Top Law Schools

Hey all, don't mean to flood this thread with chance questions but I am curious what the consensus for me is. I think 3.55 is around top 25% but not sure--if anyone has input on that I'd appreciate it.

My real question though is do you think I can bid CA firms only? I have weakish ties to the Bay (UG, 1yr work exp, and a sibling there) most of my friends however are there and I visit frequently. I am from SoCal but really only want to end up in SV/SF. LA's kind of a backup but I'm bidding the big offices there (Gibson, OMM).

Any help would be very appreciated!

Doing UG and working in the Bay Area is a very strong tie IMO. "I went to school here, worked here, my brother/sister lives here, and I want to start my career here" is more than you need to convince interviewers you are serious about being back in the Bay Area. (If your UG is Cal or Stanford, that's even better - those schools have tons of representation in big Bay Area firms, and one interviewer from a big SF firm told me that clients like seeing lawyers from those schools on the firm websites).

I can't imagine that your grades are not strong enough to bid on SF/SV, but I'd defer to someone who went to UM on this front.

I think you have a good shot at the Bay, but it's reportedly a tough market. You might consider bidding on a handful of New York firms as backups. This of course has the drawback that Bay Area firms might not like to hear you're applying to New York. You could say something to the effect that there weren't enough Bay firms to fill your bid list and you wanted to maximize your chances, assuming that's true.