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I'm attending a very strong regional. Ties to the region. Want to practice here when finished. Excellent undergrad cv and substantial/impressive work experience between undergrad and law school. Any thoughts on what to do? Is it a roll of the dice? I'm assuming fall 1L grades are key.

Get grades in the top 5%, send out apps December 1 to everyone in your market, cross fingers.

I don't have any advice. This is a very unique topic that has yet to be discussed. I would love to hear more about this though because there are probably not any threads on this sort of thing.

Hutz_and_Goodman wrote:I'm attending a very strong regional. Ties to the region. Want to practice here when finished. Excellent undergrad cv and substantial/impressive work experience between undergrad and law school. Any thoughts on what to do? Is it a roll of the dice? I'm assuming fall 1L grades are key.

Basically apply everywhere, hope they are interested, and if they are wait to see which firms do not ding you after Fall grades are in.

soccerfreak wrote:Get grades in the top 5%, send out apps December 1 to everyone in your market, cross fingers.

what kind of networking can I do to help this? (also, obviously i won;t have grades december 1). Is there any way for a 2L or 1L who summered at a firm the previous year to help? I'm trying to think about how to go about this. Also, anyone have advice on 1L OCI?

Are you a URM? If not, be lucky and work any and all connections you can get. Also, put in the work and mass mail everywhere. Even after all of this? Start preparing to find unpaid or minimally paid work.

Detrox wrote:Are you a URM? If not, be lucky and work any and all connections you can get. Also, put in the work and mass mail everywhere. Even after all of this? Start preparing to find unpaid or minimally paid work.

I'm not. My strength is, I guess, that I'm older and have a very impressive resume; its one of the following: purple heart armed services veteran, hero during 9/11 in NYC featured on many national programs, former scientist with a valuable patent, ivy league phd with many important publications, youngest congressman in the state of school, former professional athlete, entrepreneur who started a company worth more than $20 million dollars, community activist whose work led to congressional legislation.

**ps i'm not trying to be a dick at all putting this. I honestly don't think anything I've done is a big deal at all, but I do think it will get me a look in situations where someone else might not.

soccerfreak wrote:Get grades in the top 5%, send out apps December 1 to everyone in your market, cross fingers.

Maybe this is a regional/secondary market thing, but I took the opposite approach. I didn't apply until I had my first semester grades so that I wouldn't get lost in the shuffle. I figured nothing about my resume would distinguish me from the Dec. 1st masses, so I wasn't really gambling by just hoping my grades ended up being good enough. Had multiple offers.

TatteredDignity wrote:

soccerfreak wrote:Get grades in the top 5%, send out apps December 1 to everyone in your market, cross fingers.

Maybe this is a regional/secondary market thing, but I took the opposite approach. I didn't apply until I had my first semester grades so that I wouldn't get lost in the shuffle. I figured nothing about my resume would distinguish me from the Dec. 1st masses, so I wasn't really gambling by just hoping my grades ended up being good enough. Had multiple offers.

Well I guess that depends on what your grades end up being

I didn't have a 1L SA, my advice was going off of what I have been told by firms, and a friend who had a callback which led to offer over winter break, well before his grades were in.