Mass mailing in another state Forum

[spencer.414]

I'm originally from the Midwest and attending school in DC but I'm planning to start mass mailing in California because my fiancé lives there and I'm planning to move there after law school if I can find a job. I have no ties to California other than this and I know that it's a really tough market to break into so I don't want to send in a form application to the firm without any real explanation of why I'm applying all the way across the country.

How should I go about my mass mailing? Based on what I'm seeing California is mostly IP, finance, and litigation so there aren't as many people in my field. Should I apply through firms' summer associate program and send my materials to the legal recruiter or should I directly email partners at the firms who are in the same practice area (int'l trade)? I don't know that what I've been doing in DC, which is more networking, informational interviews, and keeping in contact would work based on how many times I would have to fly out to California. I'm not sure how polite it is to email and basically ask for an interview when I'll be in town.

For reference, my experience is at an immigration firm my 1L summer and at an international law firm in Central America practicing int'l trade my 2L summer.