Nashville Forum

[Anonymous User]

Have called back with 2 of the "big 4" in Nashville, both will be late September at the earliest.

BABC, I believe, is still in the process of figuring out which 1Ls are going to return as 2L SAs.

Good luck with Miller & Martin. It's a small program and from what I hear, they're looking to take 4.

Which have you called?

Gotta be Baker and Bass. I've been to both of them as well, haven't even heard back from BABC despite mailing a month ago.

As someone who also has CBs in Nash, anyone not from Vandy/UT care to give stats? It is relevant to my interests.

Top 20% at a non-Vandy/UT T20. Very strong ties and Vandy UG so YMMV. May have still picked up one or both interviews if I'd been a bit lower in the class, may not have.

[Anonymous User]

Have called back with 2 of the "big 4" in Nashville, both will be late September at the earliest.

BABC, I believe, is still in the process of figuring out which 1Ls are going to return as 2L SAs.

Good luck with Miller & Martin. It's a small program and from what I hear, they're looking to take 4.

Which have you called?

Gotta be Baker and Bass. I've been to both of them as well, haven't even heard back from BABC despite mailing a month ago.

As someone who also has CBs in Nash, anyone not from Vandy/UT care to give stats? It is relevant to my interests.

Not sure how helpful this is since I went to Vandy undergrad, but I've gotten 3 interviews mass mailing from a T2 far away from Nashville (I don't want to say which one since I'm 99% sure I'm the only one from my school applying to Nashville firms). Top 15% + LR.

[Anonymous User]

Current 1L SA at mid-level firm in Nashville (hence the anonymous post). A couple of thoughts:

First, if you're not from Vandy or UT, you will have a hard time getting here, with the only exceptions as the Nashville Bar 1L Diversity Job Fair and the upcoming TBA Diversity Job Fair. Law firm recruiter can speak to the hiring practices of her own firm, but as someone who blanketed the Nashville legal community, I can tell you that kids not from UT or Vandy (or UT/Belmont/Vandy/Lipscomb undergrad) are at an inherent disadvantage. There are a few kids from Alabama, Cumberland, Memphis, Ole Miss and Kentucky, but they are few and far between. Nashville is predominantly Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Nashville School of Law (a lot more than you would think). Also keep in mind that Belmont will be joining the scene this fall--I don't know how this is going to affect hiring, my guess is that it probably won't but who really knows.

So far, I basically agree with this.

Market for Nashville is $100K at the big firms. Maybe $110 at a couple, but you'd be fortunate to make $100K in Nash. If you're not at Baker, Bass, BABC or Miller Martin, you're going to have a hard time breaking six figures as a first, second or third year associate. Those are the best four firms in Nashville and the best shot for people out of state looking for jobs here. 2L Summer associate positions salaries are going to be in the $1500-1800 range. 1L SAs are around $1000-1200 but I know a few firms that are above and below that.

As far as the smaller firms, my guess is that they pay around $75-85K, just depends which one you go with. But keep in mind a lot of these firms are majority Vanderbilt or majority Tennessee and like to stick to those schools for recruiting.

As someone who spent half of the summer at one of the handful of 20-40 lawyer firms in Nashville that OCIs at Vandy, I need to correct some misinformation here:

(1) I would say that "market" in Nashville (meaning the top starting salary paid by multiple prominent firms) is $110k. Some very reputable firms start at $100k, but the true market-setting salary is $110k.

(2) Baker, Bass, BABC, and M&M are, along with Waller, the biggest firms in town and will likely hire the most summer associates of any firm in town (except Waller, obviously). But these firms are not necessarily the "best" firms in town (at least not if measured by which firms attract the highest-ranked Vandy students). They are also not uniformly leaders in terms of associate compensation. Some of them may pay $110k, but off the top of my head, I know Baker does not start at $110k (although they give a signing bonus that makes total first year comp = $110k, their salary for second years is $108k). I also know that some of the 20-40 lawyer firms do start at $110k. FWIW, I would say there are about a half dozen or so of these smaller firms that have reputations generally on par with the prominent large firms in town and do similar types of work. They each kind of have their own reputations to some degree (e.g., Riley Warnock and Neal & Harwell are only litigation; H3GM is oriented toward corporate but also handles business litigation; Walker Tipps is known for litigation and particularly med-mal defense, I think; Sherrard & Roe does a little of everything; etc.).

[Anonymous User]

anyone know callback to offer rates for Bass BABC or Baker?
would they be different for an out-of-state T14?

