Best schools for Orange County Biglaw? Forum

[OCbiglaw]

Have lived in Southern California for a few years (Los Angeles) and would like to target Orange County Biglaw after law school. Which school or schools would be the best to attend to achieve this goal. I am not completely opposed to LA Biglaw if that is my only option during/after law school, but I would prefer to be in Orange County long term. I enjoy the area, am a little tired of Los Angeles, and believe Orange County would be a good place to raise kids in Southern California. Any ideas? Thanks.

[Person1111]

I think Stanford/Harvard (and Yale but I don't think anyone goes to YLS to work at a firm in OC right out of law school) > Boalt > USC/UCLA/Other T14 > Irvine > everything else.

[OCbiglaw]

I think Stanford/Harvard (and Yale but I don't think anyone goes to YLS to work at a firm in OC right out of law school) > Boalt > USC/UCLA/Other T14 > Irvine > everything else.

Do you think breaking into OC Biglaw from the T14 without hard ties to Orange County would be difficult. I have family/work ties to Los Angeles, but none to Orange County. Would UCLA/USC/UCI be advantageous because of their geographic location for someone without ties to the area?

[TrynaLaw]

Tagging because OP shares my career goals and lack of OC ties.

[WheninLaw]

Have lived in Southern California for a few years (Los Angeles) and would like to target Orange County Biglaw after law school. Which school or schools would be the best to attend to achieve this goal. I am not completely opposed to LA Biglaw if that is my only option during/after law school, but I would prefer to be in Orange County long term. I enjoy the area, am a little tired of Los Angeles, and believe Orange County would be a good place to raise kids in Southern California. Any ideas? Thanks.

I'd think Yale > Stanford > Other t14's (I do not think Boalt gets a bump) > UCLA/USC > Irvine.

It will be difficult due simply to the size of the office.

[Tiago Splitter]

It will be difficult due simply to the size of the office.

Yeah it's a pretty narrow target. Given the LA ties I don't think a lack of ties to OC specifically is a huge deal. Since there isn't a biglaw feeder school in OC there's not much more you can do.

[Person1111]

Have lived in Southern California for a few years (Los Angeles) and would like to target Orange County Biglaw after law school. Which school or schools would be the best to attend to achieve this goal. I am not completely opposed to LA Biglaw if that is my only option during/after law school, but I would prefer to be in Orange County long term. I enjoy the area, am a little tired of Los Angeles, and believe Orange County would be a good place to raise kids in Southern California. Any ideas? Thanks.

I'd think Yale > Stanford > Other t14's (I do not think Boalt gets a bump) > UCLA/USC > Irvine.

It will be difficult due simply to the size of the office.

Boalt I think gets a bump because OC offices actually travel there to interview. That's not true for most of the T14. Same reason I put UCLA/USC in the same bucket as the other T14s - they are less prestigious/competitive in a vacuum, but that's counteracted by having these offices actually attend their OCI.

[rpupkin]

Boalt I think gets a bump because OC offices actually travel there to interview. That's not true for most of the T14.

Even if the OC offices didn't travel to Boalttt for interviews (I didn't know that), I'd still think that Berkeley gets a bump over non-HYS T14. There are a bunch of Berkeley alumni down there, which always helps. You'll also find the occasional office that will give a Chicago or CLS grad a slight bump over the rest of the T14.