BigLaw as a transfer Forum

[chitown825]

I want to get into BigLaw, but I'm concerned about the lack of grades and the competition with non-transfer students.

Let's say I transfer to a school ranked between 12 and 22 (Northwestern, GTown to Emory-ish).

Do I really have a chance at getting a BigLaw job with no grades, no rank, no law review (being conservative) and no "ties" to the market?

(obviously DC/LA/Chicago the "ties" aren't as important, but what about Atlanta/Nashville/Dallas?)

[Columbia Law]

Wait, you want to TRANSFER into a school 12-22? Where are you now? Why didn't you go to one of those schools in the first place? If the answer is "I wasn't bright enough to get a high enough LSAT score," then what makes you think that you are bright enough to get into a school that high on transfer? If you already completed your 1L and ripped, then I apologize in advance for being an ass. If not, worry about getting good grades before you worry about biglaw.

[interalia]

Transfers at my current UCLA/Vandy definitely did not get big law jobs this year. In fact, I think very few of them got firm jobs at all. I think you pretty much need to transfer to a t-10 to have a good shot at big law. If you think about it, if they aren't hiring median at the transfer school, then they aren't going to take a transfer student unless he is an absolute rockstar (like a lateral who was top 10% at Duke but wanted to be in DC so transferred to GTown).

Being a t12-t22 student/transfer does not equal getting big law. Still, it might be better than your current options.

[chitown825]

Wait, you want to TRANSFER into a school 12-22? Where are you now? Why didn't you go to one of those schools in the first place? If the answer is "I wasn't bright enough to get a high enough LSAT score," then what makes you think that you are bright enough to get into a school that high on transfer? If you already completed your 1L and ripped, then I apologize in advance for being an ass. If not, worry about getting good grades before you worry about biglaw.

Get lost douchetool, that wasn't the question. I killed my 1L.

[Columbia Law]

Wait, you want to TRANSFER into a school 12-22? Where are you now? Why didn't you go to one of those schools in the first place? If the answer is "I wasn't bright enough to get a high enough LSAT score," then what makes you think that you are bright enough to get into a school that high on transfer? If you already completed your 1L and ripped, then I apologize in advance for being an ass. If not, worry about getting good grades before you worry about biglaw.

Get lost douchetool, that wasn't the question. I killed my 1L.

Then I apologize (as I mentioned in my post).

[chitown825]

Transfers at my current UCLA/Vandy definitely did not get big law jobs this year. In fact, I think very few of them got firm jobs at all. I think you pretty much need to transfer to a t-10 to have a good shot at big law. If you think about it, if they aren't hiring median at the transfer school, then they aren't going to take a transfer student unless he is an absolute rockstar (like a lateral who was top 10% at Duke but wanted to be in DC so transferred to GTown).

Being a t12-t22 student/transfer does not equal getting big law. Still, it might be better than your current options.

Thanks for your feedback, that sounds pretty much like what I expected. However, this past year wasn't a typical hiring year. Either way, I remain cautious.

[miamiman]

I want to get into BigLaw, but I'm concerned about the lack of grades and the competition with non-transfer students.

Let's say I transfer to a school ranked between 12 and 22 (Northwestern, GTown to Emory-ish).

Do I really have a chance at getting a BigLaw job with no grades, no rank, no law review (being conservative) and no "ties" to the market?

(obviously DC/LA/Chicago the "ties" aren't as important, but what about Atlanta/Nashville/Dallas?)

Talk to people who transferred like TTon.

[chitown825]

Wait, you want to TRANSFER into a school 12-22? Where are you now? Why didn't you go to one of those schools in the first place? If the answer is "I wasn't bright enough to get a high enough LSAT score," then what makes you think that you are bright enough to get into a school that high on transfer? If you already completed your 1L and ripped, then I apologize in advance for being an ass. If not, worry about getting good grades before you worry about biglaw.

Get lost douchetool, that wasn't the question. I killed my 1L.

Then I apologize (as I mentioned in my post).

I respect you, Moltisanti. I hardly ever see people on these boards start arguments.

