Status of Atlanta Job Market? Forum

[kuttlefish]

This is mainly geared towards 2L/3L's at Emory/UGA/GS. What's the current status of the Atlanta Job market / prospects for those about to graduate? Any particular fields doing better than others (like Maritime in New Orleans or IP in the Bay Area)

I've heard from some sources that it's a prestige based slaughter house and only the top 5% from the local schools are getting any offers. Mostly it's out-of-state T14ers getting jobs.

Some have said that it was definitely like that 2-3 years ago, but the situation is looking better for the current crop.

FWIW, I'm currently out of state and have no direct ties to the area.

[Gatriel]

I'm at none of those schools, but from doing a Summer there a year ago ... I can tell you Atlanta is kinda the financial capital of the south. Atlanta is the brain-drain of South Carolina to Mississippi. Are there as many positions as DC/Chicago/New York ... no. Is it better than better than most other cities in the US for finding something .... probably.

I think with the right grades and good interview/interpersonal skills you could procure something. Its a way cool place to live.

[BearsGrl]

I'm at none of those schools, but from doing a Summer there a year ago ... I can tell you Atlanta is kinda the financial capital of the south. Atlanta is the brain-drain of South Carolina to Mississippi. Are there as many positions as DC/Chicago/New York ... no. Is it better than better than most other cities in the US for finding something .... probably.

I think with the right grades and good interview/interpersonal skills you could procure something. Its a way cool place to live.

Wow. Did you seriously just call a whole region a brain drain? I hope you don't have any ID markers about who you are on here because why in the heck would I want to hire someone like you if I were an employer? Keep the rude statements about regions of the US to a minimum, at least.

[rad lulz]

Gat is right, TOP kids from Southern skoolz, don't care much ab ties if you go to a southern school.

[Gatriel]

Wow. Did you seriously just call a whole region a brain drain? I hope you don't have any ID markers about who you are on here because why in the heck would I want to hire someone like you if I were an employer? Keep the rude statements about regions of the US to a minimum, at least.

Have you ever driven through the south? There is nothing between Atlanta and Dallas. Most of the really intelligent, motivated hard working people that want to stay in the region go to one of the two places. Wanna do M&A/IP/somethingotherthancrim or family law you go to Atlanta or Dallas. Not much hope for a M&A or IP guy in Jackson Mississippi HTH.

I'm not eloquent, I'm just honest.

Edited- I've been outed on here for years. Yeup, I can never run for office (oh well ) but I seriously doubt I'll ever be not hired because someone thought Alabama and Mississippi is a brain drain.

[buddingjd]

One of the hardest markets to crack in the country.

[BearsGrl]

Wow. Did you seriously just call a whole region a brain drain? I hope you don't have any ID markers about who you are on here because why in the heck would I want to hire someone like you if I were an employer? Keep the rude statements about regions of the US to a minimum, at least.

Have you ever driven through the south? There is nothing between Atlanta and Dallas. Most of the really intelligent, motivated hard working people that want to stay in the region go to one of the two places. Wanna do M&A/IP/somethingotherthancrim or family law you go to Atlanta or Dallas. Not much hope for a M&A or IP guy in Jackson Mississippi HTH.

I'm not eloquent, I'm just honest.

Edited- I've been outed on here for years. Yeup, I can never run for office (oh well ) but I seriously doubt I'll ever be not hired because someone thought Alabama and Mississippi is a brain drain.

Dude. Just stop digging. I'm from the Midwest, I live in the South right now and I've lived/worked in LA. I much prefer the people from the Midwest/smaller cities/metros versus folks from bigger cities. And I'd much rather have a shorter commute than put up with hour plus long commutes that larger cities require. Personal preference, obviously. If you think the elite attitude works, go for it. I just don't think it's smart strategy nor do the firms that I have met with appreciate it. But whatever works for you in your cool market, I guess.

Glad to know that you think you can sum up the nation by cities. Good to also know you'll never be able to run for political office due to that fact.

