Gtown 3.38 NYC special Forum

[Anonymous User]

GPA 3.38 3 A- and 3 B+ with a B- in LRW . Born and raised in NYC metro area. Want NYC transcational. K-JD, but have some decent internships i.e. consulting one summer and i-banking another. Interning for gov't agency in NYC and no URM. All of my reach firms I have contacts at. Any suggestions and numbers are the amount of people that bid per spot.

1.

[Anonymous User]

I hope you have some pretty amazing contacts at some of these firms. Kirkland & Ellis at #7 .. I'm top 10% at GULC and had them similarly placed, and I am worried about that being a reach. Also do you have ties to DE? Wanting transactional will likely not be sufficient from what I have heard and read on these boards. And wtf is Latham, a V10, doing down at 50. Put another firm that is a lot less selective to get your resume. Honestly almost all of these firms are reaches. You should bid a lot more safe and put your firms where you have contacts lower on your list so they get your resume. That way you can use your contacts and try to snag an interview outside of lottery (email saying you didn't receive an interview through bids)

[Anonymous User]

I hope you have some pretty amazing contacts at some of these firms. Kirkland & Ellis at #7 .. I'm top 10% at GULC and had them similarly placed, and I am worried about that being a reach. Also do you have ties to DE? Wanting transactional will likely not be sufficient from what I have heard and read on these boards. And wtf is Latham, a V10, doing down at 50. Put another firm that is a lot less selective to get your resume. Honestly almost all of these firms are reaches. You should bid a lot more safe and put your firms where you have contacts lower on your list so they get your resume. That way you can use your contacts and try to snag an interview outside of lottery (email saying you didn't receive an interview through bids)[/quote]

Thanks for the advice and could you unqote the list. Kirkland is so high because my dad is one of the biggest clients at the firm i.e. 8 figures of legal work a year.

[exitoptions]

You should add Lowenstein, Gibbons, and McCarter & English. If you have connections to the area (which you must since you're applying to other big NJ offices), you have a great shot and those are among the top corporate firms in the state. If you don't want to bid on them, send letters directly letting them know you'll be in the area. I got interviews at a bunch of NJ firms that way and you can save your bids for more competitive NY firms.

[Anonymous User]

I hope you have some pretty amazing contacts at some of these firms. Kirkland & Ellis at #7 .. I'm top 10% at GULC and had them similarly placed, and I am worried about that being a reach. Also do you have ties to DE? Wanting transactional will likely not be sufficient from what I have heard and read on these boards. And wtf is Latham, a V10, doing down at 50. Put another firm that is a lot less selective to get your resume. Honestly almost all of these firms are reaches. You should bid a lot more safe and put your firms where you have contacts lower on your list so they get your resume. That way you can use your contacts and try to snag an interview outside of lottery (email saying you didn't receive an interview through bids)

Thanks for the advice and could you unqote the list. Kirkland is so high because my dad is one of the biggest clients at the firm i.e. 8 figures of legal work a year.[/quote]

Unquoted. Sorry about that. Just saying, if your dad is going to be such an asset, it would be a lot more helpful IMO to see if you can use a much lower bid on K&E and email them saying I bid you and didn't get an interview through the lottery to get a screener outside of lottery. I mean look at it this way, if your dad is going to be a connection in getting you an offer at K&E, he can damn sure swing you a screening interview. Doing an extra screener while they are at OCI is not at all a big deal for the firm.

[Anonymous User]

I hope you have some pretty amazing contacts at some of these firms. Kirkland & Ellis at #7 .. I'm top 10% at GULC and had them similarly placed, and I am worried about that being a reach. Also do you have ties to DE? Wanting transactional will likely not be sufficient from what I have heard and read on these boards. And wtf is Latham, a V10, doing down at 50. Put another firm that is a lot less selective to get your resume. Honestly almost all of these firms are reaches. You should bid a lot more safe and put your firms where you have contacts lower on your list so they get your resume. That way you can use your contacts and try to snag an interview outside of lottery (email saying you didn't receive an interview through bids)

KE NY is definitely not a reach for you. I know multiple people who were outside top 15% and received an offer from them.

