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I'm top 40% at UTexas and really want to get into the Houston market. What firms should I be focusing my efforts on and how should I go about organizing my bidlist? I'm interested in both lit and trans, but probably a slight edge toward lit.

Hopefully you have serious ties or something else to sell firms besides your grades. At top 40% I wouldn't expect much. I'd say target firms with large summer classes that don't have really high grade cutoffs. Sorry I can't be more specific, don't know much about the Houston market.

Anonymous User wrote:I'm top 40% at UTexas and really want to get into the Houston market. What firms should I be focusing my efforts on and how should I go about organizing my bidlist? I'm interested in both lit and trans, but probably a slight edge toward lit.

Former UT student here.

Follow the grade guidelines on symplicity, but not to a T. If they say top 25%, you might still have a shot if you're a good interviewer. If they don't list a grade cutoff, all the better.

Of the big 3, Fulbright is most likely to give you a look. Then look at the slightly smaller firms, i.e., Gardere, Jackson Walker, etc.

I don't really agree with the poster above at all. My grades were just outside of top 30% when I went through OCI (post-crash), and I got the full 25 screeners and a good number (think more than I can count on one hand) of callbacks and had several offers at the end of it all. But I have been told I'm a good interviewer, for what it's worth.

Just don't waste bids on the firms that say they only take top 10% or equivalent.

I don't disagree with the above, but I don't want OP to get too rosy a picture if he/she doesn't have ties. I was somewhere between top 30% and 40% after 1L and got zero CBs in Texas, despite a lot of good OCI screeners and getting CBs and offers in a market where I did have ties. Don't know enough about OP to assess chances realistically.

philosoraptor wrote:I don't disagree with the above, but I don't want OP to get too rosy a picture if he/she doesn't have ties. I was somewhere between top 30% and 40% after 1L and got zero CBs in Texas, despite a lot of good OCI screeners and getting CBs and offers in a market where I did have ties. Don't know enough about OP to assess chances realistically.

Anon from above:

Fair enough. Didn't mean to come off in an attacking way (if I did).

Might be some factors I didn't consider. Had some legal internships before LS and I only applied to one city in TX, though I lacked ties there.

I guess the real takeaway, as you said, is that it isn't all rosy, but that OP has a shot.

How does OP know he's Top 40% - what's the GPA?

Also, any ties? relevant work experience?

f0bolous wrote:How does OP know he's Top 40% - what's the GPA?

Also, any ties? relevant work experience?

OP here. GPA is 3.43 and I'm estimating that'll be around Top 40%. Since only 25% and 50% are actually published, the employer isn't going to have a hard cutoff.

I have huge Houston ties, but my only relevant work experience is what I'm doing this summer (clerking at a small firm and judicial internship).

Anonymous User wrote:

f0bolous wrote:How does OP know he's Top 40% - what's the GPA?

Also, any ties? relevant work experience?

OP here. GPA is 3.43 and I'm estimating that'll be around Top 40%. Since only 25% and 50% are actually published, the employer isn't going to have a hard cutoff.

I have huge Houston ties, but my only relevant work experience is what I'm doing this summer (clerking at a small firm and judicial internship).

Yeah, that GPA is really borderline for the major firms (specifically the Big 3). I'd try to rank the non-big 3 bigtex firms up top (eg, TK, LL, JW) for lottery and bid all Houston firms for your remaining bids to see if they'll preselect you. You should still be able to get a sizable number of interviews this way.