Chattanooga Legal Market Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am looking for information on the firms in Chattanooga, TN and hope that there are a few Chattanooga lurkers able to give some insight:

My understanding is that the three biggest firms (or at least the three biggest offices) in Chattanooga are Miller & Martin; Baker, Donelson; and Chambliss Bahner.

Primarily, I am interested in their health, culture/atmosphere, life-style, and compensation. According to NALP, Miller & Martin starts at $95k. Is it the same for the other two? What do hours look like? (both annual billable and weekly schedule). Etc. etc.

I know there are many other firms in Chattanooga and would be happy to get information on them as well.

[Anonymous User]

Bump..

Im from the Chattanooga area and very interested in this also..

[Anonymous User]

I'm from the outskirts of the metro area, but ended up with an SA in Atlanta instead because Chattown's not big enough to have much of my specialty. Husch Blackwell's a larger firm that also has an office, and I believe that a lot of its work centers on real estate. Seemed like a healthy office, and the partner I met during an informational interview when I was trying to scope out the market was really nice. Dunno about pay or anything like that.

Also, Miller Martin may be receptive to T30ish students with pretty good but not great grades, they offered me a CB (but said in the email that they wanted a quick phone convo beforehand that may have been a screener) when I mass mailed them. There were also two or three partners who went to my law school and I went to Vandy UG, which carries a lot of weight in Tennessee, so who knows why I was offered the CB. I didn't take it because I had an offer from a 100% offer rate firm, but that's obviously less of a worry if you do a split; I couldn't because my specialty is rare in the south outside of ATL.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know about SA offer rates at any Chattanooga firms? Or even how many SAs the Chattanooga offices had? I could be interested in Chattanooga and am trying to find out anything I can about the health of the market and offer rates etc.

Thanks.

[electricfeel]

Does anyone know about SA offer rates at any Chattanooga firms? Or even how many SAs the Chattanooga offices had? I could be interested in Chattanooga and am trying to find out anything I can about the health of the market and offer rates etc.

Thanks.

Offer rates are extremely low. Even at the "top" firms like Miller & Martin, Chambliss, Baker, etc. Usually around 50% or less. Not even kidding.