[Anonymous User]

I hope you have some pretty amazing contacts at some of these firms. Kirkland & Ellis at #7 .. I'm top 10% at GULC and had them similarly placed, and I am worried about that being a reach. Also do you have ties to DE? Wanting transactional will likely not be sufficient from what I have heard and read on these boards. And wtf is Latham, a V10, doing down at 50. Put another firm that is a lot less selective to get your resume. Honestly almost all of these firms are reaches. You should bid a lot more safe and put your firms where you have contacts lower on your list so they get your resume. That way you can use your contacts and try to snag an interview outside of lottery (email saying you didn't receive an interview through bids)

KE NY is definitely not a reach for you. I know multiple people who were outside top 15% and received an offer from them.

Oh, awesome, good to know - thank you. What do you think about their DC office? - Anon 2

[Anonymous User]

I hope you have some pretty amazing contacts at some of these firms. Kirkland & Ellis at #7 .. I'm top 10% at GULC and had them similarly placed, and I am worried about that being a reach. Also do you have ties to DE? Wanting transactional will likely not be sufficient from what I have heard and read on these boards. And wtf is Latham, a V10, doing down at 50. Put another firm that is a lot less selective to get your resume. Honestly almost all of these firms are reaches. You should bid a lot more safe and put your firms where you have contacts lower on your list so they get your resume. That way you can use your contacts and try to snag an interview outside of lottery (email saying you didn't receive an interview through bids)

KE NY is definitely not a reach for you. I know multiple people who were outside top 15% and received an offer from them.

Oh, awesome, good to know - thank you. What do you think about their DC office? - Anon 2

K&E DC is more selective, but within your reach. I got a callback (not an offer) from them and I was top 10% (not top 5%), but I highly doubt the reason for me not getting an offer was grades.

I know that the people that ended up getting offers at K&E DC do have good grades, but I don't know for sure what they were 1L year.

[Anonymous User]

Recent GULC grad here working at one of the V50 NYC firms on your list. I had similar credentials and ended up dong quite well at OCI so you're definitely in the ballpark.

One big word of advice to OP, and all rising 2Ls at GULC: the end game is not exactly maximizing the number of screeners you receive via the lottery; it's maximizing your number of screeners at firms with substantial summer classes (let's say > 15 SAs per year). That said OP, you should use the NALP guide in conjunction with the data from Career Services to maximize your bidlist and create offer opportunities. The ratio of bids to interview slots is one data point and IMO only useful in conjunction with SA class size data.

That said, I think some of the firms at the top of your bidlist have (or, recently have had) very small NYC class sizes. Akin, Curtiss Mallet and Orrick come to mind immediately. There are some firms that you have lower on your bidlist that you should be competitive at that have large class sizes, do solid corporate work, and typically take/offer multiple Gtwon students per year.

I would suggest moving firms like Milbank, Chadbourne, Schulte, Dechert, Morgan Lewis and Fried Frank higher up the list. Don't really see the appeal of Alston Bird #1 (all things considered you want to be in a NYC home office, not a NYC satellite office). I would even add Seward to that list and place it higher on the bidlist if you want corporate. The goal should be to maximize the screeners at firms you're competitive at and have large SA classes within your first 15 bids. Realistically, you'll be lucky if you get 2-4 screeners via the lottery outside of your top 20.

As for the Kirkland situation, bid them 16-20 (so that they automatically get your resume), then if you don't get an interview via the lottery for them (you won't) you can use your backdoor channels to finagle a screener. In general, put your best bets 1-15, then fill out 15-25 with a mix of reaches and NJ/CT firms where you still might snag a screener.

Good luck.

[to moderators: anonymous posting because use of my TLS username would basically out me at Gtown]

[NinerFan]

A&B hires less than 10 SA's a year for NYC. I don't know if you're going for a small program or not, but their NYC is not really a major office for them. I wouldn't bid them #1. The bigger SA programs = generally more CB slots to give out, so if I were doing this all over again I'd target larger programs in my grade range in NYC.

[Anonymous User]

Recent GULC grad here working at one of the V50 NYC firms on your list. I had similar credentials and ended up dong quite well at OCI so you're definitely in the ballpark.

