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Colorado native and current Denver midlevel at one of the more grade-conscious firms in the market. I'm assuming those grades are roughly top third or so? At my firm you'd have a shot but it wouldn't be a great one. If you've got clear ties, i.e. you grew up and went to high school here, I think you'd have an okay chance to get a 2L gig somewhere here in the market, but I'd definitely bid NYC as a backup. I found in my job searches and in my time on my office's hiring committee that it's easier to transfer here after 2-3 years in a major market than it is to get a job here right away.

I think getting into Denver right out of law school is more about luck than anything else. There's just very few positions and a ton of demand. As anon above me said, bid NYC and definitely do not put all your eggs into the Denver basket coming out of law school. Fortunately, there's a pretty robust lateral market, and lots of the firms are happy to take junior and midlevel associates from big firms.

shock259 wrote:I think getting into Denver right out of law school is more about luck than anything else. There's just very few positions and a ton of demand. As anon above me said, bid NYC and definitely do not put all your eggs into the Denver basket coming out of law school. Fortunately, there's a pretty robust lateral market, and lots of the firms are happy to take junior and midlevel associates from big firms.

I'm the anon above and completely agree with this. I was an HYS grad with good grades and grew up here and wound up with just one offer in Denver from OCI. Ultimately went to another market first. When I looked to lateral here after a few years elsewhere, I had much more interest and a ton of offers.

You did one offer better than me! I was top 1/3 at CCN, and I ended up only getting 1 CB in Denver and no offers. I only applied to biglaw, though (not the regional firms like HH, Polsinelli, etc.).

shock259 wrote:You did one offer better than me! I was top 1/3 at CCN, and I ended up only getting 1 CB in Denver and no offers. I only applied to biglaw, though (not the regional firms like HH, Polsinelli, etc.).

Currently in Denver - if anyone reading this is truly interested in breaking into Denver via OCI, you absolutely must apply for the "regional" firms as well. The regional firms here represent an outsized portion of the legal market, and most of them bring in at least a few of SA's (if not a handful). Nobody here has a summer class in the double digits, and most of the NY-rate ($180k) firms have either 0 or 1 SA each summer. Most of the regionals pay in the $125k-140k range, but that can go a long way out here (certainly farther than $180k will take you in NY).

If you really want or need to end up here, the numbers game is necessary. There just aren't that many SA spots, and Denver firms/offices run a pretty lean shop.

Anonymous User wrote:

shock259 wrote:You did one offer better than me! I was top 1/3 at CCN, and I ended up only getting 1 CB in Denver and no offers. I only applied to biglaw, though (not the regional firms like HH, Polsinelli, etc.).

Currently in Denver - if anyone reading this is truly interested in breaking into Denver via OCI, you absolutely must apply for the "regional" firms as well. The regional firms here represent an outsized portion of the legal market, and most of them bring in at least a few of SA's (if not a handful). Nobody here has a summer class in the double digits, and most of the NY-rate ($180k) firms have either 0 or 1 SA each summer. Most of the regionals pay in the $125k-140k range, but that can go a long way out here (certainly farther than $180k will take you in NY).

If you really want or need to end up here, the numbers game is necessary. There just aren't that many SA spots, and Denver firms/offices run a pretty lean shop.

can you list a few of these "regional" firms?

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

shock259 wrote:You did one offer better than me! I was top 1/3 at CCN, and I ended up only getting 1 CB in Denver and no offers. I only applied to biglaw, though (not the regional firms like HH, Polsinelli, etc.).

Currently in Denver - if anyone reading this is truly interested in breaking into Denver via OCI, you absolutely must apply for the "regional" firms as well. The regional firms here represent an outsized portion of the legal market, and most of them bring in at least a few of SA's (if not a handful). Nobody here has a summer class in the double digits, and most of the NY-rate ($180k) firms have either 0 or 1 SA each summer. Most of the regionals pay in the $125k-140k range, but that can go a long way out here (certainly farther than $180k will take you in NY).

