Help Me Narrow Down Callbacks in the Bay Area Forum

[Anonymous User]

So I hope this doesn't make me come across as a huge bitch. I know I've been very lucky to have positive results from a lot of firms, while some people are still hoping for their first callback. I'm not posting this to brag. I'd seriously appreciate advice, partly because I don't want to travel from the East Coast to Cali for >10 callbacks, and also out of respect for my classmates who haven't heard back, hopefully by canceling a few interviews that will open up spots for others.

Right now I have callbacks at

Fenwick
Cooley
Simpson Thacher
KVN
Paul Hastings
Gibson Dunn
OMM
WSGR
Pillsbury Winthrop
Goodwin Proctor
White & Case

and still waiting to hear from a few others. Not all of these are actually scheduled yet.

I'm interested in Corporate/VC work, but also open to litigation and I really just want to do exciting work with good people, which is why KVN is in there.

Any advice?

[Sup Kid]

So I hope this doesn't make me come across as a huge bitch. I know I've been very lucky to have positive results from a lot of firms, while some people are still hoping for their first callback. I'm not posting this to brag. I'd seriously appreciate advice, partly because I don't want to travel from the East Coast to Cali for >10 callbacks, and also out of respect for my classmates who haven't heard back, hopefully by canceling a few interviews that will open up spots for others.

Right now I have callbacks at

Fenwick
Cooley
Simpson Thacher
KVN
Paul Hastings
Gibson Dunn
OMM
WSGR
Pillsbury Winthrop
Goodwin Proctor
White & Case

and still waiting to hear from a few others. Not all of these are actually scheduled yet.

I'm interested in Corporate/VC work, but also open to litigation and I really just want to do exciting work with good people, which is why KVN is in there.

Any advice?

Considering those are basically all good, market-paying firms, you don't really know what you want to do, and you DON'T HAVE AN OFFER yet, you need to go on all of these callbacks. Don't assume that you'll get one -- you'll be kicking yourself later if you don't get one and you had cancelled callbacks. Try scheduling the ones you prefer first (out of those, Gibson Dunn, Simpson, Paul Hastings, OMM, and Fenwick would be my top-5, due to their varied practice areas and reputations, but to each their own). Once you go to each firm, you'll have a better idea where you want to be (assuming you get multiple offers).

[Anonymous User]

So I hope this doesn't make me come across as a huge bitch. I know I've been very lucky to have positive results from a lot of firms, while some people are still hoping for their first callback. I'm not posting this to brag. I'd seriously appreciate advice, partly because I don't want to travel from the East Coast to Cali for >10 callbacks, and also out of respect for my classmates who haven't heard back, hopefully by canceling a few interviews that will open up spots for others.

Right now I have callbacks at

Fenwick
Cooley
Simpson Thacher
KVN
Paul Hastings
Gibson Dunn
OMM
WSGR
Pillsbury Winthrop
Goodwin Proctor
White & Case

and still waiting to hear from a few others. Not all of these are actually scheduled yet.

I'm interested in Corporate/VC work, but also open to litigation and I really just want to do exciting work with good people, which is why KVN is in there.

Any advice?

Congrats on KVN. They didn't do on-campus for me and they didn't want me based on mass mailing, but I (eerily) have CBs at almost all the firms you listed, minus a few and plus Kirkland, Irell, Quinn. If you're really interested in corporate, I'd advise against KVN just for the prestige factor; remember that KVN often hires post-clerkship people, so if you really want a prestigious litigation boutique eventually, you may be able to get there AFTER spending a summer deciding what kind of work you like.

IMO your best firms are cooley, GDC, OMM, WSGR and Goodwin (it's proctEr, btw). I don't think it's wise to cancel a CB unless you already have an offer you like more. Is that Simpson in NY, or do they actually have a bay area office?

Pillsbury is an old, storied SF firm but has been declining for some time. Fenwick and Cooley are both big IP/tech places; lots of life sciences are both I think. Paul Hastings' only elite practice is employment.

Hope that helps.

[Anonymous User]

So I hope this doesn't make me come across as a huge bitch. I know I've been very lucky to have positive results from a lot of firms, while some people are still hoping for their first callback. I'm not posting this to brag. I'd seriously appreciate advice, partly because I don't want to travel from the East Coast to Cali for >10 callbacks, and also out of respect for my classmates who haven't heard back, hopefully by canceling a few interviews that will open up spots for others.

Right now I have callbacks at

Fenwick
Cooley
Simpson Thacher
KVN
Paul Hastings
Gibson Dunn
OMM
WSGR
Pillsbury Winthrop
Goodwin Proctor
White & Case

and still waiting to hear from a few others. Not all of these are actually scheduled yet.

I'm interested in Corporate/VC work, but also open to litigation and I really just want to do exciting work with good people, which is why KVN is in there.

Any advice?

Considering those are basically all good, market-paying firms, you don't really know what you want to do, and you DON'T HAVE AN OFFER yet, you need to go on all of these callbacks. Don't assume that you'll get one -- you'll be kicking yourself later if you don't get one and you had cancelled callbacks. Try scheduling the ones you prefer first (out of those, Gibson Dunn, Simpson, Paul Hastings, OMM, and Fenwick would be my top-5, due to their varied practice areas and reputations, but to each their own). Once you go to each firm, you'll have a better idea where you want to be (assuming you get multiple offers).

