Top Law Schools

How outrageous are living conditions in Palo Alto? I keep hearing horror stories that even with a 160k offer that the COL will have you living middle class. Is it really that bad? Is it smarter to just go to SoCal for better COL. SoCal being more like San Diego than LA

It's expensive to live in Palo Alto. http://priceonomics.com/the-rise-of-bay ... nt-prices/

You can definitely live quite nicely on 160k in Palo Alto, it just depends on how much you are willing to put towards rent. Living "middle class" is an ambiguous and meaningless term. Even in Palo Alto, with 160k you will be living far better than most people in this country (even if you have substantial debt). Going to SD is not a good plan considering how few legal jobs exist in SD.

bk1 wrote:It's expensive to live in Palo Alto. http://priceonomics.com/the-rise-of-bay ... nt-prices/

You can definitely live quite nicely on 160k in Palo Alto, it just depends on how much you are willing to put towards rent. Living "middle class" is an ambiguous and meaningless term. Even in Palo Alto, with 160k you will be living far better than most people in this country (even if you have substantial debt). Going to SD is not a good plan considering how few legal jobs exist in SD.

I'm confused... http://www.averyindex.com/patent_city_b ... t=CA&sort=

Are you looking to be a patent agent or a lawyer? Do you want to do patent pros, patent lit, or something else? I don't know about patent agents, but I can assure you that the number of big firm jobs in San Diego is quite small.

bk1 wrote:Are you looking to be a patent agent or a lawyer? Do you want to do patent pros, patent lit, or something else? I don't know about patent agents, but I can assure you that the number of big firm jobs in San Diego is quite small.

Supposing one does land an entry level biglaw job in SD, would being pushed out 3-4 years later mean bye-bye SD?

edit: posted in LE forum on accident, again. Sorry

To the extent there are BigLaw jobs in San Diego many of them are IP-related, but COL is not low by any means.

t-14orbust wrote:

bk1 wrote:Are you looking to be a patent agent or a lawyer? Do you want to do patent pros, patent lit, or something else? I don't know about patent agents, but I can assure you that the number of big firm jobs in San Diego is quite small.

Supposing one does land an entry level biglaw job in SD, would being pushed out 3-4 years later mean bye-bye SD?

There are plenty of companies in San Diego, many in the pharma/biotech sector. Many of the BigLaw people end up in house there.

Tiago Splitter wrote:To the extent there are BigLaw jobs in San Diego many of them are IP-related, but COL is not low by any means.

t-14orbust wrote:

bk1 wrote:Are you looking to be a patent agent or a lawyer? Do you want to do patent pros, patent lit, or something else? I don't know about patent agents, but I can assure you that the number of big firm jobs in San Diego is quite small.

Supposing one does land an entry level biglaw job in SD, would being pushed out 3-4 years later mean bye-bye SD?

There are plenty of companies in San Diego, many in the pharma/biotech sector. Many of the BigLaw people end up in house there.

Are you implying that SD is primarily IP focused, or was that just in reference to the OP's apparent IP bent. Thanks for responding to a lowly 0l.

If I'm just wasting everyone's time by asking questions that can easily be searched for, please let me know where I can find more info about the legal job market in SD/OC/LA. Thanks bros

Yes, San Diego is definitely IP focused. It's not exclusively IP focused but I'd estimate that close to half the SA's in the city are IP.

Anonymous User wrote:

bk1 wrote:It's expensive to live in Palo Alto. http://priceonomics.com/the-rise-of-bay ... nt-prices/

You can definitely live quite nicely on 160k in Palo Alto, it just depends on how much you are willing to put towards rent. Living "middle class" is an ambiguous and meaningless term. Even in Palo Alto, with 160k you will be living far better than most people in this country (even if you have substantial debt). Going to SD is not a good plan considering how few legal jobs exist in SD.

I'm confused... http://www.averyindex.com/patent_city_b ... t=CA&sort=

That chart is very misleading because of the way Silicon Valley works. Palo Alto definitely has the highest concentration of law firms in Silicon Valley, but it by no means has all of the Silicon Valley jobs. Many major law firms have their Silicon Valley offices outside of Palo Alto. Off the top of my head, I know that Latham is in Menlo Park, DLA Piper is in East Palo Alto, and both Quinn and Weil are in Redwood City.