If you really want or need to end up here, the numbers game is necessary. There just aren't that many SA spots, and Denver firms/offices run a pretty lean shop.

can you list a few of these "regional" firms?

I'm not the anon above, but am the Denver associate up-thread. The only biglaw shops here are really Hogan, Gibson, APKS, and then Wilmer and MoFo's tiny offices. People should also be applying to Brownstein, Holland & Hart, Davis Graham, Ballard Spahr, Moye White, Lewis Roca, Bryan Cave, Hall & Evans, Spencer Fane, Faegre, Kutak Rock, etc.

Wheeler Trigg is excellent for lit, but I don't think it takes summers.

Anonymous User wrote:I'm not the anon above, but am the Denver associate up-thread. The only biglaw shops here are really Hogan, Gibson, APKS, and then Wilmer and MoFo's tiny offices. People should also be applying to Brownstein, Holland & Hart, Davis Graham, Ballard Spahr, Moye White, Lewis Roca, Bryan Cave, Hall & Evans, Spencer Fane, Faegre, Kutak Rock, etc.

Wheeler Trigg is excellent for lit, but I don't think it takes summers.

I'd consider Perkins Coie to be big law, and their corporate group is expanding pretty quickly and has been, and stayed, busy. They don't take summers anymore, though (aside from maybe one in commercial lit, and that practice group has been relatively slow).

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I'm not the anon above, but am the Denver associate up-thread. The only biglaw shops here are really Hogan, Gibson, APKS, and then Wilmer and MoFo's tiny offices. People should also be applying to Brownstein, Holland & Hart, Davis Graham, Ballard Spahr, Moye White, Lewis Roca, Bryan Cave, Hall & Evans, Spencer Fane, Faegre, Kutak Rock, etc.

Wheeler Trigg is excellent for lit, but I don't think it takes summers.

I'd consider Perkins Coie to be big law, and their corporate group is expanding pretty quickly and has been, and stayed, busy. They don't take summers anymore, though (aside from maybe one in commercial lit, and that practice group has been relatively slow).

No you're right, totally forgot about them and they're growing. Dentons is in town too now after the merger with McKenna Long, so they probably count as well.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I'm not the anon above, but am the Denver associate up-thread. The only biglaw shops here are really Hogan, Gibson, APKS, and then Wilmer and MoFo's tiny offices. People should also be applying to Brownstein, Holland & Hart, Davis Graham, Ballard Spahr, Moye White, Lewis Roca, Bryan Cave, Hall & Evans, Spencer Fane, Faegre, Kutak Rock, etc.

Wheeler Trigg is excellent for lit, but I don't think it takes summers.

I'd consider Perkins Coie to be big law, and their corporate group is expanding pretty quickly and has been, and stayed, busy. They don't take summers anymore, though (aside from maybe one in commercial lit, and that practice group has been relatively slow).

No you're right, totally forgot about them and they're growing. Dentons is in town too now after the merger with McKenna Long, so they probably count as well.

Wheeler Trigg hasn't hired a summer in a long time - as far as I know, they don't hire first years either. To get in at Wheeler Trigg, you either get hired off of a clerkship or lateral in with a couple years experience.

Dentons just moved to $160k, so it's getting closer to the top. I think they had 3 summers last summer and they all did a lot of government contract work. Dentons Denver is growing that group quickly.

The regional firm list above is spot on for the market. The largest and most active of those (as far as hiring is concerned, including SAs) always appears to be Brownstein, Holland & Hart, Davis Graham, and Bryan Cave. Davis Graham brings in 5-8 summers pretty regularly. I would also add Dorsey & Whitney - they do OCI and hire a couple/few summers a year.

Cooley and Kilpatrick Townsend are also in town and pay $180k. Cooley seems to take 1-2 summers, normally on the corporate side. You'd better be patent bar eligible if you want to get in at Kilpatrick Townsend. If you are patent bar eligible, there are also a good number of smaller patent pros/lit firms peppered around Denver and Boulder.

Perkins Coie hired zero summers last summer.