Top Law Schools

I go to a T2 in a major city in the Northeast and have had no luck with OCI (got three CBs and was just dinged from my last one...not that I was expecting much). I've been mass mailing/networking/emailing alums for over two months and have gotten nothing but rejections and silence. I managed to write onto LR, am TAing for LRW, and am RAing for a professor this semester.

Obviously I need to bring up my grades but is there anything else I can do to get a BigLaw SA next summer or for after I graduate (i.e. - any jobs for this summer that would help for post-grad BigLaw employment)?

Anonymous User wrote:I go to a T2 in a major city in the Northeast and have had no luck with OCI (got three CBs and was just dinged from my last one...not that I was expecting much). I've been mass mailing/networking/emailing alums for over two months and have gotten nothing but rejections and silence. I managed to write onto LR, am TAing for LRW, and am RAing for a professor this semester.

Obviously I need to bring up my grades but is there anything else I can do to get a BigLaw SA next summer or for after I graduate (i.e. - any jobs for this summer that would help for post-grad BigLaw employment)?

In a month or so your chance at a biglaw SA for 2L summer approaches 0

Big firms don't usually hire many 3Ls either

And when they do it's usually people who already have big firm offers or have experience in certain practice groups that happen to be in demand

I'm in the same situation. But I am in Top 20 law school, Top 20% and LR. Still struck out. Am interested in this as well.

Your best bet may be to improve your grades enough your next two years and try and get a decent clerkship...if its a state clerkship it will probably be viewed admirably only in the state you clerked in (unless it's like Cali Supreme Court or texas maybe). I'm in the same boat man, big law chances straight out not looking good but there are just more students than jobs right now.

I was about the same (no LR, but I also am not sure that employers really care about LR) range at a top-25 school and managed to pull myself out of the fire by snagging a non-AIII clerkship and then going to a firm. Article III clerkships are going to be completely out of the question, as is biglaw in all likelihood (although you should obviously be applying to every law firm on planet earth just in case, but everyone on TLS already knows about mass mailing, so I'll assume you've done that by now). Your best bet is to (1.) apply like crazy for magistrate, bankruptcy, and state court clerkships and (2.) try to get on with a small firm doing office clerk type work and impress the hell out of them in the hopes that they'll hire you on after law school.

T30, top 5% and LR.

Chances for a biglaw/midlaw firm job not looking food. I didn't really stray from my rather small local market, but still disappointing.

Basically aiming for a clerkship if nothing comes through in the next couple weeks.

Anonymous User wrote:T30, top 5% and LR.

Chances for a biglaw/midlaw firm job not looking food. I didn't really stray from my rather small local market, but still disappointing.

Basically aiming for a clerkship if nothing comes through in the next couple weeks.

Holy self-inflicted wound, Batman. I realize this isn't very helpful to you right now, but how were you not mass-mailing? You have biglaw numbers by a wide margin and should be competitive even at pretty selective biglaw firms.

SBL wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:T30, top 5% and LR.

Chances for a biglaw/midlaw firm job not looking food. I didn't really stray from my rather small local market, but still disappointing.

Basically aiming for a clerkship if nothing comes through in the next couple weeks.

Holy self-inflicted wound, Batman. I realize this isn't very helpful to you right now, but how were you not mass-mailing? You have biglaw numbers by a wide margin and should be competitive even at pretty selective biglaw firms.

Not everyone wants to live in NY?

Redfactor wrote:

SBL wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:T30, top 5% and LR.

Chances for a biglaw/midlaw firm job not looking food. I didn't really stray from my rather small local market, but still disappointing.

Basically aiming for a clerkship if nothing comes through in the next couple weeks.

Holy self-inflicted wound, Batman. I realize this isn't very helpful to you right now, but how were you not mass-mailing? You have biglaw numbers by a wide margin and should be competitive even at pretty selective biglaw firms.

Not everyone wants to live in NY?

Biglaw doesn't begin and end in NYC.

SBL wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:T30, top 5% and LR.

Chances for a biglaw/midlaw firm job not looking food. I didn't really stray from my rather small local market, but still disappointing.

Basically aiming for a clerkship if nothing comes through in the next couple weeks.

Holy self-inflicted wound, Batman. I realize this isn't very helpful to you right now, but how were you not mass-mailing? You have biglaw numbers by a wide margin and should be competitive even at pretty selective biglaw firms.

I feel like this is overstating it. There are some mediocre schools in the top 30 (Alabama, Iowa, Indiana, etc) that don't really send much more than 5% of their school into large firms and that aren't even close to a non-NYC primary market.

kalvano wrote:

Redfactor wrote:Not everyone wants to live in NY?

Biglaw doesn't begin and end in NYC.

Yes, not everyone wants to live in NYC but the vast majority of biglaw jobs are there. It may not begin and end there, but if you legitimately want to work in biglaw not being open to NYC really is shooting yourself in the foot. Heck, not being open to more than a single small market is shooting yourself in the foot, e.g., you don't have to necessarily be open to NYC but don't pin all your hopes on Austin, throw in Dallas/Houston too. Especially if you don't have great stats (and for biglaw, T30+top 5%+LR isn't great).

bk1 wrote:

kalvano wrote:

Redfactor wrote:Not everyone wants to live in NY?

Biglaw doesn't begin and end in NYC.

