A Dumb Question on Identifying Strong NYC Lit Firms Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm trying to land an elusive preclerkship summer. I didn't summer anywhere last summer (transfer, dumb bidding), but ended up in the top of my t14 and got a COA clerkship. Now, I would like to make some money, not necessarily from the firm where I plan to work for the long haul, and so am seeking an NYC SA position as that's probably the only city where I could get hired, due to their extreme hiring needs. (So said TLS, anyway, in a prior thread. The city where I'm clerking is no good.) The geniuses in career services told me to just use NALP and identify NYC firms with lit practices. But NALP is a fucktarded site that says, for example, that Boies Schiller & Flexner, Akin Gump, and Jones Day don't do litigation. So its search results are useless. Is there some quick and accurate way, then, to identify 30-50 or so NYC firms with strong litigation practices? (If you think it's just way, way too late for this, you can advise me of that too.) Career Services, realizing that my getting post-grad placement is a lock now, is no longer disposed to spend any time on me.

[mrloblaw]

My guess would be Chambers rankings. Google "chambers rankings" if you're unfamiliar. Make sure you're in the US section, select Practice Area: Lit, and follow the options.

[NinerFan]

Chambers.

http://www.chambersandpartners.com/

[cjw55]

Umm, firm websites.

Despite all the obligatory pomp and circumstance, there's enough substantive information there to answer your questions. They usually link to any rankings or awards they've received which allows for useful comparison on those sites.

[Anonymous User]

EDITED

Didn't think before I posted.

[YourCaptain]

Traydeuce?

Definitely.

I still don't understand how having a 3.9/9ish GPA at W&L -> GTown didn't get you DC unless you were just laughably dumb and bid WLRK, Cravath, and W&C or something. Even GDC/WH/K&E DC should've been readily doable.

[Old Gregg]

Traydeuce?

Ironic that a poster who has no reason to be anonymous outed another poster in this thread, and for no reason.

[Big Shrimpin]

Traydeuce?

Definitely.

I still don't understand how having a 3.9/9ish GPA at W&L -> GTown didn't get you DC unless you were just laughably dumb and bid WLRK, Cravath, and W&C or something. Even GDC/WH/K&E DC should've been readily doable.

ROFLCOPTER, but sorta lame to out like that, broskis.

In response to the brOP's question: you might wanna check out Chambers for your practice area interests. From there, creep the firm websites to gauge whether and to what extent they have a litigation practice in that area. For example, I ran a search in Chambers for NYC and litigation as practice area. The "Band 1" firms are CSM, DPW, PW, STB, Skadden, S&C, and Wachtell. After that, there are three other bands. Certainly, these rankings incorporate a myriad of other factors. But as a rough estimate of great litigation firms, I'd wager a guess that Chambers is a good place to start (plus more specific areas on the left panel, etc.). Again, you can check out websites for more information.

The utility in using NALP is that it can be used to narrow-down NYC firms. For example, all NYC firms in NALP will be on there. Run a search, make a list, and do some homework.

eta: this poast was done real quick on the fly. I'm sure other poasters will provide more detailed information.

[Wahoo1L]

Traydeuce?

Definitely.

I still don't understand how having a 3.9/9ish GPA at W&L -> GTown didn't get you DC unless you were just laughably dumb and bid WLRK, Cravath, and W&C or something. Even GDC/WH/K&E DC should've been readily doable.

ROFLCOPTER, but sorta lame to out like that, broskis.

In response to the brOP's question: you might wanna check out Chambers for your practice area interests. From there, creep the firm websites to gauge whether and to what extent they have a litigation practice in that area. For example, I ran a search in Chambers for NYC and litigation as practice area. The "Band 1" firms are CSM, DPW, STB, Skadden, S&C, and Wachtell. After that, there are three other bands. Certainly, these rankings incorporate a myriad of other factors. But as a rough estimate of great litigation firms, I'd wager a guess that Chambers is a good place to start (plus more specific areas on the left panel, etc.). Again, you can check out websites for more information.

The utility in using NALP is that it can be used to narrow-down NYC firms. For example, all NYC firms in NALP will be on there. Run a search, make a list, and do some homework.

eta: this poast was done real quick on the fly. I'm sure other poasters will provide more detailed information.

You missed Paul Weiss in Band 1.

[PeanutHead]

I may be wrong on this, but isn't 3L hiring basically finished, especially for lit?
Regardless, I think you need to sort out how you are going to spin this to a firm. I would hit up some of the lower prestige firms and say that you are interested in working for them for xyz bullshit reason. They may be drawn in by your good grades and clerkship and faint promises of returning to them someday after your clerkship.
Just in my opinion though, don't waste your time bidding on the top firms, but you may have a shot at some random V100 firm that would be willing to shell out 30k for the summer to try and draw you in.

Best of luck.