Rising 2L NYU 3.1. Need strategy Forum

BizBro · Post by **BizBro** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 2:15 pm

Completed 1L with some dismal grades at NYU. Looking at a 3.1 currently, which I think puts me at bottom 10%. At this point, I’m looking for advice on what to do to maximize my employment opportunities.

1. What should my OCI bid strategy be like?
2. If I start mass mailing and networking this summer, which firm range should I target?
3. Besides firms, I would be interested in inhouse positions or business roles.
4. Is DC market closed for me? I have no ties to any secondary markets. Should I just bid NYC then?
My initial goals were to save up some money at a big law firm for 2 years and going to a firm good enough that would help me then transition to an in house role.

BigZuck · Post by **BigZuck** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 2:23 pm

In regards to mass mailing, I would literally apply to every single firm in the country, starting with the big firms in NYC and going down from there. NALP and Vault are good places to start, once you've exhausted that then move on to Martindale. Also check out Resume launchpad for a list of firms.

There isn't much strategy to mass mailing. You apply first and then think later. Getting out as many mass blastings as humanly possible is the most important thing.

Nomo · Post by **Nomo** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 2:34 pm

You are in a bad spot. You needed to bid at firms with large classes that are less grade selective. This probably means bidding entirely in NYC. In the meantime I would mass mail every firm in the country that can be called big or midlaw. Don't scoff at firms that pay 80 or 90k. You can reject them later if you get lucky and wind up with a market paying gig.

BizBro · Post by **BizBro** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 10:17 pm

Sounds like solid advice. I just didn't want to think it was as bad as it sounded.

03152016 · Post by **03152016** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 10:37 pm

biz are you sure that puts you in the bottom 10%?
that seems more like bottom third territory to me, or maybe bottom quartile

Nekrowizard · Post by **Nekrowizard** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 10:59 pm

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BizBro · Post by **BizBro** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 11:30 pm

Brut wrote:biz are you sure that puts you in the bottom 10%?
that seems more like bottom third territory to me, or maybe bottom quartile

Do you know what median and one other benchmark is?

I used 3.4 as median and 3.85 as top 3% and TLS class rank estimator to get my numbers.

banjo · Post by **banjo** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 11:41 pm

For firms that have significant transactional practices, express an interest in transactional work. I think that's hotter than lit right now, and IME transactional people are slightly less obsessed with grades.

Nekrowizard · Post by **Nekrowizard** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 12:06 am

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03152016 · Post by **03152016** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 12:23 am

ya just below 3.3 as median

lapolicia · Post by **lapolicia** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 12:46 am

3.1 at NYU will put you noticeably in the bottom half of the class, probably the bottom third, but it is way higher than bottom 10%. Bottom 10% is 3.0 and below. You will likely do fine, just bid only on NYC and at the less selective firms that still have large summer class sizes. DC is definitely out.

BizBro · Post by **BizBro** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 9:27 am

K I redid te calculation with 3.3 as median and I come out at bottom quarter. Thanks for the help it makes me feel slightly better. I think I should still try to mass mail.

jbagelboy · Post by **jbagelboy** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 11:28 am

as others have said, you're definitely not bottom 10%

also, not to discourage your hustle or diminish the severity, but CCN students get offers at market firms, I'd even say good firms, from where you are all the time - you're still in the game. You just have to accept that you aren't getting out of New York (don't even try DC at all - not gonna happen) and bid/mass mail like a motherfucker. Add as many interviews at EIW as you can.

do you have any mitigating factors? e.g. any work experience before law school? do you present yourself well (less importantly but still relevant, are you attractive?) did you go to a college with a lot of alumni at big firms? (fancy private/big public). did you network at all during the spring? all of this will come into play.

BizBro · Post by **BizBro** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 2:21 pm

Great. It sucks about DC -- is there a way I can try to get a job outside of EIW for DC?

For EIW, I'm going to create my bid list this weekend and post it up on TLS for critique. NYC firms with large, unselective, summer classes? Should I start below v20? think Paul Hastings had like 20 NYU students last year.

jbagelboy · Post by **jbagelboy** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 3:28 pm

BizBro wrote:Great. It sucks about DC -- is there a way I can try to get a job outside of EIW for DC?

For EIW, I'm going to create my bid list this weekend and post it up on TLS for critique. NYC firms with large, unselective, summer classes? Should I start below v20? think Paul Hastings had like 20 NYU students last year.

vault doesn't correlate well with selectivity, but yea you won't want to waste bids on most of the firms in that range that tend to look at median and above from CCN. Maybe include Jones Day, Weil and White & Case from the V20. Make sure to get places like Paul Hastings, Shearman, Wilkie, Akin Gump, Cadwalader, Milbank, Orrick, FF, Goodwin, the magic circle firms (except Freshfields), and some of the megafirms like Baker or DLA Piper that just need bodies. people will coach you on this if you put up a list

for DC, obviously there's no harm in mass mail but I doubt it will go anywhere. One thing you could try is the NY offices of DC firms that tend to be much less selective than their DC offices, like A&P or Hogan, and ask to split with the DC office or make a lateraling effort once you have an NY offer - not so sure about the effectiveness of that move tho

BigZuck · Post by **BigZuck** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 6:26 pm

I don't think I can over stress the importance of mass mailing

It's 2015, relying on just OCI is a really bad idea in the modern era

msneroesq · Post by **msneroesq** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 7:00 pm

another 2L here trying to figure out a bid list (and thinking about journal stuff)

if median is a little below 3.3 (what, like .28?), what is another data point to use for the LSN class rank calc?

where did the 3.85 ~ 3% come from?

Everybody else doing the journal thing? any idea how many people don't do it?

BizBro · Post by **BizBro** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 9:18 am

msneroesq wrote:another 2L here trying to figure out a bid list (and thinking about journal stuff)

if median is a little below 3.3 (what, like .28?), what is another data point to use for the LSN class rank calc?

where did the 3.85 ~ 3% come from?

Everybody else doing the journal thing? any idea how many people don't do it?

Got the 3.83 from what I heard as being the cut off for grading on to law review (and that's top 3%?). Not sure if my source is correct.

Nekrowizard · Post by **Nekrowizard** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 6:22 pm

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sims1 · Post by **sims1** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 6:51 pm

You have all your grades back already...? Damn.

I would be surprised if 3.85 was top 3% given that like ~12% of people in every class get an A(+) (4.0/4.3). Maybe I'm just bad at stats though.

03152016 · Post by **03152016** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 6:54 pm

ya srsly how did you get your grades back already biz
i'm checking albert like 12 times a day

sims1 · Post by **sims1** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:00 pm

Brut wrote:ya srsly how did you get your grades back already biz
i'm checking albert like 12 times a day

Speaking of which, I haven't checked in the last 2 hours.

Although I'm guessing Torts will likely get posted at 3am on Sunday...

03152016 · Post by **03152016** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:05 pm

are you sec 5?
we just got legreg

sims1 · Post by **sims1** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:08 pm

Yea unfortunately I actually did just check.

BizBro · Post by **BizBro** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 12:44 pm

I can't believe that there can be 25% of the class below me or with a 3.1 too. That's like 100 kids.