Cornell Bid List Advice Forum

[Anonymous User]

3.7, K-JD, probably no journal. i'm hoping to do transactional work. all of my bids are for NYC offices of the firms. any advice would be appreciated. thanks!

Day 1:

1. Morrison & Foerster NY
2. White & Case
3. Latham
4. Fried Frank
5. Milbank
6. Wilmerhale
7. Davis Polk
8. Ropes & Gray NY
9. Cleary
10. Proskauer

Day 2:

1. Jones Day NYC
2. Simpson Thatcher
3. Debevoise
4. Arnold & Porter
5. Paul Hastings
6. clifford chance
7. Sidley Austin NYC
8. Akin Gump
9. Paul Weiss
10. Weil

Day 3:

1. Shearman & Sterling
2. Linklaters
3. Freshfields
4. Kirkland & Ellis
5. Sutherland
6. Kaye Scholer

[Lincoln]

First, with a 3.7 why do you think you won't get on a journal? Second, is there any objective behind the rankings? For example, MoFo is a great firm, but for NY transactional work they would not be at the top of my list, and I probably wouldn't even include Kirkland (though sometimes doing corporate at a lit-focused firm is a good way to get an offer). Third, I think you can afford to be a little more agressive if prestige or type of deals is something you care about. I know several people with worse GPAs than you who are at top firms. I would, for example, bid Cleary higher, and why not include a bid for Cravath somewhere? Not many people bid because of their rep for being grade-focused, meaning it's usually easy to get a slot even if you bid them 5th or 6th or something. Otherwise, your list is fine, I'm sure. But use all your bids, so add firms to the bottom, just in case.

[Arbiter213]

First, with a 3.7 why do you think you won't get on a journal? Second, is there any objective behind the rankings? For example, MoFo is a great firm, but for NY transactional work they would not be at the top of my list, and I probably wouldn't even include Kirkland (though sometimes doing corporate at a lit-focused firm is a good way to get an offer). Third, I think you can afford to be a little more agressive if prestige or type of deals is something you care about. I know several people with worse GPAs than you who are at top firms. I would, for example, bid Cleary higher, and why not include a bid for Cravath somewhere? Not many people bid because of their rep for being grade-focused, meaning it's usually easy to get a slot even if you bid them 5th or 6th or something. Otherwise, your list is fine, I'm sure. But use all your bids, so add firms to the bottom, just in case.

Yah this seems like you're seriously underbidding if you care about that. If you just want to be assured of a job though, this isn't an insane list. It also seems like you've focused a bit on the quality of life rankings.

Ditto Lincoln's question about "no journal"- if you finished the competition, I'd think a 3.7 all but guarantees a spot.

I'll add you may as well leave Kirkland off, because given the way day 3 is, there's no way you'll get a slot with them that low.

[koalatriste]

weil is a total waste of a bid at 10. it is a total waste of a bid at #1 actually. over 120 people bid weil number 1 on day X last year and they only had 20 interview slots.

[Anonymous User]

weil is a total waste of a bid at 10. it is a total waste of a bid at #1 actually. over 120 people bid weil number 1 on day X last year and they only had 20 interview slots.

This isn't helping the problem.

[Anonymous User]

Why do 120 people bid Weil #1? Is it because they supplied tons of free booze and gave out nice swag?

[Arbiter213]

Why do 120 people bid Weil #1? Is it because they supplied tons of free booze and gave out nice swag?

They had swag? I completely missed it if so.

[Anonymous User]

Similar position as OP. I feel OP is bidding too conservative though.

[Arbiter213]

Also, why are you only bidding 10 firms max a day?

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Well firms like STB, Cleary, and Debevoise all have GPA averages higher than mine. That's why I bid them lower.

[ajaxconstructions]

Looks like a great bid list imo.