[Anonymous User]

(2) Baker, Bass, BABC, and M&M are, along with Waller, the biggest firms in town and will likely hire the most summer associates of any firm in town (except Waller, obviously). But these firms are not necessarily the "best" firms in town (at least not if measured by which firms attract the highest-ranked Vandy students). They are also not uniformly leaders in terms of associate compensation. Some of them may pay $110k, but off the top of my head, I know Baker does not start at $110k (although they give a signing bonus that makes total first year comp = $110k, their salary for second years is $108k). I also know that some of the 20-40 lawyer firms do start at $110k. FWIW, I would say there are about a half dozen or so of these smaller firms that have reputations generally on par with the prominent large firms in town and do similar types of work. They each kind of have their own reputations to some degree (e.g., Riley Warnock and Neal & Harwell are only litigation; H3GM is oriented toward corporate but also handles business litigation; Walker Tipps is known for litigation and particularly med-mal defense, I think; Sherrard & Roe does a little of everything; etc.).

I would agree with regards to Riley Warnock, Neal & Harwell, and Sherrard & Roe. H3GM is good with business, especially business lit, but I don't think it's on par with Bass' and BABC's transactional departments. They might pay a lot, but prestige-wise, it's not the same. Also, Walker Tipps is a good firm, but also not in the same boat (only has 14 attorneys and their reputation probably isn't as good as Neal or Riley). Arbitrary, but I would rank them like this:

First Tier (no particular order): Bradley Arant, Bass, Baker Donelson, Miller & Martin, Riley Warnock, Neal & Harwell, Sherrard & Roe
Second Tier: H3GM, Adams and Reese, Stites, Walker Tipps

[lawfirmrecruiter]

(2) Baker, Bass, BABC, and M&M are, along with Waller, the biggest firms in town and will likely hire the most summer associates of any firm in town (except Waller, obviously). But these firms are not necessarily the "best" firms in town (at least not if measured by which firms attract the highest-ranked Vandy students). They are also not uniformly leaders in terms of associate compensation. Some of them may pay $110k, but off the top of my head, I know Baker does not start at $110k (although they give a signing bonus that makes total first year comp = $110k, their salary for second years is $108k). I also know that some of the 20-40 lawyer firms do start at $110k. FWIW, I would say there are about a half dozen or so of these smaller firms that have reputations generally on par with the prominent large firms in town and do similar types of work. They each kind of have their own reputations to some degree (e.g., Riley Warnock and Neal & Harwell are only litigation; H3GM is oriented toward corporate but also handles business litigation; Walker Tipps is known for litigation and particularly med-mal defense, I think; Sherrard & Roe does a little of everything; etc.).

I would agree with regards to Riley Warnock, Neal & Harwell, and Sherrard & Roe. H3GM is good with business, especially business lit, but I don't think it's on par with Bass' and BABC's transactional departments. They might pay a lot, but prestige-wise, it's not the same. Also, Walker Tipps is a good firm, but also not in the same boat (only has 14 attorneys and their reputation probably isn't as good as Neal or Riley). Arbitrary, but I would rank them like this:

First Tier (no particular order): Bradley Arant, Bass, Baker Donelson, Miller & Martin, Riley Warnock, Neal & Harwell, Sherrard & Roe
Second Tier: H3GM, Adams and Reese, Stites, Walker Tipps

For a more specific breakdown of Nashville law firms, I suggest looking at the Chambers ratings for Tennessee. This includes firms of all sizes but focuses on real leaders in a particular practice area: http://www.chambersandpartners.com/USA/ ... tion/13233

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone have any idea of the pay scale up to 8th year in Nashville? What about bonuses?

Bump. Curious about this as well.

[Anonymous User]

(2) Baker, Bass, BABC, and M&M are, along with Waller, the biggest firms in town and will likely hire the most summer associates of any firm in town (except Waller, obviously). But these firms are not necessarily the "best" firms in town (at least not if measured by which firms attract the highest-ranked Vandy students). They are also not uniformly leaders in terms of associate compensation. Some of them may pay $110k, but off the top of my head, I know Baker does not start at $110k (although they give a signing bonus that makes total first year comp = $110k, their salary for second years is $108k). I also know that some of the 20-40 lawyer firms do start at $110k. FWIW, I would say there are about a half dozen or so of these smaller firms that have reputations generally on par with the prominent large firms in town and do similar types of work. They each kind of have their own reputations to some degree (e.g., Riley Warnock and Neal & Harwell are only litigation; H3GM is oriented toward corporate but also handles business litigation; Walker Tipps is known for litigation and particularly med-mal defense, I think; Sherrard & Roe does a little of everything; etc.).