One big word of advice to OP, and all rising 2Ls at GULC: the end game is not exactly maximizing the number of screeners you receive via the lottery; it's maximizing your number of screeners at firms with substantial summer classes (let's say > 15 SAs per year). That said OP, you should use the NALP guide in conjunction with the data from Career Services to maximize your bidlist and create offer opportunities. The ratio of bids to interview slots is one data point and IMO only useful in conjunction with SA class size data.

That said, I think some of the firms at the top of your bidlist have (or, recently have had) very small NYC class sizes. Akin, Curtiss Mallet and Orrick come to mind immediately. There are some firms that you have lower on your bidlist that you should be competitive at that have large class sizes, do solid corporate work, and typically take/offer multiple Gtwon students per year.

I would suggest moving firms like Milbank, Chadbourne, Schulte, Dechert, Morgan Lewis and Fried Frank higher up the list. Don't really see the appeal of Alston Bird #1 (all things considered you want to be in a NYC home office, not a NYC satellite office). I would even add Seward to that list and place it higher on the bidlist if you want corporate. The goal should be to maximize the screeners at firms you're competitive at and have large SA classes within your first 15 bids. Realistically, you'll be lucky if you get 2-4 screeners via the lottery outside of your top 20.

As for the Kirkland situation, bid them 16-20 (so that they automatically get your resume), then if you don't get an interview via the lottery for them (you won't) you can use your backdoor channels to finagle a screener. In general, put your best bets 1-15, then fill out 15-25 with a mix of reaches and NJ/CT firms where you still might snag a screener.

Good luck.

[to moderators: anonymous posting because use of my TLS username would basically out me at Gtown]

FWIW OCS (two different advisers) informed me that all 50 firms are getting our résumé. Not sure if that's new or something but seems to be the case. - Anon 2

[Anonymous User]

Recent GULC grad here working at one of the V50 NYC firms on your list. I had similar credentials and ended up dong quite well at OCI so you're definitely in the ballpark.

One big word of advice to OP, and all rising 2Ls at GULC: the end game is not exactly maximizing the number of screeners you receive via the lottery; it's maximizing your number of screeners at firms with substantial summer classes (let's say > 15 SAs per year). That said OP, you should use the NALP guide in conjunction with the data from Career Services to maximize your bidlist and create offer opportunities. The ratio of bids to interview slots is one data point and IMO only useful in conjunction with SA class size data.

That said, I think some of the firms at the top of your bidlist have (or, recently have had) very small NYC class sizes. Akin, Curtiss Mallet and Orrick come to mind immediately. There are some firms that you have lower on your bidlist that you should be competitive at that have large class sizes, do solid corporate work, and typically take/offer multiple Gtwon students per year.

I would suggest moving firms like Milbank, Chadbourne, Schulte, Dechert, Morgan Lewis and Fried Frank higher up the list. Don't really see the appeal of Alston Bird #1 (all things considered you want to be in a NYC home office, not a NYC satellite office). I would even add Seward to that list and place it higher on the bidlist if you want corporate. The goal should be to maximize the screeners at firms you're competitive at and have large SA classes within your first 15 bids. Realistically, you'll be lucky if you get 2-4 screeners via the lottery outside of your top 20.

As for the Kirkland situation, bid them 16-20 (so that they automatically get your resume), then if you don't get an interview via the lottery for them (you won't) you can use your backdoor channels to finagle a screener. In general, put your best bets 1-15, then fill out 15-25 with a mix of reaches and NJ/CT firms where you still might snag a screener.

Good luck.

[to moderators: anonymous posting because use of my TLS username would basically out me at Gtown]

FWIW OCS (two different advisers) informed me that all 50 firms are getting our résumé. Not sure if that's new or something but seems to be the case. - Anon 2

Anon who was talking about K&E earlier.

Great advice from the recent gulc grad anon. It's all about getting yourself in front of firms with large class sizes. This is especially true for those with medianish grades.

To OP: I'd load the top 5-10 with firms in your GPA range that have decent/large class sizes. These firms will be popular, and some will be hard to get through the lottery if you dont rank them highly. Also, Even if all 50 firms you bid get your resume, you probably won't get many interviews outside the lottery (unless your connections come through).

[Anonymous User]

Thanks everyone that was really helpful