Top Law Schools

So I go to UH and we just got our OCI invites from our bids. We can only select 17 so I'm having to cut some firms from my list.

For my last spot I'm trying to decide between Paul Hastings, Arnold Porter, Andrews Kurth, Sidley Austin, and Winston Strawn.

I have no idea if I want to do litigation or transactional. Top 2% of class so I feel good about my chances.

Arnold Porter seems the most interesting but their Houston office has about 7 attorneys, so I was wondering if anyone knew anything about them in particular? A small office like that could be great or horrible and I have no idea what their reputation is.

Thanks!

Mid-level at top firm in Houston. Should be either AK or Sidley. Others in your list have little to no presence in Houston w/r/t deals etc.

I think AP doesn't really have much of a reputation in Houston (good or bad)- it's just too small. If you end up considering an offer from them, I'd look hard at the personalities involved. In a small office, working well with the particular people is essential.

APKS associate here, but not in Houston. The Houston office does a ton of airline-related litigation, including some mass tort work on airline crashes. A couple of very good lawyers in that office, and from what I can tell, decent quality of life for the couple of associates. You won't get a chance to do transactional work there unless the office takes on a corporate partner. I'd probably suggest bidding another firm if you've only got one spot left and trying to add APKS or reach out to interview separately. Your grades are good enough that you might be able to snag an interview outside of OCI.

Sidley or Winston.

I would go Sidley or AK here, but note that Sidley is purely transactional.

Anonymous User wrote:APKS associate here, but not in Houston. The Houston office does a ton of airline-related litigation, including some mass tort work on airline crashes. A couple of very good lawyers in that office, and from what I can tell, decent quality of life for the couple of associates. You won't get a chance to do transactional work there unless the office takes on a corporate partner. I'd probably suggest bidding another firm if you've only got one spot left and trying to add APKS or reach out to interview separately. Your grades are good enough that you might be able to snag an interview outside of OCI.

OP here. Thanks for the info! That was super helpful.

Yeah, I think I'll do Sidley as my last spot. I'm hoping to get one of my top picks (V&E, Skadden, etc) plus the Susman 4 week SA tacked on to the end. That should give me a good mix of both litigation and transactional: but as we all know, you don't always get what you want. APKS sounds awesome but airline stuff doesn't sound too fascinating to me, even if I do ultimately decide to do litigation.

Just curious why Skadden Houston (which is an outpost) would be a top pick...

Anonymous User wrote:Just curious why Skadden Houston (which is an outpost) would be a top pick...

OP here. I enjoyed the people I've met there, feel like it would be a good fit, etc. I'm not just targeting prestige. Not to mention, having that name on my resume if I ever want to move to either coast will definitely not be a disadvantage. But mainly, I just shortened my top 10 to two in that last post lol.