Anonymous User wrote:That last response was really great! Can you critique? I'm also a bit afraid of being too aggressive.
I posted a bit earlier, but to recap: 3.56 GPA, 2 years legal/political WE, strong Bay Area ties, NYC as backup.
1. MoFo (SF)
2. Cooley (SF)
3. O'Melveny (SF)
4. Paul Hastings (SF)
5. Weil (NY)
6. Gibson (SF)
7. Hogan Lovells (NY)
8. Paul Weiss (NY)
9. Willkie (NY)
10. Latham (NY)
11. Proskauer (NY)
12. Clifford Chance (NY)
13. Wilson Sonsini (Palo Alto)
14. Davis Polk (NY)
15. Debevoise (NY)
16. Cleary (NY)
17. Simpson (NY)
18. Ropes & Gray (NY)
19. Cravath (NY)
20. Skadden (NY)
My next 10 are basically chaff
I was the anon who critiqued above.
First, why are you picking Ropes NY instead of Ropes SF? If I recall, they only let you pick one city at OCI, so you should do SF for them. Then replace Ropes NY with an NY office of a firm that hires a larger summer class.
You should add K&E SF in your chaff. I doubt they'll send someone from that office, but if you really want SF, it should be in there somewhere. Same with Jones Day SF.
SF is a really tough nut to crack, so it's going to be important for you to make sure you get interview slots with the largest summer class firms in NY, and perform well. In other words, definitely make sure you have a fallback, because you can do everything right and still strike out in SF. So make sure you get hits on your bids at Debevoise, Weil, Latham, etc. I would add White & Case NY if you want to do M&A work.
Relatedly, you're sort of a long shot at Paul, Weiss, Cleary, and Cravath. Especially the latter two (you're below the 25th percentile for both). And NY is just a fallback for you. So, consider dropping those.
Also, do you actually know what work you want to do? If you're IP capable, interested in tech transactions, or interested in startup stuff, then consider some of the Redwood City/Menlo Park/Palo Alto offices of firms coming to OCI that you haven't included here. It's probably the case that you might have to cast a wider net than most, b/c your target market is so tough. If you're in CA for 1L summer, apply *ASAP* at any legit firm that doesn't come to OCI.