Silicon Valley is usually understood to encompass Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Mountainview, East Palo Alto, Cupertino, Santa Clara, and San Jose. If you total up the number of patent attorneys/agents in all of these locations and consider them as one market (which is accurate, they are all in the "Silicon Valley" market), you can see that it's something close to twice the size of the San Diego market - even if you're only considering patent work (which is all that the Avery Index Chart is examining).

OneMoreLawHopeful wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

bk1 wrote:It's expensive to live in Palo Alto. http://priceonomics.com/the-rise-of-bay ... nt-prices/

You can definitely live quite nicely on 160k in Palo Alto, it just depends on how much you are willing to put towards rent. Living "middle class" is an ambiguous and meaningless term. Even in Palo Alto, with 160k you will be living far better than most people in this country (even if you have substantial debt). Going to SD is not a good plan considering how few legal jobs exist in SD.

I'm confused... http://www.averyindex.com/patent_city_b ... t=CA&sort=

That chart is very misleading because of the way Silicon Valley works. Palo Alto definitely has the highest concentration of law firms in Silicon Valley, but it by no means has all of the Silicon Valley jobs. Many major law firms have their Silicon Valley offices outside of Palo Alto. Off the top of my head, I know that Latham is in Menlo Park, DLA Piper is in East Palo Alto, and both Quinn and Weil are in Redwood City.

Silicon Valley is usually understood to encompass Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Mountainview, East Palo Alto, Cupertino, Santa Clara, and San Jose. If you total up the number of patent attorneys/agents in all of these locations and consider them as one market (which is accurate, they are all in the "Silicon Valley" market), you can see that it's something close to twice the size of the San Diego market - even if you're only considering patent work (which is all that the Avery Index Chart is examining).

I was more referring to the fact that San Diego was denoted a "small legal market" when in fact it is the largest single city. It may not be able to be compared to Silicon Valley, but it can be compared to LA and SF

OneMoreLawHopeful wrote:That chart is very misleading because of the way Silicon Valley works. Palo Alto definitely has the highest concentration of law firms in Silicon Valley, but it by no means has all of the Silicon Valley jobs. Many major law firms have their Silicon Valley offices outside of Palo Alto. Off the top of my head, I know that Latham is in Menlo Park, DLA Piper is in East Palo Alto, and both Quinn and Weil are in Redwood City.

Silicon Valley is usually understood to encompass Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Mountainview, East Palo Alto, Cupertino, Santa Clara, and San Jose. If you total up the number of patent attorneys/agents in all of these locations and consider them as one market (which is accurate, they are all in the "Silicon Valley" market), you can see that it's something close to twice the size of the San Diego market - even if you're only considering patent work (which is all that the Avery Index Chart is examining).

This is a good point, I didn't even look at the chart that close. Not to mention that SF is right next to SV as well.

Anonymous User wrote:I was more referring to the fact that San Diego was denoted a "small legal market" when in fact it is the largest single city. It may not be able to be compared to Silicon Valley, but it can be compared to LA and SF

It is a small legal market. It's just that SF and LA are less IP focused than SD.

Anyone know of any good "corporate housing" options for the summer in Palo Alto/SF? I am talking about a furnished place for 2-3 months.

Anonymous User wrote:Anyone know of any good "corporate housing" options for the summer in Palo Alto/SF? I am talking about a furnished place for 2-3 months.

SLS students do a robust business in subletting furnished apartments over the summer.

Affording a home in SV is very tough. The attorneys at my big law firm in SV who are on the younger side commute from places like Fremont, Santa Clara, San Mateo, or Redwood City. Buying a place is on like a 10-year plan for them. One recently made partner told me he bought a place in Mountain View, but he describes it as small. You can expect to pay $2500 on average for a place to rent in Palo Alto (maybe $2000 for a studio or $3000 for a place that would fit a couple), but maybe my numbers are off a bit. But honestly, if you plan to work long hours, you can probably avoid some of the traffic jams to cheaper places farther away, like San Jose or Fremont.

BearState wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Anyone know of any good "corporate housing" options for the summer in Palo Alto/SF? I am talking about a furnished place for 2-3 months.

SLS students do a robust business in subletting furnished apartments over the summer.

PM me in like 6 months, seriously