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K-JD, Top 10% + LR at a T1 in a secondary market. (Think UGA, Alabama, OSU). My ties are almost exclusively to my home state and then I have some family in NY where ties don't really matter.

I have been mass mailing to big firms in my home state and NY. I wanted suggestions for other markets to mass mail to who care less about ties. Thanks!

They matter in NY. From what I heard at my firm they will always ask and it will factor heavily in if you get a call back. Also, during the interview process all the NY firms asked me about ties to NY. In my experience ties matter everywhere so always apply heavily where you have ties and try to form a really solid reason for why for places you don’t have ties.

Most firms are business casual and you only need to wear a tie if you are going to court or have a client meeting.

UnfrozenCaveman wrote:Most firms are business casual and you only need to wear a tie if you are going to court or have a client meeting.

Haha, that's good to hear.

Anonymous User wrote:They matter in NY. From what I heard at my firm they will always ask and it will factor heavily in if you get a call back. Also, during the interview process all the NY firms asked me about ties to NY. In my experience ties matter everywhere so always apply heavily where you have ties and try to form a really solid reason for why for places you don’t have ties.

At this stage though do you think I should mention my, 'why NY' or my family ties to the area in my cover letters?

1L4LIFE wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:They matter in NY. From what I heard at my firm they will always ask and it will factor heavily in if you get a call back. Also, during the interview process all the NY firms asked me about ties to NY. In my experience ties matter everywhere so always apply heavily where you have ties and try to form a really solid reason for why for places you don’t have ties.

At this stage though do you think I should mention my, 'why NY' or my family ties to the area in my cover letters?

Having connections always help. The general rule is that except for New York, and maybe some general Northeastern cities, having ties to the area is important. That is particularly true in places like Florida/California. But keep in mind that the scale is a factor as well. Depending on the location, sometimes it's only necessary that you have a cousin or brother living there versus your entire family having been in Atlanta for six generations, etc.

I think anon may be overstating things a bit. Like I said it's helpful to know people in NY, but the firms more want to know whether you're a flight risk/going to thrive living in the area. It was almost always asked in my interviews but it's a softball question, just mention you have x family in the NY area, you love the city, and would love to live there. The same should be on your cover letter, you don't need an entire paragraph about how you've always loved the Mets, but it would be a good idea to have a sentence or two that you can paste mentioning whatever ties you have there and your enthusiasm for the opportunity to work in NYC.

Good luck

I always thought a good NY answer could refer to the level of sophistication of the legal work, the amount of training, etc. If there's a personal tie, great, but NY doesn't need a strong showing of personal experience ties.

ETA Chicago, Houston, and LA are less ties sensitive. Like, it's an issue if you have no answer to the Why X question, but as long as you can throw something up you'll get offers.