I would agree with regards to Riley Warnock, Neal & Harwell, and Sherrard & Roe. H3GM is good with business, especially business lit, but I don't think it's on par with Bass' and BABC's transactional departments. They might pay a lot, but prestige-wise, it's not the same. Also, Walker Tipps is a good firm, but also not in the same boat (only has 14 attorneys and their reputation probably isn't as good as Neal or Riley). Arbitrary, but I would rank them like this:

First Tier (no particular order): Bradley Arant, Bass, Baker Donelson, Miller & Martin, Riley Warnock, Neal & Harwell, Sherrard & Roe
Second Tier: H3GM, Adams and Reese, Stites, Walker Tipps

I am the poster that you quoted above. I understand what you are saying, although I am not sure that I would totally agree with your characterization and "ranking" of each of these firms. The point is that there are more firms with exceptional reputations and quality work than just the 4 or 5 biggest firms in town. In fact, no honest lawyer in Nashville would tell you that the five "best" firms in town are the five biggest firms in town. My point was just that the universe of top firms (and we could argue about where to draw the lines or which one is "the" top firm, etc., but that's not necessarily my point) is probably around a dozen firms or so.

[Anonymous User]

Any Nashville offers yet? I believe the Miller & Martin committee is meeting tomorrow, so I'm curious to see if anything comes of that.

[Anonymous User]

Any Nashville offers yet? I believe the Miller & Martin committee is meeting tomorrow, so I'm curious to see if anything comes of that.

Baker: I believe they are doing rolling offers
BABC: I think they filled most of their SA class with the 1Ls they had last year
Bass: Meeting first week of October

Some smaller firms are moving already but I think most are kind of waiting to see what the bigger firms do

[Anonymous User]

Any Nashville offers yet? I believe the Miller & Martin committee is meeting tomorrow, so I'm curious to see if anything comes of that.

Baker: I believe they are doing rolling offers
BABC: I think they filled most of their SA class with the 1Ls they had last year
Bass: Meeting first week of October

Some smaller firms are moving already but I think most are kind of waiting to see what the bigger firms do

Does this mean you know of people with Baker offers already? The recruiter told me during my CB earlier this month that it would be 3-4 weeks, so perhaps going into it I was already in a "maybe" pile??

[Anonymous User]

Had interview with Baker this past week. Told me the same thing.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know of anyone who has received a post-CB ding from Baker or M&M?

[Anonymous User]

I know of someone that has received a Miller Martin ding post cb. Any movement from Baker?

[Anonymous User]

I know of someone that has received a Miller Martin ding post cb. Any movement from Baker?

CB from Baker last week. No word either way. I have other offers to leverage. Will update with results.

[Anonymous User]

I know of someone that has received a Miller Martin ding post cb. Any movement from Baker?

Can you please provide more information about this? I have 0 offers right now and M&M is my top choice. Do you know when the CB was/how recently the ding arrived? E-mail or mail?

I'm not in Nashville so if the mail arrived today there's a very good chance mine is slowly making its way... Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

How about this, all people with offers from any Nashville firm post and say so...

[Anonymous User]

Received an offer from BABC this afternoon.

[Anonymous User]

Any updates? I have a friend with an offer from M&M

[Anonymous User]

Any updates? I have a friend with an offer from M&M

Heard BD gave at least one offer.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone been dinged by Bass after CB? Curious if they are waiting until after all of their CBs to start sending out letter.

I know someone still waiting to hear on M&M and someone dinged at Baker.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone been dinged by Bass after CB? Curious if they are waiting until after all of their CBs to start sending out letter.

I know someone still waiting to hear on M&M and someone dinged at Baker.

Don't know about post-CB dings for Bass, but I know someone with an offer.

Do you know when the Baker ding was?

[Anonymous User]

Do you when they got offered? I know Bass offered several people from SEMJF earlier in the fall.

[Anonymous User]

Do you when they got offered? I know Bass offered several people from SEMJF earlier in the fall.

Not sure when the offer was, but it was a while ago... The person is a minority candidate so it likely could have been from SEMJF.

[Anonymous User]

Do you when they got offered? I know Bass offered several people from SEMJF earlier in the fall.

Not sure when the offer was, but it was a while ago... The person is a minority candidate so it likely could have been from SEMJF.

School? or school range?