My understanding was Cooley has a stronger Bay Area reputation than Paul Hastings - am I wrong?

[englawyer]

10 callbacks is pretty doable. 2 per day, M-F. But if you are going to cancel, I would cancel white+case, pillsbury, and goodwin.

[Anonymous User]

Don't cancel anyway. I know someone who got an offer on the 15th CB. After you get an offer, cancel some.

[Anonymous User]

(OP here): Thanks for the advice guys. I guess I'm just feeling guilty to have this embarrassment of riches while some of my friends don't have a single CB. I haven't been dinged yet, so I can probably expect to have a few more CBs and it is getting overwhelming.

[Anonymous User]

10 callbacks is pretty doable. 2 per day, M-F. But if you are going to cancel, I would cancel white+case, pillsbury, and goodwin.

lol your brain will be fried. i cant imagine no offer comes out of 11 cbs...im sure you can not take some with impunity OP...but the super cautious nature of TLS would advise otherwise i suppose. iunno, if you are unsure, i guess play it safe without wearing yourself out or stretching yourself too thin, but if you can, just do what's comfortable. take what i say with a grain of salt i guess, but it's worked for me: did not schedule more than half my cbs and have offers and only applied to 3-4 law schools haha.

i feel like if you have a good spread of reach, target, safety, you dont need to do so much that you get tired out imo.

[Anonymous User]

10 callbacks is pretty doable. 2 per day, M-F. But if you are going to cancel, I would cancel white+case, pillsbury, and goodwin.

lol your brain will be fried. i cant imagine no offer comes out of 11 cbs...im sure you can not take some with impunity OP...but the super cautious nature of TLS would advise otherwise i suppose. iunno, if you are unsure, i guess play it safe without wearing yourself out or stretching yourself too thin, but if you can, just do what's comfortable. take what i say with a grain of salt i guess, but it's worked for me: did not schedule more than half my cbs and have offers and only applied to 3-4 law schools haha.

i feel like if you have a good spread of reach, target, safety, you dont need to do so much that you get tired out imo.

There is no need to do them all in one go. Schedule your top choices first, etc, and hopefully you'll get an offer and can cancel the rest.

I had 14 callbacks in 4 cities and scheduled them over 3-4 weeks. Got an offer at the end of the second week, after doing 7 callbacks, and cancelled all the rest. It was exhausting, but hey, sack up.

[snailio]

There is no need to do them all in one go. Schedule your top choices first, etc, and hopefully you'll get an offer and can cancel the rest.

This

[Anonymous User]

Keker. Keker. Keker.

Then Wilson Sonsini. Then OMM, GDC, Fenwick and Cooley. Stay away from STB, as I had a callback there about a week ago, they're all wonderful people and, given your apparent marketability, I'd rather not compete against you.

[Anonymous User]

Good bay area firms:
Fenwick
Cooley
Simpson Thacher
KVN
Gibson Dunn
WSGR

Ok firms:
OMM
Paul Hastings
Goodwin

Bad firms:
Pillsbury Winthrop
White & Case

[englawyer]

10 callbacks is pretty doable. 2 per day, M-F. But if you are going to cancel, I would cancel white+case, pillsbury, and goodwin.

lol your brain will be fried. i cant imagine no offer comes out of 11 cbs...im sure you can not take some with impunity OP...but the super cautious nature of TLS would advise otherwise i suppose. iunno, if you are unsure, i guess play it safe without wearing yourself out or stretching yourself too thin, but if you can, just do what's comfortable. take what i say with a grain of salt i guess, but it's worked for me: did not schedule more than half my cbs and have offers and only applied to 3-4 law schools haha.

i feel like if you have a good spread of reach, target, safety, you dont need to do so much that you get tired out imo.

i don't think your brain will be fried that much. you do the two callbacks per day (hopefully both in SF or both in SV), go home and have a nice dinner/relax in hotel and prep for the next day. it feels like a job rather than a vacation, but who cares.

[TooOld4This]

Don't cancel any until you have an offer.

Since you say you may have more CB coming, try to schedule two trips. Have trip one with your top choices. If you get an offer for one of your top choices, then you can cancel any CB with firms you definitely would not take over the offer in hand.

Get over the embarrassment of riches issue. This is your career. Unless you have worked in the legal field before with these firms, you really don't have a lot to base your rankings on. Going to the offices and interviewing with people will give you a lot of information. Often interviewers will be more candid than you would expect. You may find that a firm that is off the radar of many of your classmates is a good fit for you. Likewise a top "on paper" firm might make your skin crawl.

You turning down a CB is not going to open up spots for your fellow students. Firms generally have a good sense of what their CB and offer yield will be. They have already chosen their top picks. A second wave of interviewing will come if their offer yield is lower than expected. Unless the firm completely missed the boat on who and how many people to give callbacks to, they aren't going to move on more interviews until later in the process (and if they did this, you declining the CB isn't going to make a difference one way or another).

[Anonymous User]

If you didn't say that you were so interested in Corporate, I would say "KEKER, you fucking idiot!" Why'd you have to go make this so complicated? Too bad you're not gunning for lit, because they are kings of the Bay when it comes to trial work.

[Anonymous User]

How influential do you guys find the Vault rankings, particularly the new regional ones?

For example, Cooley and STB are close. But nationally, STB is #6 (!!!), Cooley is in the 40s! I am not sure how much this matters. My instinct is basically "not much at all." But I think it's weird to have that sort of apparent disparity.