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Sorry to ask such a naive question, but every thread I read seems to assume a certain amount of prior knowledge about this topic: What's the consensus on what the biglaw markets are, and which ones are the "main" markets and which ones are secondary?

Also curious about how salaries work in those markets (are they all like NYC?) and how getting a job works (based mostly on ranking, or does location of school matter more for certain markets?).

luciditycabbage wrote:Sorry to ask such a naive question, but every thread I read seems to assume a certain amount of prior knowledge about this topic: What's the consensus on what the biglaw markets are, and which ones are the "main" markets and which ones are secondary?

Also curious about how salaries work in those markets (are they all like NYC?) and how getting a job works (based mostly on ranking, or does location of school matter more for certain markets?).

The consensus that I've seen is that the primary big law markets are: NYC, Chicago, DC, LA, SF, Houston, etc. (I'm probably leaving out a lot of cities, which I'm sure subsequent posters will not hesitate to add).

The boundaries for secondary markets are slightly murkier but I think this is based on how the biggest firms pay at each market. Markets like Florida, many Midwestern cities/states like Ohio, and others will pay less than the current scale set by Milbank.

Hiring for the majority of biglaw firms happens in the summer before your second year and is based on your school and your grades. The job for the summer as a summer associate is basically a summer long interview process. At the end of the summer you get an offer to return, a cold offer (where they don’t want you back but tell you you can say you have an offer) or no offer.

Check out some threads here on OCI and mass mailing about getting a job.

KunAgnis wrote:

luciditycabbage wrote:Sorry to ask such a naive question, but every thread I read seems to assume a certain amount of prior knowledge about this topic: What's the consensus on what the biglaw markets are, and which ones are the "main" markets and which ones are secondary?

Also curious about how salaries work in those markets (are they all like NYC?) and how getting a job works (based mostly on ranking, or does location of school matter more for certain markets?).

The consensus that I've seen is that the primary big law markets are: NYC, Chicago, DC, LA, SF, Houston, etc. (I'm probably leaving out a lot of cities, which I'm sure subsequent posters will not hesitate to add).

The boundaries for secondary markets are slightly murkier but I think this is based on how the biggest firms pay at each market. Markets like Florida, many Midwestern cities/states like Ohio, and others will pay less than the current scale set by Milbank.

I would say those are main ones. There are a couple more cities on the border of primary and secondary (Dallas, Boston, Atlanta, etc.), and then get secondary markets like Seattle, Miami, San Diego, Denver, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Cleveland, etc.

Npret wrote:Hiring for the majority of biglaw firms happens in the summer before your second year and is based on your school and your grades. The job for the summer as a summer associate is basically a summer long interview process. At the end of the summer you get an offer to return, a cold offer (where they don’t want you back but tell you you can say you have an offer) or no offer.

Check out some threads here on OCI and mass mailing about getting a job.

You mean the first summer? Between 1L and 2L??

"a cold offer (where they don’t want you back but tell you you can say you have an offer)" -- what's the point of that?

Which amlaw100 firms differentiate salaries between these different categories of market?

jackdanielsga wrote:

Npret wrote:Hiring for the majority of biglaw firms happens in the summer before your second year and is based on your school and your grades. The job for the summer as a summer associate is basically a summer long interview process. At the end of the summer you get an offer to return, a cold offer (where they don’t want you back but tell you you can say you have an offer) or no offer.

Check out some threads here on OCI and mass mailing about getting a job.

You mean the first summer? Between 1L and 2L??

"a cold offer (where they don’t want you back but tell you you can say you have an offer)" -- what's the point of that?

Some people have 1L summer associate gigs, but the majority will be after 2L year.

The point of a cold offer is so that the firm can publicly advertise they offer to 100% of their Summer Associates (helping in recruiting), and to a much lesser extent, it at least allows that person to say they had an offer when they're trying to find a job during 3L year.

jackdanielsga wrote:

Npret wrote:Hiring for the majority of biglaw firms happens in the summer before your second year and is based on your school and your grades. The job for the summer as a summer associate is basically a summer long interview process. At the end of the summer you get an offer to return, a cold offer (where they don’t want you back but tell you you can say you have an offer) or no offer.

Check out some threads here on OCI and mass mailing about getting a job.

You mean the first summer? Between 1L and 2L??

"a cold offer (where they don’t want you back but tell you you can say you have an offer)" -- what's the point of that?

1. Yes the summer before 2L starts. Hiring will be primarily based on your 1L grades - which are usually based on one final and graded according to a strict curve. The number of As available in any class is set before the class even begins.

The interview process is for a job after 2L - so people interview months in advance of the job. It’s not an intuitive method of hiring.

2. Cold offers help students find another job because a no offer is difficult to overcome. They also help firms maintain they have a 100% offer rate which is important for recruiting.