[Gatriel]

Wow. Did you seriously just call a whole region a brain drain? I hope you don't have any ID markers about who you are on here because why in the heck would I want to hire someone like you if I were an employer? Keep the rude statements about regions of the US to a minimum, at least.

Have you ever driven through the south? There is nothing between Atlanta and Dallas. Most of the really intelligent, motivated hard working people that want to stay in the region go to one of the two places. Wanna do M&A/IP/somethingotherthancrim or family law you go to Atlanta or Dallas. Not much hope for a M&A or IP guy in Jackson Mississippi HTH.

I'm not eloquent, I'm just honest.

Edited- I've been outed on here for years. Yeup, I can never run for office (oh well ) but I seriously doubt I'll ever be not hired because someone thought Alabama and Mississippi is a brain drain.

Dude. Just stop digging. I'm from the Midwest, I live in the South right now and I've lived/worked in LA. I much prefer the people from the Midwest/smaller cities/metros versus folks from bigger cities. And I'd much rather have a shorter commute than put up with hour plus long commutes that larger cities require. Personal preference, obviously. If you think the elite attitude works, go for it. I just don't think it's smart strategy nor do the firms that I have met with appreciate it. But whatever works for you in your cool market, I guess.

Glad to know that you think you can sum up the nation by cities. Good to also know you'll never be able to run for political office due to that fact.

lol @ comparing LA to Atlanta.

[BruceWayne]

You asked for how bad it was from the perspective of a local 3L student. I'll do you one better and tell you how it is for someone born and raised in Georgia who attends UVA. It's a damn slaughterhouse and one of the most competitive markets in the entire country. The main thing is that they are probably one of the most grade conscious markets in the nation. They just prefer hiring someone top 5 -10 percent of the class, even from a significantly lower ranked school, than they do someone median or below from a top 14. They are not as concerned about ties as one might think--but you BETTER have the grades or you can forget it. Alston and Bird and King and Spalding are absolutely ridiculous in terms of their grade selectivity. Both firms have an average GPA of ABOVE the top 10 percent for callbacks at UVA.

[IAFG]

I didn't realize the fact that the brainpower is drained out of non-cities was even up for debate.

[BearsGrl]

I didn't realize the fact that the brainpower is drained out of non-cities was even up for debate.

That's partially my point. Why even discuss that as a point of contention? It just seemed like a rude statement and something you'd find in a comments section of some political site or Huffington Post.

[BearsGrl]

Wow. Did you seriously just call a whole region a brain drain? I hope you don't have any ID markers about who you are on here because why in the heck would I want to hire someone like you if I were an employer? Keep the rude statements about regions of the US to a minimum, at least.

Have you ever driven through the south? There is nothing between Atlanta and Dallas. Most of the really intelligent, motivated hard working people that want to stay in the region go to one of the two places. Wanna do M&A/IP/somethingotherthancrim or family law you go to Atlanta or Dallas. Not much hope for a M&A or IP guy in Jackson Mississippi HTH.

I'm not eloquent, I'm just honest.

Edited- I've been outed on here for years. Yeup, I can never run for office (oh well ) but I seriously doubt I'll ever be not hired because someone thought Alabama and Mississippi is a brain drain.

Dude. Just stop digging. I'm from the Midwest, I live in the South right now and I've lived/worked in LA. I much prefer the people from the Midwest/smaller cities/metros versus folks from bigger cities. And I'd much rather have a shorter commute than put up with hour plus long commutes that larger cities require. Personal preference, obviously. If you think the elite attitude works, go for it. I just don't think it's smart strategy nor do the firms that I have met with appreciate it. But whatever works for you in your cool market, I guess.

Glad to know that you think you can sum up the nation by cities. Good to also know you'll never be able to run for political office due to that fact.

lol @ comparing LA to Atlanta.

Los Angeles isn't like ATL? Ok then. Ha!

[Gatriel]

I didn't realize the fact that the brainpower is drained out of non-cities was even up for debate.

That's partially my point. Why even discuss that as a point of contention? It just seemed like a rude statement and something you'd find in a comments section of some political site or Huffington Post or something.

