Top Law Schools

Apologies for typos, I'm on my phone. Additional apologies for length.

Background, I go to a T14 on the east coast and with my grades and softs I'm fairly confident I'll be getting an SA offer through OCI this August in either NY or DC (I have many ties in DC and those are the main markets that OCI at my school) . I'm spending my 1L summer abroad.
Recently I've been lusting after moving to San Francisco. After a few talks with my father, I have realized that I may even have a shot at making it despite my limited contact with the area. He has some powerful Valley tech company connections (no law firms though), and a number of my family members live and work in tech companies there. I think I could weave a good enough story to get a SF firm to hire me.

My problem is how on earth am I actually going to arrange screener with these companies? I'll still be abroad when my school does its regional oci programs for SF, so that's out of the question. I doubt many SF firms will be coming to OCI, and if they do, our interviews are assigned on a lottery system so I might not get one anyway. Has anyone had any experience in this? Is it just regular mass mailing? I'm concerned about making my resume shine via mass mail, especially due to my lack of connections. Further, Has anyone ever done like a Skype screener interview? Or would I be expected to fly down/go into a regional office?

My second question is, if I go ahead as SA on the east coast, am I SooL for working in SF? Has anyone here ever found a different job in a different market in 3L? What's the procedure for that?

Anonymous User wrote:Apologies for typos, I'm on my phone. Additional apologies for length.

Background, I go to a T14 on the east coast and with my grades and softs I'm fairly confident I'll be getting an SA offer through OCI this August in either NY or DC (I have many ties in DC and those are the main markets that OCI at my school) . I'm spending my 1L summer abroad.
Recently I've been lusting after moving to San Francisco. After a few talks with my father, I have realized that I may even have a shot at making it despite my limited contact with the area. He has some powerful Valley tech company connections (no law firms though), and a number of my family members live and work in tech companies there. I think I could weave a good enough story to get a SF firm to hire me.

My problem is how on earth am I actually going to arrange screener with these companies? I'll still be abroad when my school does its regional oci programs for SF, so that's out of the question. I doubt many SF firms will be coming to OCI, and if they do, our interviews are assigned on a lottery system so I might not get one anyway. Has anyone had any experience in this? Is it just regular mass mailing? I'm concerned about making my resume shine via mass mail, especially due to my lack of connections. Further, Has anyone ever done like a Skype screener interview? Or would I be expected to fly down/go into a regional office?

My second question is, if I go ahead as SA on the east coast, am I SooL for working in SF? Has anyone here ever found a different job in a different market in 3L? What's the procedure for that?

You actually have ties to SF. Just play up the fact that you have a lot of family in SF in your cover letter and note that you really want to be there for X and Y reasons. Lack of connections don't sound like it's an actual issue for you. Just be ready to talk about why it is that you want to be in SF during your interview.

Just bid on SF firms and see if you get any screeners. If you don't, you'll have to mass mail. The screening interviews will probably be over the phone (for mass mail apps) since most firms don't want to pay to fly you out for a screening interview. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; just sound halfway competent and show an interest in the practice areas that they are interviewing you for (e.g. if you indicate an interest in corporate in your cover letter, explain why it is that you're interested in corporate during the interview, and don't say something stupid like that you're actually interested in environmental litigation). The firms will fly you out for callbacks.

You're not SOL for SF if you SA on the east coast. Firms are hiring 3Ls again, so it's possible, but 3L hiring isn't ever really great. It's best to SA at a SF firm if that's where you want to be. If a SA in SF doesn't work out this summer, and you don't get there through 3L hiring, your odds will probably be best after a couple years as a lateral (not to say it can't happen sooner).