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Anonymous User wrote:This is a good question. I would like to know the answer........I wonder how the Seattle legal market is looking in general.

Anonymous User wrote:I'm at a lower T14 and know someone who did a 1L summer at Perkins. They have an IP background and significant work experience though.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I'm at a lower T14 and know someone who did a 1L summer at Perkins. They have an IP background and significant work experience though.

Were a lot of Seattle firms represented at OCI (asssuming you've gone through OCI)?

Anonymous User wrote:One anon: where did you get offered, are you accepting? jw.

On Seattle... you will need some pretty serious ties. Washington state born and raised, state undergrad, UW Law. And there were serious questions about commitment to the region. ymmv.

The t-14 people I met during this process either had very significant ties to the region, or had lateraled in later. Some had significant ties but couldn't make it right away, guessing might of had trouble getting in. And that was before the economy tanked.

On true Seattle Biglaw, there are ~20 slots. Perkins+K&L (14), Satellites (6). Satellites pay NY. Perkins has best reputation, prospects, everything else. And it's based in Seattle, though it is growing nationally. K&L based in Pittsburgh, with Seattle being alternate, though primary office. Satellites have huge emphasis on transactional for emerging companies, probably 80%.

Regional big-law, you have DWT (might be true big-law, very close), Lane Powell, Foster Pepper. All pay market to start with. Maybe 8 slots total.

Then you have mid-law. Karr Tuttle, Garvey Schubert, Graham Dunn, Williams Kastner, Stoel Rives, Riddell Williams, Hillis Clark. They take 1, occasionally two each. To break those down a touch, they have a little more work-life balance reputation. Karr Tuttle in particular has a minimum billable of 1400 at $95k, which scales to 1800-1850 if you want to get paid market. And it is a true 1400 billable. Mid-law with best reputation: Garvey, Riddell, Hillis Clark. Most incredible office: Graham & Dunn, which is on a Pier downtown and is literally like an ocean-front resort.

Fill it in with a few smaller firms and you hit ~40. Just a guess of where those 40 slots go? 20-25 UW. Maybe 5 go to other PNW schools. 10-15 go to t-14. Very rare to see individual below t-14. Occasional UCLA/USC, then crickets, probably because most go to UW in that situation, no idea if you can get back having chosen say, Minnesota. Because of the emphasis on regional ties, I think you'd have some issues. I think you'd want to have a very specific and compelling reason for not attending UW, and even if they didn't ask you directly, you'd want to get it out there. Sure, some will not like it, but without it, you're in serious trouble anyways, so it's a gamble probably worth taking.

If you look online at profiles, you'll see much more diversity, especially in terms of non-UW PNW schools. I think part of that was just market pre-crash, and that a lot of those individuals work their way up to a firm, rather than starting out there immediately.

Hope that helps. I've interviewed at most of these places, screener-callback so I can probably provide some input if you have specific questions.

Anonymous User wrote:I had a CB with Riddell Williams last week (from a T25) and really didn't get many questions about why I want to live in Seattle even though I don't attend UW/SU. I did attend undergrad in Washington, though I am not from the state. Nonetheless, I continually reiterated my desire to be in Seattle (I love the city). I don't like my odds, but I'm hoping like hell.