Yes, not everyone wants to live in NYC but the vast majority of biglaw jobs are there. It may not begin and end there, but if you legitimately want to work in biglaw not being open to NYC really is shooting yourself in the foot. Heck, not being open to more than a single small market is shooting yourself in the foot, e.g., you don't have to necessarily be open to NYC but don't pin all your hopes on Austin, throw in Dallas/Houston too. Especially if you don't have great stats (and for biglaw, T30+top 5%+LR isn't great).

Absolutely, but plenty of places have large, well-paying firms. I guess it also depends on how you qualify Biglaw, by size or salary. A lot of markets have at least a few firms that aren't part of the NLJ250 but pay $160K (or slightly less).

I can tell you that T30+top 5%+LR would get you a market-paying (or close to it) in Dallas.

bk1 wrote:

SBL wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:T30, top 5% and LR.

Chances for a biglaw/midlaw firm job not looking food. I didn't really stray from my rather small local market, but still disappointing.

Basically aiming for a clerkship if nothing comes through in the next couple weeks.

Holy self-inflicted wound, Batman. I realize this isn't very helpful to you right now, but how were you not mass-mailing? You have biglaw numbers by a wide margin and should be competitive even at pretty selective biglaw firms.

I feel like this is overstating it. There are some mediocre schools in the top 30 (Alabama, Iowa, Indiana, etc) that don't really send much more than 5% of their school into large firms and that aren't even close to a non-NYC primary market.

kalvano wrote:

Redfactor wrote:Not everyone wants to live in NY?

Biglaw doesn't begin and end in NYC.

Yes, not everyone wants to live in NYC but the vast majority of biglaw jobs are there. It may not begin and end there, but if you legitimately want to work in biglaw not being open to NYC really is shooting yourself in the foot. Heck, not being open to more than a single small market is shooting yourself in the foot, e.g., you don't have to necessarily be open to NYC but don't pin all your hopes on Austin, throw in Dallas/Houston too. Especially if you don't have great stats (and for biglaw, T30+top 5%+LR isn't great).

Eh, I went to a pretty so-so T30 (or at least it was T30 when I went through OCI, which more or less highlights why distinctions like "T30" are kinda silly), and top-5% + LR was a lock for biglaw unless your personality was so wildly bizarre you couldn't handle the screener. Maybe I'm overstating things, but I think someone with this resume is *EXACTLY* who should be mass-mailing.

We tell everyone to mass-mail on TLS, because, fuck it, if you don't get a SA job through OCI, what choice do you have? But for most people we know it's not a good option, it's just their only option. For a guy with these numbers, mass mailing really could have netted him a gig.

SBL wrote:

bk1 wrote:

SBL wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:T30, top 5% and LR.

Chances for a biglaw/midlaw firm job not looking food. I didn't really stray from my rather small local market, but still disappointing.

Basically aiming for a clerkship if nothing comes through in the next couple weeks.

Holy self-inflicted wound, Batman. I realize this isn't very helpful to you right now, but how were you not mass-mailing? You have biglaw numbers by a wide margin and should be competitive even at pretty selective biglaw firms.

I feel like this is overstating it. There are some mediocre schools in the top 30 (Alabama, Iowa, Indiana, etc) that don't really send much more than 5% of their school into large firms and that aren't even close to a non-NYC primary market.

kalvano wrote:

Redfactor wrote:Not everyone wants to live in NY?

Biglaw doesn't begin and end in NYC.

Yes, not everyone wants to live in NYC but the vast majority of biglaw jobs are there. It may not begin and end there, but if you legitimately want to work in biglaw not being open to NYC really is shooting yourself in the foot. Heck, not being open to more than a single small market is shooting yourself in the foot, e.g., you don't have to necessarily be open to NYC but don't pin all your hopes on Austin, throw in Dallas/Houston too. Especially if you don't have great stats (and for biglaw, T30+top 5%+LR isn't great).

Eh, I went to a pretty so-so T30 (or at least it was T30 when I went through OCI, which more or less highlights why distinctions like "T30" are kinda silly), and top-5% + LR was a lock for biglaw unless your personality was so wildly bizarre you couldn't handle the screener. Maybe I'm overstating things, but I think someone with this resume is *EXACTLY* who should be mass-mailing.

We tell everyone to mass-mail on TLS, because, fuck it, if you don't get a SA job through OCI, what choice do you have? But for most people we know it's not a good option, it's just their only option. For a guy with these numbers, mass mailing really could have netted him a gig.

I agree.

Anonymous User wrote:I go to a T2 in a major city in the Northeast and have had no luck with OCI (got three CBs and was just dinged from my last one...not that I was expecting much). I've been mass mailing/networking/emailing alums for over two months and have gotten nothing but rejections and silence. I managed to write onto LR, am TAing for LRW, and am RAing for a professor this semester.

Obviously I need to bring up my grades but is there anything else I can do to get a BigLaw SA next summer or for after I graduate (i.e. - any jobs for this summer that would help for post-grad BigLaw employment)?

I was in the same position as you, with almost the same stats and same activities (LR, TA, RAing, etc). Ended up doing one of the Federal Summer "Honors" programs and brought my grades up. I had more success with big law as a 3L than as a 2L. In the end I have decided to work for big gov instead of big law after I graduate, but I think the internship as well as raising my GPA helped me land a few big law interviews as a 3L.