How important are ties for firm jobs in mountain west states? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Particularly interested in biglaw in Denver, Phoenix, SLC, and Las Vegas. Also interested in relatively large regional firms with a presence in MT and WY (Crowley Fleck, etc.)

From what I understand, Denver biglaw basically requires either T14+strong ties or very good grades at UD/CU Law. Phoenix seems similar with T14+ties and ASU. Is this correct?

What does the situation look like in Salt Lake City, Vegas, MT, and WY? Are they relatively ties-centric too? I understand they’re all small legal markets, so I’d assume so.

I’m a rising 2L at a T20 around the top 1/3 of my class, secondary journal. Extremely tenuous ties to CO (family owned two vacation houses in the state that I spent a lot of time visiting growing up - not sure how to say this in cover letters/interviews without coming off as spoiled/pretentious). Would I have any shot at any of these markets through mass mailing/networking?

EDIT: To add more context, I’m from a state that could be considered part of the Southwest, but I’m not necessarily interested in returning there. My state is culturally similar to a lot of the locations I listed above. Would I be able to work this angle at all?

[deepseapartners]

I don’t know much about non-SLC markets but Salt Lake sounds a lot like Denver, i.e. T14+strong ties or top of class at Utah/BYU law.