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Hello everyone,

I will be attending Georgetown in the fall and am super excited about it. However, I am attending Georgetown with the hope of coming back to the PNW area (yes, I know that it is out of region or whatever for their placement, just ignore that lol). I have heard that this is challenging to do because you are competing with regional students and such. My dream is Big Law (grades permitting), so I was wondering about "mass mailing". Do you just email firms that have Georgetown Alumni expressing interest in the firm or what is that about? Are there more productive ways to try to go to an area typically not in the geographic placement of grads? Furthermore, what is the ranking system for law firms? I am not particularly interested in any of the "top" Big law firms, I would rather work in my hometown big law firms, which I presume are not as prestigious as the New York firms, but it would be good to get a sense of what firms might be out of reach. Anyways, any advice/information on the topic of returning back to a home market would be great. As a fail safe, I have a great connection to a mid-sized firm in the area, who has said she will "find a place for me" and if not THAT, I am perfectly okay with living in the DC/NY area post-graduation for a bit.

Thank you for your advice

I don't know a lot about the PNW market but I would recommend starting with Chambers & Partners and poking around in practice areas you like: https://chambers.com/guide/usa?publicat ... onId=13365

Chambers is basically a poll of lawyer clients in different areas about who they think are the best law firms and lawyers in their region for a specific practice. The link I sent you is the Chambers ranking for Washington corporate. This won't pick up all the firms that fit your criteria but will pick up some major players and give you a good starting point for more research.

As someone who has networked "out of region," so to speak, you have to do a little extra legwork. Try to spend your 1L summer in Seattle/the PNW doing some public interest gig so you can go to firm events and meet lawyers. You can look for GULC alums, undergrad alums, or just random lawyers in the practice area you want. If you meet at an event or exchange emails, try to follow up with a call or something. At the end of the conversation you can tell them you're interested in the firm and working in the city, and they will usually ask for your resume and forward it along. Even if they don't, being able to put, "I know X" at the firm helps get you out of the pile. If you can't be out there for 1L summer, don't fret, you just have to be diligent about reaching out to people. When the firm has an event, you can also send an email to the recruiter saying, "I'm sorry I can't make it to your firm event because I'm in X for the summer but want to return to the PNW and would love to work at the firm, find my [application materials] attached." I had a surprising amount of success with that.

Once grades come out and, if you have no more contacts, just start sending your materials to recruiters. Sometimes they ignore it or ask you to apply at OCI, sometimes they set you up with a screener. Other regions hire slower (I don't know if the PNW is like this) so you might have to be patient.

Finally, make sure you have a backup market. Small, insular, or desirable markets can be tough to crack because there aren't that many slots available. Out of GULC, you'll probably want to recruit for New York firms as well. Large markets like Chicago, CA, and TX are also good backup markets if you have the ties and grades to make them safer choices.

ignorantfoot96 wrote: ↑

Fri May 08, 2020 3:04 pm

Hello everyone,

I will be attending Georgetown in the fall and am super excited about it. However, I am attending Georgetown with the hope of coming back to the PNW area (yes, I know that it is out of region or whatever for their placement, just ignore that lol). I have heard that this is challenging to do because you are competing with regional students and such. My dream is Big Law (grades permitting), so I was wondering about "mass mailing". Do you just email firms that have Georgetown Alumni expressing interest in the firm or what is that about? Are there more productive ways to try to go to an area typically not in the geographic placement of grads? Furthermore, what is the ranking system for law firms? I am not particularly interested in any of the "top" Big law firms, I would rather work in my hometown big law firms, which I presume are not as prestigious as the New York firms, but it would be good to get a sense of what firms might be out of reach. Anyways, any advice/information on the topic of returning back to a home market would be great. As a fail safe, I have a great connection to a mid-sized firm in the area, who has said she will "find a place for me" and if not THAT, I am perfectly okay with living in the DC/NY area post-graduation for a bit.

Thank you for your advice

Assuming Seattle, your odds of getting back at some point are pretty good (in fact, I know one GULC grad that just graduated who is returning to Seattle BL). There are plenty of GULC alums in the large firms, which will be helpful for networking. Speaking of networking, it is very important for a market as insular as Seattle, and even moreso for Portland. Everytime you come back, you should be setup coffee/lunch with local attorneys and attend mixers. Several firms hold events over winter break precisely for people in your situation. Apply for as many 1L clerkships as you are qualified for - each interview you get is a touchpoint to help distinguish yourself during 2L OCI. If you aren't able to land a 2L SA, your next best option is probably to do biglaw in a major market for a few years and lateral over.