Getting to Bay Area from CCN? Forum

[xiaoyuhuang43]

Hi everyone, I am a rising 1L at a CCN who is KJD and Canadian. I would like to do BL in SF because my family is from Western Canada and my S/O will be in SF over the long run. (Rejected from SLS and Berk, but grateful to walk away with CCN in this cycle.) I am willing to compromise on preference for lit over transactional if that swings the needle on whether I can land in NorCal.

I would be grateful for any advice on how feasible is it to get NorCal (SF, SV, PA all okay) BL from CCN. Specifically, are my circumstances sufficient for demonstrating ties (I will try to spend my 1L summer in the Bay Area), and how stellar will my grades have to be (e.g., Stone?) to have a realistic shot?

Thank you in advance!

[Anonymous User]

Hi everyone, I am a rising 1L at a CCN who is KJD and Canadian. I would like to do BL in SF because my family is from Western Canada and my S/O will be in SF over the long run. (Rejected from SLS and Berk, but grateful to walk away with CCN in this cycle.) I am willing to compromise on preference for lit over transactional if that swings the needle on whether I can land in NorCal.

I would be grateful for any advice on how feasible is it to get NorCal (SF, SV, PA all okay) BL from CCN. Specifically, are my circumstances sufficient for demonstrating ties (I will try to spend my 1L summer in the Bay Area), and how stellar will my grades have to be (e.g., Stone?) to have a realistic shot?

Thank you in advance!

It's definitely feasible with strong ties — I was able to get multiple callbacks from V10/V20 and Bay Area (think Cooley, Wilson Sonsini) firms, but I went to a Bay Area school for undergrad. If you went to Stanford/Cal for undergrad, you are fine. If you went to another, non-Bay Area but Californian school for undergrad, you're probably fine. If not, you should try to intern in the Bay Area for your 1L summer, and play up your S/O's ties to the Bay Area.

Regarding the bolded statement above, I think it's a fine idea to play up an interest in transactional work since firms are increasingly focusing on that for hiring, but I'm not sure it is the best idea to compromise on your actual practice area of interest for geographic location. Litigation and corporate work are very different, and I think that merits attention, especially since you're K-JD.

[Anonymous User]

Hi everyone, I am a rising 1L at a CCN who is KJD and Canadian. I would like to do BL in SF because my family is from Western Canada and my S/O will be in SF over the long run. (Rejected from SLS and Berk, but grateful to walk away with CCN in this cycle.) I am willing to compromise on preference for lit over transactional if that swings the needle on whether I can land in NorCal.

I would be grateful for any advice on how feasible is it to get NorCal (SF, SV, PA all okay) BL from CCN. Specifically, are my circumstances sufficient for demonstrating ties (I will try to spend my 1L summer in the Bay Area), and how stellar will my grades have to be (e.g., Stone?) to have a realistic shot?

Thank you in advance!

It's definitely feasible with strong ties — I was able to get multiple callbacks from V10/V20 and Bay Area (think Cooley, Wilson Sonsini) firms, but I went to a Bay Area school for undergrad. If you went to Stanford/Cal for undergrad, you are fine. If you went to another, non-Bay Area but Californian school for undergrad, you're probably fine. If not, you should try to intern in the Bay Area for your 1L summer, and play up your S/O's ties to the Bay Area.

Regarding the bolded statement above, I think it's a fine idea to play up an interest in transactional work since firms are increasingly focusing on that for hiring, but I'm not sure it is the best idea to compromise on your actual practice area of interest for geographic location. Litigation and corporate work are very different, and I think that merits attention, especially since you're K-JD.

Good to have backups - CA born and raised K-JD HYP (not S) UG, who struck out with CA bids in OCI, but had plenty of lateral opportunities within 6 mos. of working in NY.

[VentureMBA]

Hi everyone, I am a rising 1L at a CCN who is KJD and Canadian. I would like to do BL in SF because my family is from Western Canada and my S/O will be in SF over the long run. (Rejected from SLS and Berk, but grateful to walk away with CCN in this cycle.) I am willing to compromise on preference for lit over transactional if that swings the needle on whether I can land in NorCal.

I would be grateful for any advice on how feasible is it to get NorCal (SF, SV, PA all okay) BL from CCN. Specifically, are my circumstances sufficient for demonstrating ties (I will try to spend my 1L summer in the Bay Area), and how stellar will my grades have to be (e.g., Stone?) to have a realistic shot?

Thank you in advance!

Sounds like you know this already, but summering 1L in the Bay Area will be huge. I would start cold emailing in house legal departments now.

[jotarokujo]

it's quite feasible. i dont think you're going to have to compromise your lit preference - there's plenty of lit in SF and SV

[Anonymous User]

Hi, I went to CCN and had no prior connections to the Bay Area, and am working for a firm there now. I cannot say what definitively got me the job, other than just connecting with my interviewers (which I think i would have in any location). I think it helps to demonstrate WHY you're interested in the particular area -- it need not be elaborate, but something like "i like XYZ types of cases, i worked on XYZ type of case in my 1L summer, and i noticed your firm has an XYZ practice", also mention your family/partner being in the area. I think spending your 1L summer in the bay area helps, and grades as good as possible helps, but I don't think these guaranteed my offer at the firm. For my interviews, I talked about that some -- I wanted to work in IP rather than the typical big law matters that you'd face in a CCN-typical firm, and also said I had some relatives in the Bay Area. Sorry to not have more solid advice, but at least you know from my situation that it can happen!