Top Law Schools

- Top 35% at GULC
- Interested in general commercial litigation
- No preference between corporate or regulatory work
- Prefer to mitigate risk against striking out in OCI

How should I allocate OCI bids between NY and DC firms?

Do you prefer one city to the other?

How many bids do you get?

More general advice: make heavy use of pre-OCI.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 03, 2024 6:15 pm

Do you prefer one city to the other?

How many bids do you get?

More general advice: make heavy use of pre-OCI.

1. I don't have a strong preference for either city
2. I get 50 bids

I will be making use of pre-OCI.

NYC is easier to get a job than DC if your main priority is just mitigating risk and you have no preference between the cities.

Assuming you’re asking this question because you feel you probably want to be in DC, the answer should be both. I don’t know the exact mechanics of GULC’s bidding, but assuming you rank firms, I would probably take your top ~2-3 DC picks first, and then immediately 2-3 safer NYC options. Be slightly conservative with at least one choice each. Also depends on which firms allow you to interview once but apply it to multiple offices (e.g., KE did this at my school).

For example: 1. W&C (DC) 2. GDC (DC); 3. Wilmer (DC); 4. Weil (NY); 5. Debevoise (NY); 6. KE (NY).

I don’t know DC as well as NY, so my DC list is probably too aggressive for your GPA, but I think the NYC list is probably doable (idk GULC’s cutoffs).

JiveTurkey wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 04, 2024 12:49 am

Assuming you’re asking this question because you feel you probably want to be in DC, the answer should be both. I don’t know the exact mechanics of GULC’s bidding, but assuming you rank firms, I would probably take your top ~2-3 DC picks first, and then immediately 2-3 safer NYC options. Be slightly conservative with at least one choice each. Also depends on which firms allow you to interview once but apply it to multiple offices (e.g., KE did this at my school).

For example: 1. W&C (DC) 2. GDC (DC); 3. Wilmer (DC); 4. Weil (NY); 5. Debevoise (NY); 6. KE (NY).

I don’t know DC as well as NY, so my DC list is probably too aggressive for your GPA, but I think the NYC list is probably doable (idk GULC’s cutoffs).

DC list is way too aggressive for their GPAs, they should be like A&P, Hogan and Sidley (all still a little reachy) and, more realistically, like Akin or Steptoe. I think Deb is prob a bit aggressive too, would be tagging the Paul Hastings, CovNY, Fried Frank or Wilkie in NY.


Top 35% at GULC is fringe area where you could feasibly miss big law by bidding poorly.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 04, 2024 2:00 am

JiveTurkey wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 04, 2024 12:49 am

Assuming you’re asking this question because you feel you probably want to be in DC, the answer should be both. I don’t know the exact mechanics of GULC’s bidding, but assuming you rank firms, I would probably take your top ~2-3 DC picks first, and then immediately 2-3 safer NYC options. Be slightly conservative with at least one choice each. Also depends on which firms allow you to interview once but apply it to multiple offices (e.g., KE did this at my school).

For example: 1. W&C (DC) 2. GDC (DC); 3. Wilmer (DC); 4. Weil (NY); 5. Debevoise (NY); 6. KE (NY).

I don’t know DC as well as NY, so my DC list is probably too aggressive for your GPA, but I think the NYC list is probably doable (idk GULC’s cutoffs).

DC list is way too aggressive for their GPAs, they should be like A&P, Hogan and Sidley (all still a little reachy) and, more realistically, like Akin or Steptoe. I think Deb is prob a bit aggressive too, would be tagging the Paul Hastings, CovNY, Fried Frank or Wilkie in NY.


Top 35% at GULC is fringe area where you could feasibly miss big law by bidding poorly.

Yeah I knew the DC ones were definitely too aggressive, I just dont know enough about the more middle-of-the-road shops in DC to be able to recommend any particular bidding list for that market. And agreed, I was thinking for their actual list they should tweak and probably add something like White & Case (is that too aggressive for top 35% at GULC? idk but I’d figure not), Wilkie etc.

Anyway OP hopefully you get the point. Maybe punch 1/3 firms slightly above your pay grade and take 2 safer bids. You don’t wanna strike out just because you bid poorly.

Ideally you can tag one of the NY firms in pre-OCI that you’re comfortable going to and then just bid whatever you want at OCI - when I went through, I just cut my bid list down to ~5 firms that I was most interested in going to after securing solid fallback options in pre-OCI.

I think some of the advice here is missing some broader points. OP's GPA is not even set yet, so thinking about bidding strategy without spring grades being in is a little premature.

Along with that, what happens in pre-OCI should absolutely dictate your bid list anyway. OP should be applying to lots and lots of firms in pre-OCI. If you get an offer at a firm you like in OCI, you can bid mega-aggressively at OCI.

Don't put the cart before the horse OP. Kill your spring grades, then apply throughout June directly to the firms. Get an offer before OCI. If you get an offer at say, Akin DC or Sidley NY pre-OCI, you can just go bid on Williams & Connolly or anything you want and be stress free.

It's always a good idea to bid at least some NYC if you are at all open to working there. I knew people who were dead set on DC and got burned. D.C. is just a tough market due to smaller class sizes and the fact that there's high demand to stay in town.

There are usually several NYC firms that you can reliably get OCI interviews with very low bids, so you can still use your high bids for D.C. You should get access to data on bid selectivity before it comes time to bid.