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Was wondering if anyone could review my bid list? I finished with a 3.2 and am trying to do anything I can to get a job in big law. I don't really care about the prestige of the firm, as long as the pay is not way below average. Any comments back on what firms to move up or down the list are helpful. I am at a T-20 school. If there is no city listed next to the firm it just means they are interviewing for multiple offices.

1. Proskauer (NY)
2. Waller Landsen
3. Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & AxelRod LLP (Miami)
4. Baker Donelson
5. Foley & Lardner
6. Bass Berry & Sims
7. Drew Eckl & Farnham
8. Eversheds Sutherland (ATL)
9. Holland & Knight (ATL, DC)
10. Alston & Bird
11. K&L Gates (CTL, DC)
12. Goodwin LLP (DC)
13. King & Spalding (ATL)
14. DLA Piper (ATL)
15. Troutman Sanders
16. Venable (DC)
17. Thompson & Knight (Houston, Austin)
18. Jones Day
19. Sidley Austin
20. Kirkland & Ellis (DC)

Kirkland DC is a wasted bid

Historically on TLS, bidlist reviews were done in school-specific OCI threads, where students could post anonymously and receive school-tailored OCI advice. That’s really helpful. Looking at a bidlist without school information is really unhelpful, and the advice you’d receive from those who did not go to your school will be of marginal value at best (aside from the obvious “don’t bid sullcrom so high!” or something)

I have nothing to add—just an FYI

I second the advice about getting school-specific input in the Legal Employment forum, even though I can reasonably guess your school based on your bids. That said, some general thoughts:

I think most of the DC bids are probably reaches, and I'd drop the Miami firm if you don't have Florida ties (which doesn't seem likely based on the rest of your list). Same with the Texas firm.

Overall, you should be focusing on NYC and regions where you have ties. It's hard to tell if you've been too scattershot without knowing which office locations are interviewing for the multiple-offices firms. But if you're just targeting places in secondary markets that you think will be "easier," those offices should be replaced with NYC bids at firms with larger summer classes.

Drop Bilzin if you’re not from Miami. Also, pissed that they’re not coming to my school’s OCI but they are interviewing elsewhere

I agree with the repeated advice above: drop the DC firms. For example, Holland & Knight DC historically only hires 2-3 summers. You won’t be one of them with below median grades at a t-20. No offense, but dc isn’t an option for you.

Same goes regarding Miami. If you aren’t from Miami, it’s wasted bids.

To be real with you OP, you have to realize your chances of getting biglaw at all are very slim. You need to hyper focus on the NY firms with huge classes. Anything else is a waste of bids for you.

Given the odd mix of firms/geographies, I suspect OP is participating in a regional interview program, not a school-specific one.