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Alright, let's have this debate. When applying to a firm (in particular as a 2L trying to get big law), do you apply to just one of the firm's locations, or more?

Very interested in responses here. My school’s OCI site says that certain firms only allow one interview per candidate (ostensibly stopping you from really applying to more than one office), but I’d ideally like to apply to multiple offices for certain firms.

Bump

This is usually a case-by-case situation. For OCI bidding purposes, it might depend on how your school structures the bidding/lottery process. Most firms will say either (1) interview is for a specific location; or (2) interview covers various locations, in which situation you can clarify during the cover letter or interview, if they ask, which locations you are interested in. In my experience, I've seen more of the latter situation than the former, and I encounter the first situation more when the firm is headquartered in my school city and is looking more for its east coast offices than broadly nationwide.

However, if your bidding process looks like, for example, Skadden has two slots, one for their New York office and one for their LA office, and you have to select each separately, you should weigh the risk of them seeing you bid for both and being annoyed you didn't read/pay attention to their instructions on only bidding for one location.