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Hello,

I am putting together my bidlist and could use some help. I am going for corporate and in NYC only. I have ~3.8, some WE, and average interviewing skills. Some of these firms might seem too high on the list, but I want to eliminate any chance of not getting them because of a scheduling conflict or something. The ones I care about the most are in bold.

Thanks in advance, guys! Really appreciate the help.


1. Proskauer (58)
2. Skadden (96)
3. Kirkland (58)
4. Gibson Dunn (97)
5. Sidley (77)
6. Weil (77)
7. Shearman (96)
8. Debevoise (154)
9. White & Case (77)
10. Paul Weiss (173)
11. Goodwin Procter (39)
12. Linklaters (39)
13. WilmerHale (58)
14. Jones Day (77)
15. Morrison & Foerster (58)
16. Cahill (96)
17. Ropes & Gray (116)
18. Allen & Overy (41)
19. Latham (163)
20. Davis Polk (192)
21. Simpson Thacher (154)
22. Cleary (192)
23. Cravath (136)
24. Sullivan & Cromwell (134)
25. Willkie (134)
26. Wachtell (77)
27. Covington (77)
28. Fried Frank (115)
29. Akin Gump (96)
30. Freshfields (68)
31. Arnold Porter (58)
32. Chadbourne (77)
33. clifford chance (77)
34. Milbank (96)
35. Cadwalader (164)

Bump

Seems reasonable. I would guess you get all of your top options. Honestly with a 3.8 you could bid them all at the top.

Many thanks for the reassuring message! Much appreciated.

One of my concerns is about 12-19 and 27-34 -- I am not sure if I am wasting bids with those firms by not putting them high enough? Even if they are not my top options, I would want to make sure I am not bidding them in vain.

This bid list looks completely reasonable to me. Good luck!

Anonymous User wrote:Many thanks for the reassuring message! Much appreciated.

One of my concerns is about 12-19 and 27-34 -- I am not sure if I am wasting bids with those firms by not putting them high enough? Even if they are not my top options, I would want to make sure I am not bidding them in vain.

3.8 seems pretty high.. top 5%? If I was you I would move up a little firms 20-26 unless it is very very likely that you will get those firms anyway. Get rid of or lower A&O, MOFO, or Linklaters?

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Many thanks for the reassuring message! Much appreciated.

One of my concerns is about 12-19 and 27-34 -- I am not sure if I am wasting bids with those firms by not putting them high enough? Even if they are not my top options, I would want to make sure I am not bidding them in vain.

3.8 seems pretty high.. top 5%? If I was you I would move up a little firms 20-26 unless it is very very likely that you will get those firms anyway. Get rid of or lower A&O, MOFO, or Linklaters?

He could bid 20-24, in particular, last and would still get them (well, maybe not Cravath, but definitely the others). They have a ton of interview slots precisely so they don't fill up on initial bidding.

I'm mainly curious why White & Case, Freshfields and Goodwin Procter are bolded. Nothing against any of them precisely, but I wouldn't expect anyone with a 3.8 to end up at any of them. If you really do want Freshfields, I think you'd have to bid it higher.

I think you may want to move Wachtell up to 20 or so if you really want it--it does fill up, even if not immediately.

Thank you for the advice, everyone. I took out several firms and ultimately ended up with a list of 30. When I spoke to OCS, they urged me to bid 50. When I said that I only wanted to bid NYC (family reasons) which would allow me to bid up to 40, I was told I should bid 40 in NYC and include 10 firms in NJ/CT. They seem very risk averse and have instilled some of that in me, I guess.

Goodwin and Freshfields were bolded because my personal exposure to those firms (minor, but still) left a positive impression and I figured they were nice firms. I did not want to take the top firms for granted and wanted to pick some other firms where I would presumably enjoy working.

Thanks again!

OCS is right, you have a great GPA and should be fine, but absolutely no reason to leave interviews on the table.