I like HuffPo, and some of their commentators are insightful and intelligent.

[Gatriel]

Los Angeles isn't like ATL? Ok then. Ha!

[BearsGrl]

I didn't realize the fact that the brainpower is drained out of non-cities was even up for debate.

That's partially my point. Why even discuss that as a point of contention? It just seemed like a rude statement and something you'd find in a comments section of some political site or Huffington Post or something.

I like HuffPo, and some of their commentators are insightful and intelligent.

The Huffington Post is a mess of a site. However, that's not the topic at hand.

I relocated myself to CA for grad. school near LA and I had no job experience in the local market (yet I had solid job experience) and I was able to find solid work experience. Obviously, law school is a different beast, but I was able to use my law school connections to also network with a local attorney for the big law firm in LA. If you know people in the market, obviously you start there.

I know of people that went to a lower ranked school and have successful employment in other cities (they started in one market and parlayed that into the same company in a different market) and those that went to solid schools trying to achieve their dreams in an outside market. Everything comes down to grades, skill, networking and luck. Period.

[Aberzombie1892]

You asked for how bad it was from the perspective of a local 3L student. I'll do you one better and tell you how it is for someone born and raised in Georgia who attends UVA. It's a damn slaughterhouse and one of the most competitive markets in the entire country. The main thing is that they are probably one of the most grade conscious markets in the nation. They just prefer hiring someone top 5 -10 percent of the class, even from a significantly lower ranked school, than they do someone median or below from a top 14. They are not as concerned about ties as one might think--but you BETTER have the grades or you can forget it. Alston and Bird and King and Spalding are absolutely ridiculous in terms of their grade selectivity. Both firms have an average GPA of ABOVE the top 10 percent for callbacks at UVA.

Honestly, every market outside of NYC is extremely competitive when it comes to almost any kind of bar passage required job. Atlanta isn't exactly special in that regard. But then again, neither is any other non-NYC market.

[rad lulz]

You asked for how bad it was from the perspective of a local 3L student. I'll do you one better and tell you how it is for someone born and raised in Georgia who attends UVA. It's a damn slaughterhouse and one of the most competitive markets in the entire country. The main thing is that they are probably one of the most grade conscious markets in the nation. They just prefer hiring someone top 5 -10 percent of the class, even from a significantly lower ranked school, than they do someone median or below from a top 14. They are not as concerned about ties as one might think--but you BETTER have the grades or you can forget it. Alston and Bird and King and Spalding are absolutely ridiculous in terms of their grade selectivity. Both firms have an average GPA of ABOVE the top 10 percent for callbacks at UVA.

Honestly, every market outside of NYC is extremely competitive when it comes to almost any kind of bar passage required job. Atlanta isn't exactly special in that regard. But then again, neither is any other non-NYC market.

Except the grade whoring aspect is not present to the same degree.

[hume85]

I didn't realize the fact that the brainpower is drained out of non-cities was even up for debate.

That's partially my point. Why even discuss that as a point of contention? It just seemed like a rude statement and something you'd find in a comments section of some political site or Huffington Post.

Or an economics paper by a respected scholar.

[BearsGrl]

I didn't realize the fact that the brainpower is drained out of non-cities was even up for debate.

That's partially my point. Why even discuss that as a point of contention? It just seemed like a rude statement and something you'd find in a comments section of some political site or Huffington Post.

Or an economics paper by a respected scholar.

Not if you're talking about any of Krugman's articles. I'll never forget the day that he closed down one of his NY Times articles because he had written a non-economic related article and knew that it would be a topic he'd get massive blow-back on.

[eandy]

Atlanta job market&Emory/UGA OCI

gruesomegif

[Aberzombie1892]

You asked for how bad it was from the perspective of a local 3L student. I'll do you one better and tell you how it is for someone born and raised in Georgia who attends UVA. It's a damn slaughterhouse and one of the most competitive markets in the entire country. The main thing is that they are probably one of the most grade conscious markets in the nation. They just prefer hiring someone top 5 -10 percent of the class, even from a significantly lower ranked school, than they do someone median or below from a top 14. They are not as concerned about ties as one might think--but you BETTER have the grades or you can forget it. Alston and Bird and King and Spalding are absolutely ridiculous in terms of their grade selectivity. Both firms have an average GPA of ABOVE the top 10 percent for callbacks at UVA.