[romothesavior]

Wait, you want to TRANSFER into a school 12-22? Where are you now? Why didn't you go to one of those schools in the first place? If the answer is "I wasn't bright enough to get a high enough LSAT score," then what makes you think that you are bright enough to get into a school that high on transfer? If you already completed your 1L and ripped, then I apologize in advance for being an ass. If not, worry about getting good grades before you worry about biglaw.

Get lost douchetool, that wasn't the question. I killed my 1L.

Then I apologize (as I mentioned in my post).

I respect you, Moltisanti. I hardly ever see people on these boards start arguments.

?

[interalia]

I think you should aim for a school near your current school so that you aren't a complete question mark to schools at oci, that is, unless you really hit it big in transfer and are choosing between, say, a t-6 and a t-14.

[romothesavior]

Transfers at my current UCLA/Vandy definitely did not get big law jobs this year. In fact, I think very few of them got firm jobs at all. I think you pretty much need to transfer to a t-10 to have a good shot at big law. If you think about it, if they aren't hiring median at the transfer school, then they aren't going to take a transfer student unless he is an absolute rockstar (like a lateral who was top 10% at Duke but wanted to be in DC so transferred to GTown).

Being a t12-t22 student/transfer does not equal getting big law. Still, it might be better than your current options.

Anyone who is top 10% at Duke and transfers to Georgetown to be in D.C. is too stupid for biglaw.

[thesealocust]

edit: n/m

[thexfactor]

I want to get into BigLaw, but I'm concerned about the lack of grades and the competition with non-transfer students.

Let's say I transfer to a school ranked between 12 and 22 (Northwestern, GTown to Emory-ish).

Do I really have a chance at getting a BigLaw job with no grades, no rank, no law review (being conservative) and no "ties" to the market?

(obviously DC/LA/Chicago the "ties" aren't as important, but what about Atlanta/Nashville/Dallas?)

I think we are in a similar situation.

[interalia]

Transferring doesn't do a lot outside of opening up the pool of interviews. Firms aren't stupid - if they weren't going to hire you at your old school, the fact that you're going to a new one won't change things. That being said, being in a larger recruitment program (as is very likely to happen in any sizable transfer) will give you more bites at the apple, and you only need one to stick. But the discussions on this website strongly suggest transfered aren't viewed as 'median' at the new school, they're viewed exactly as what they are. The better your grades / school pre-transfer, the better you can expect to do at the new school seems to be conventional wisdom, but obviously it's an area without a lot of data points.

That's why the school you're coming from is a large factor, with grades as well. If you transfer to Penn from some TTT in CA, firms aren't going to know how to view you. But if you transfer to Penn from Temple, top 2%, you are a known commodity.

[romothesavior]

That's why the school you're coming from is a large factor, with grades as well. If you transfer to Penn from some TTT in CA, firms aren't going to know how to view you. But if you transfer to Penn from Temple, top 2%, you are a known commodity.

Please. Explain further.

[chitown825]

That's why the school you're coming from is a large factor, with grades as well. If you transfer to Penn from some TTT in CA, firms aren't going to know how to view you. But if you transfer to Penn from Temple, top 2%, you are a known commodity.

Please. Explain further.

--ImageRemoved--

[sanpiero]

That's why the school you're coming from is a large factor, with grades as well. If you transfer to Penn from some TTT in CA, firms aren't going to know how to view you. But if you transfer to Penn from Temple, top 2%, you are a known commodity.

Please. Explain further.

If you transfer to Penn from some TTT in CA, the big firms with whom you are interviewing likely have no experience with students from your former school. OTOH, if you transfer to Penn from Temple (which is also in Philly), at least a handful of the larger firms at OCI probably also interview T10% or T5% at Temple (large Philly firms, maybe some larger NY or NJ firms). The idea is that with the Temple->Penn transfer at least some of the firms have a point of reference for assessing your 1L grades (i.e., "hey, we probably would have interviewed this kid even if he had remained at Temple).

[2009 Prospective]

That's why the school you're coming from is a large factor, with grades as well. If you transfer to Penn from some TTT in CA, firms aren't going to know how to view you. But if you transfer to Penn from Temple, top 2%, you are a known commodity.

