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Forgive me if this is a stupid question, I know that DC, population wise with more than half a million people is one of the largest cities (top 25) in the US, and DC metro area is one of the largest metros areas. But when it comes to legal hiring, is DC a secondary market, and for that matter what does it mean when I hear people say primary markets, secondary markets etc. Thanks guys!

It's pretty subjective and it doesn't matter. But no one would ever call DC secondary. Primary is probably usually considered NYC, DC, Chi, SF, LA.

Secondary is more like Boston, Charlotte, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Denver, st. Louis, mpls, Seattle, San Diego.
Not sure what you'd call Stamford or Hartford or chatanooga though.

lacrossebrother wrote:It's pretty subjective and it doesn't matter. But no one would ever call DC secondary. Primary is probably usually considered NYC, DC, Chi, SF, LA.

thanks! so, city population has very little to do it? Because, Seattle, Denver, Houston, Dallas heck even Charlotte and Detroit have more people than DC, and those cities are often called secondary markets.

Ya. Think "power"

lacrossebrother wrote:It's pretty subjective and it doesn't matter. But no one would ever call DC secondary. Primary is probably usually considered NYC, DC, Chi, SF, LA.

I'm curious to see SF there, is that really a major market?
Any particular reason why?

I'm not sure why this distinction matters. DC hires a lot more people than Atlanta or Boston. But a lot less than NY. And it tends to be far more selective than NY, LA, Chicago, etc. DC also tends to be the top place for a lot of admin and regulatory work. Its not as big of a market for IP or M&A.

What are you trying to get at with this question?

PoopNpants wrote:

lacrossebrother wrote:It's pretty subjective and it doesn't matter. But no one would ever call DC secondary. Primary is probably usually considered NYC, DC, Chi, SF, LA.

I'm curious to see SF there, is that really a major market?
Any particular reason why?

Silicon Valley, I'm assuming.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

PoopNpants wrote:

lacrossebrother wrote:It's pretty subjective and it doesn't matter. But no one would ever call DC secondary. Primary is probably usually considered NYC, DC, Chi, SF, LA.

I'm curious to see SF there, is that really a major market?
Any particular reason why?

Silicon Valley, I'm assuming.

Also real estate and banking

NYC is by far the largest legal market, followed by DC & then Chicago; so, no, Wash DC is not a secondary market.

From the NLJ Top 30 legal markets in the US: (the top 25)

1) NYC
2) Wash DC
3) Chicago

4) San Francisco
5) Los Angeles
6) Boston
7) Philly
Atlanta
9) Dallas
10) Houston
11) Miami
12) Northern New Jersey
13) Minneapolis
14) Denver
15) Cleveland
16) Orange County, Calif.
17) San Diego
18) Pittsburgh
19) St. Louis
20) Detroit
21) Kansas City, Mo.
22) Charlotte
23) Seattle
24) Phoenix
25) Indianapolis

Top Foreign Legal Markets (according to the NLJ):

1) London
2) Paris
3) Hong Kong
4) Frankfurt
5) Sydney
6) Brussels
7) Tokyo
Then Warsaw

CanadianWolf wrote:Top Foreign Legal Markets (according to the NLJ):

1) London
2) Paris
3) Hong Kong
4) Frankfurt
5) Sydney
6) Brussels
7) Tokyo
Then Warsaw

I'm really trying to get into that Warsaw market

CanadianWolf wrote:Top Foreign Legal Markets (according to the NLJ):

1) London
2) Paris
3) Hong Kong
4) Frankfurt
5) Sydney
6) Brussels
7) Tokyo
Then Warsaw

I'm surprised Tokyo isn't higher. "Old Europe's" got it going on though.

SCOAngers wrote:

CanadianWolf wrote:Top Foreign Legal Markets (according to the NLJ):

1) London
2) Paris
3) Hong Kong
4) Frankfurt
5) Sydney
6) Brussels
7) Tokyo
Then Warsaw

I'm surprised Tokyo isn't higher. "Old Europe's" got it going on though.

Maybe NLJ's metric is strange because Philly, Boston, & Atlanta are ahead of Dallas & Houston, but AFAIK, the latter two are bigger than the former two in terms of big law and the types of work done.

I may be wrong though

CanadianWolf wrote:From the NLJ Top 30 legal markets in the US: (the top 25)

1) NYC
2) Wash DC
3) Chicago

4) San Francisco
5) Los Angeles
6) Boston
7) Philly
Atlanta
9) Dallas
10) Houston
11) Miami
12) Northern New Jersey
13) Minneapolis
14) Denver
15) Cleveland
16) Orange County, Calif.
17) San Diego
18) Pittsburgh
19) St. Louis
20) Detroit
21) Kansas City, Mo.
22) Charlotte
23) Seattle
24) Phoenix
25) Indianapolis

They consider Norther New Jersey to be its own market? I thought that 90% of all business in Northern New Jersey was simply work being carried out for NYC offices that ran out of space.

Lol, I know a few folks who would be pretty insulted by the question. I think by headcount DC has more lawyers per capita than New York, and certainly more JDs. It's arguably more of a "lawyers town" than NY, which has more attorneys/firms overall, but bankers and financiers predominate.