastings
Proskauer
Edelson McGuire

Most random Chicago list ever.

Throw out the latter 3.

Only apply to (for Chi): Kirkland, Sidley, Skadden, Winston, Mayer

Ropes and Paul Hastings have at least decent size transactional groups in Chicago, it is just that both offices are small.

[wjs98]

OP, I honestly don't have anything to contribute, since I'm a 0L. But, reader's digest version, what do you think you'd attribute your immense success to? Congratulations is in order, in addition to bidlist critiques. Well done!

Thanks for the congrats. I wish I could offer some stellar advice, but really there are some epic posts on here that lay out a better plan than anything I could tell you. One thing that I think a lot of the "Guide to 1L Success" posts don't stress enough is that you shouldn't try to go it alone. That doesn't necessarily mean you need to be in a study group (though by all means, if it helps you you should definitely do that). IMO what is more important is surrounding yourself with positive and supportive friends. It is great to be able to have people you can bounce ideas and questions off, but even better to have people who will cheer you up when you are struggling, calm you down when you are freaking out, distract you when you need to forget about school for a while. Law school can be a lonely experience, especially since most of your 'normal' friends and family won't really understand what you are going through (and definitely don't want to hear you talking about some case you just read). I can't imagine my grades would have been anywhere close to what they were without the support of my friends at school.

One thing I would have done differently is been more disciplined about time. I studied pretty hard but I also wasted at least an hour every day messing around on the internet. I would have been better served (both mentally and physically) by spending that hour in the gym or going for a run. Before school I worked out & ran religiously but I totally let that slide during the year. I'm getting back into running this summer but I'm so slow after 9 months away.

It seems to go without saying, but another important thing IMO is not to fuck around in class. At UChi the internet is mostly shut off in the classrooms but you can still chat on Bonjour if you have a mac, or get distracted by what other people are doing. It is really easy to let your attention wander, and I found that my exams pretty much always focused on things that we had extensively discussed in class. I think if I'd been one of the people playing Solitaire in class it would have been reflected in my grades. I don't think as an 0L you can imagine that you'd ever be that person who is shopping for shoes during Torts, but halfway through a tough quarter when you are burnt out and tired, that resolve is a little harder to come by.

That's all I can think of right now. Like I said, most of the other Guide posts on here lay things out really well. I honestly wasn't as organized or disciplined as I could or should have been, so in some ways I probably just got lucky.

Thanks for the response OP, the more anecdotes we hear about, the more strategy trends reveal themselves. Good luck at OCI.