Please. Explain further.

If you transfer to Penn from some TTT in CA, the big firms with whom you are interviewing likely have no experience with students from your former school. OTOH, if you transfer to Penn from Temple (which is also in Philly), at least a handful of the larger firms at OCI probably also interview T10% or T5% at Temple (large Philly firms, maybe some larger NY or NJ firms). The idea is that with the Temple->Penn transfer at least some of the firms have a point of reference for assessing your 1L grades (i.e., "hey, we probably would have interviewed this kid even if he had remained at Temple).

Using the specific example of transferring from Temple to Penn, this would really only apply to Philadelphia firms most likely. For those that were looking in larger markets such as DC or NY, transferring from Temple wouldn't likely mean much in the eyes of recruiters who probably ordinarily throw most Temple students resumes straight into the trash. Thus you would probably only be a "known commodity" to Philly firms exclusively in which case transferring to Penn with top 2% and law review to target Philly firms would likely be pointless and expensive.

[2009 Prospective]

I want to get into BigLaw, but I'm concerned about the lack of grades and the competition with non-transfer students.

Let's say I transfer to a school ranked between 12 and 22 (Northwestern, GTown to Emory-ish).

Do I really have a chance at getting a BigLaw job with no grades, no rank, no law review (being conservative) and no "ties" to the market?

(obviously DC/LA/Chicago the "ties" aren't as important, but what about Atlanta/Nashville/Dallas?)

Talk to people who transferred like TTon.

TTon wouldn't be of much help for firsthand advice seeing as how he hasn't gone through OCI yet this summer.

[confused111]

I don't think the advice in this thread is 100% correct. I spoke with some transfers from my T2 to T6 schools, and they received offers from many large NY firms that did not interview at my T2.

[sanpiero]

That's why the school you're coming from is a large factor, with grades as well. If you transfer to Penn from some TTT in CA, firms aren't going to know how to view you. But if you transfer to Penn from Temple, top 2%, you are a known commodity.

Please. Explain further.

If you transfer to Penn from some TTT in CA, the big firms with whom you are interviewing likely have no experience with students from your former school. OTOH, if you transfer to Penn from Temple (which is also in Philly), at least a handful of the larger firms at OCI probably also interview T10% or T5% at Temple (large Philly firms, maybe some larger NY or NJ firms). The idea is that with the Temple->Penn transfer at least some of the firms have a point of reference for assessing your 1L grades (i.e., "hey, we probably would have interviewed this kid even if he had remained at Temple).

Using the specific example of transferring from Temple to Penn, this would really only apply to Philadelphia firms most likely. For those that were looking in larger markets such as DC or NY, transferring from Temple wouldn't likely mean much in the eyes of recruiters who probably ordinarily throw most Temple students resumes straight into the trash. Thus you would probably only be a "known commodity" to Philly firms exclusively in which case transferring to Penn with top 2% and law review to target Philly firms would likely be pointless and expensive.

I don't disagree with what you said. I would just say that it's fairly obvious that interalia's hypo t2% student at Temple would be viewed more favorably than the t2% student from a CA TTT. On the east coast Temple is much more well-respected, and Temple has far more partners at NY/PHI/DC firms.

You're right that the "known commodity" idea would probably only apply to Philly firms. Still, I think interalia's point was that the Temple student would be better off than the other student.

[PKSebben]

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[XxSpyKEx]

I was hired at a biglaw firm that did not interview at my prior school.

In all fairness, you were also lucky enough to be part of c/o 2010 (just before things got really bad this last year).

[BruceBarr]

Wait, you want to TRANSFER into a school 12-22? Where are you now? Why didn't you go to one of those schools in the first place? If the answer is "I wasn't bright enough to get a high enough LSAT score," then what makes you think that you are bright enough to get into a school that high on transfer? If you already completed your 1L and ripped, then I apologize in advance for being an ass. If not, worry about getting good grades before you worry about biglaw.

Hahahaha shut the fuck up dumbass.

[PKSebben]

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