If willing to go anywhere Forum

[Anonymous User]

Let's assume someone is a military brat who went to college and law school in a two horse town not near any sizeable legal market and so has literally no ties anywhere; or just assume someone's ties haven't proved helpful thus far and they are willing to go literally anywhere for a legal job at a private firm that pays over 100k. Is there anywhere at all besides NYC where ties don't matter and there are biglaw jobs to be had? You'd think there'd be some midsize cities that are perceived to be shitty enough that firms are looking for reasonably competitive candidates and don't care about ties, because there just aren't enough lawyers with ties who want to live there. But it seems like even places that might fit the bill, like Newark (sorry, NJ) are amongst the pickiest about ties. Where would you tell someone with 0 ties and zero preference about where they live to apply, if it were biglaw or bust?

[DrGuano]

No. There are no cities like that other than NYC. Some markets of course can be tapped with the right pedigree. Having said that, I'm sure there are some firms in other cities that don't require ties, however, finding them will require some investigative work on your part.

[LeDique]

You're assuming that a market exists where there aren't enough lawyers looking for jobs.

[Anonymous User]

Anon b/c this might out me with my friends/firm.

Ties are kind of overrated. I am one of those kids who moved every 18 months growing up, and had no problem getting biglaw offers in multiple non-NYC cities. Other than my parents I have zero family who does not live in redneck as fuck parts of Norcal and the Southeast. The key is being able to articulate why you want to be somewhere. So I could talk about how much I enjoyed living in San Francisco/Dallas/Los Angeles/London, even though I only lived there a few months when I was a teenager. Or how the major city my folks live in currently is as close to home as I get, and I, in contrast to my childhood, would really like to live there long term.

The other thing is being able to say that you want to work in an industry where a lot of that offices clients come from. So tech/oil/finance and saying why you think those clients are the most fascinating.

If you are like me, and think New York blows dogs for quarters, don't consign yourself there just because you have no ties anywhere else. Take some screeners there and go on some callbacks in NYC (and you'll probably be surprised, like I was, how nice people are there), but if you really want to be somewhere else and have a reason for it, don't freak out because your family hasn't lived there for five generations.

[anon168]

Let's assume someone is a military brat who went to college and law school in a two horse town not near any sizeable legal market and so has literally no ties anywhere; or just assume someone's ties haven't proved helpful thus far and they are willing to go literally anywhere for a legal job at a private firm that pays over 100k. Is there anywhere at all besides NYC where ties don't matter and there are biglaw jobs to be had? You'd think there'd be some midsize cities that are perceived to be shitty enough that firms are looking for reasonably competitive candidates and don't care about ties, because there just aren't enough lawyers with ties who want to live there. But it seems like even places that might fit the bill, like Newark (sorry, NJ) are amongst the pickiest about ties. Where would you tell someone with 0 ties and zero preference about where they live to apply, if it were biglaw or bust?

NYC, DC, LA, and Chicago and SF to some extent.

One midsize city where ties really do not matter is Miami and maybe St. Louis from what I can tell.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Thanks everyone. I asked because I am slowly and mercilessly plugging away at a well-crafted mass-mailing campaign for NYC and a couple other markets where I do have meaningful ties. Getting in touch with alumni, etc. It is extremely slow going. I decided to give Resume Launchpad a try with a few small batches for a few markets that I have negligible ties to but am less interested in and/or markets that might just increase my chances of landing SOMETHING. I won't spend more than $20 on it, probably, but figured it couldn't hurt if there are firms I realistically wouldn't get to anytime soon b/c still working on mass mails by hand for my priority markets.

And, if it's helpful to anyone, it's easy to click and see if a firm listed on Resume Launchpad has an office-specific recruiting contact such that I'm not double e-mailing the same person for NYC and another city. If it's one firmwide recruiting contact, I just unclick that firm on Resume Launchpad.