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3.4 at T20 (3.3 Median). 2nd Law Review. Top Oralist. Moot Court Award (O). 1st Summer intern at State App. Ct.
Had about 20 Interviews, including 2 Plaintiff's boutiques. Rest 18 dinged. These 2 came with CB and gave final offer.

I want to break into Defense Side as an Entry Lvl. Associate. Would it be possible? What would enhance my chances?
Should I focus more on Dist. Clerkship applications?

(Oh and other questions)
Do Plaintiff firms with big name partners (i.e. prior Biglaw Senior Partner) have an edge over typical Plaintiff's firms?

kmla14han wrote:3.4 at T20 (3.3 Median). 2nd Law Review. Top Oralist. Moot Court Award (O). 1st Summer intern at State App. Ct.
Had about 20 Interviews, including 2 Plaintiff's boutiques. Rest 18 dinged. These 2 came with CB and gave final offer.

I want to break into Defense Side as an Entry Lvl. Associate. Would it be possible? What would enhance my chances?
Should I focus more on Dist. Clerkship applications?

(Oh and other questions)
Do Plaintiff firms with big name partners (i.e. prior Biglaw Senior Partner) have an edge over typical Plaintiff's firms?

Others can, I'm sure, give better advice than I can. I would want to know what sort of work you'd be doing. Is it the other side of the same type of work typically allocated to BigLaw defense? Or is it something more like high value medmal?

albanach wrote:

kmla14han wrote:3.4 at T20 (3.3 Median). 2nd Law Review. Top Oralist. Moot Court Award (O). 1st Summer intern at State App. Ct.
Had about 20 Interviews, including 2 Plaintiff's boutiques. Rest 18 dinged. These 2 came with CB and gave final offer.

I want to break into Defense Side as an Entry Lvl. Associate. Would it be possible? What would enhance my chances?
Should I focus more on Dist. Clerkship applications?

(Oh and other questions)
Do Plaintiff firms with big name partners (i.e. prior Biglaw Senior Partner) have an edge over typical Plaintiff's firms?

Others can, I'm sure, give better advice than I can. I would want to know what sort of work you'd be doing. Is it the other side of the same type of work typically allocated to BigLaw defense? Or is it something more like high value medmal?

Thank you! Would be 23 CA / Catastrophic Injury / Wrongful Death / and Medmal.

I just wonder whether I should wait until Spring Defense Midlaw hiring reopens

kmla14han wrote:
Thank you! Would be 23 CA / Catastrophic Injury / Wrongful Death / and Medmal.

I just wonder whether I should wait until Spring Defense Midlaw hiring reopens

I'd definitely be concerned that this might look like ambulance chasing stuff to biglaw - though I'm betting you would get decent substantive experience out of it.

Hopefully there's a biglaw litigator who can comment.

Anecdotal but I had a close friend who did his 1L summer doing the exact work you're describing at a boutique in a major CA market and then landed top big law offers within the same city. Stats were better though. Mid T14, probably top third. No ties or anything.

I also don't know how frequently biglaw firms in your market hire recent grads directly into their litigation group but in my major east coast market it's pretty rare.

Anonymous User wrote:Anecdotal but I had a close friend who did his 1L summer doing the exact work you're describing at a boutique in a major CA market and then landed top big law offers within the same city. Stats were better though. Mid T14, probably top third. No ties or anything.

I also don't know how frequently biglaw firms in your market hire recent grads directly into their litigation group but in my major east coast market it's pretty rare.

I think the general consensus is that firms don't care what your 1L summer is, so long as it's legal work.

Here though, we're possibly talking about actual post-graduation employment since that's typically the goal of 2L summer. So OP either needs to turn this experience into something that lands biglaw in 3L hiring or find a way to lateral from this post-graduation.

albanach wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Anecdotal but I had a close friend who did his 1L summer doing the exact work you're describing at a boutique in a major CA market and then landed top big law offers within the same city. Stats were better though. Mid T14, probably top third. No ties or anything.

I also don't know how frequently biglaw firms in your market hire recent grads directly into their litigation group but in my major east coast market it's pretty rare.

I think the general consensus is that firms don't care what your 1L summer is, so long as it's legal work.

Here though, we're possibly talking about actual post-graduation employment since that's typically the goal of 2L summer. So OP either needs to turn this experience into something that lands biglaw in 3L hiring or find a way to lateral from this post-graduation.

Guess I really should get any federal clerkship available... If there is one

Anonymous User wrote:Anecdotal but I had a close friend who did his 1L summer doing the exact work you're describing at a boutique in a major CA market and then landed top big law offers within the same city. Stats were better though. Mid T14, probably top third. No ties or anything.

I also don't know how frequently biglaw firms in your market hire recent grads directly into their litigation group but in my major east coast market it's pretty rare.

How about New York? Do they hire a lot of 3Ls? It doesn't have to be biglaw. I'm just not interested in receiving contingencies.

I did my 2L summer at a major market boutique that does quite a bit of plaintiff-side work, and will be going to biglaw in that market after graduation. If you want biglaw, I wouldn't recommend that route, though; 3L hiring for biglaw, particularly lit, is a struggle. I had strong credentials (probably top 20% HYS and a district court clerkship lined up for a few years after graduation in the same market), and I got only a handful of interviews and only a single offer. I think I got lucky to get even one offer, so I wouldn't count on it as a sure path by any means.