Honestly, every market outside of NYC is extremely competitive when it comes to almost any kind of bar passage required job. Atlanta isn't exactly special in that regard. But then again, neither is any other non-NYC market.

Except the grade whoring aspect is not present to the same degree.

That's certainly debatable.

[romothesavior]

I didn't realize the fact that the brainpower is drained out of non-cities was even up for debate.

That's partially my point. Why even discuss that as a point of contention? It just seemed like a rude statement and something you'd find in a comments section of some political site or Huffington Post.

Or an economics paper by a respected scholar.

Not if you're talking about any of Krugman's articles. I'll never forget the day that he closed down one of his NY Times articles because he had written a non-economic related article and knew that it would be a topic he'd get massive blow-back on.

I searched the interwebz high and low for a "WTF am I reading?" gif sufficient to capture the rupture in my brain right now from reading this nonsense, but none could quite capture it.

You just took an on-topic discussion regarding Atlanta's legal market to a pissing contest about brain drains (Gatriel is right, btw, and it's not an insulting thing to say) to commutes to the Huffington Post to Paul Krugman. In less than a page. That takes real ability, and I commend you for it.

[kuttlefish]

I searched the interwebz high and low for a "WTF am I reading?" gif sufficient to capture the rupture in my brain right now from reading this nonsense, but none could quite capture it.

You just took an on-topic discussion regarding Atlanta's legal market to a pissing contest about brain drains (Gatriel is right, btw, and it's not an insulting thing to say) to commutes to the Huffington Post to Paul Krugman. In less than a page. That takes real ability, and I commend you for it.

Here you go:
--ImageRemoved--

To bring it back to point, some background info: I'm currently in New Orleans. Love New Orleans. Couldn't care less about the rest of Louisiana and I don't have any strong feelings towards Maritime law. With fee waivers, I applied to a bunch of Tulane's peer schools to possibly use as leverage, because I'm not paying full price for Tulane. Now that I have a few acceptances, and Tulane is taking its sweet time, I've been entertaining some of these other options. (yes I've applied to LSU and Loyola, no to Southern)

By my count, I've got +3 for Bloodbath, +1 for no worse than anywhere outside NYC

[BearsGrl]

You just took an on-topic discussion regarding Atlanta's legal market to a pissing contest about brain drains (Gatriel is right, btw, and it's not an insulting thing to say) to commutes to the Huffington Post to Paul Krugman. In less than a page. That takes real ability, and I commend you for it.

Nope. Still a rude thing to say. Pretty much attacking a full region shows you for the person that you are. And frankly, as an employer, I wouldn't want you representing my client that has its HQ in the South.

The clear evidence is that any metro is going to be rough. Period. Why are there 583594854 posts about this on TLS?

[romothesavior]

+1 for no worse than anywhere outside NYC

I'm not sure if this is what Aberzombie was trying to say, but if it is, then he's waaaaaaay off base. For one thing, there are markets out there right now that are arguably certainly tougher to land than NYC. Chicago and DC spring to mind. And once you get out of the major markets and into discussion about the strong secondaries, there is certainly disparity in difficulty in landing a job.This is due to a multitude of factors including size of market, desirability of market, insularity of market, competition from schools in the market, etc.

So yes while it's tough everywhere ITE, it's terrible advice to just say everywhere is equally tough, or even similarly tough, for everyone. It's not.

As to Atlanta in particular, I'm not really qualified to give advice on that market, but everything I have heard is that it's really tough. Atlanta is a cool city, an intellectual and business hub of the south, and one of the more urban/progressive cities in the deep south. And from a legal market perspective, the best legal work and best salaries in the south (typically) are in Atlanta.