Bid List Help Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hello, I'm putting together a bid list, and I was looking for any help I could get. I've gone through OCS and gotten their advice already, but I'm anxious overall still, so I figured it couldn't hurt to get other eyes as well. I'm a 1L at NYU with a 3.44 GPA. I want to keep my options open, but I'm primarily interested in regulatory law in DC, international arbitration, or litigation. I know D.C. is challenging especially without ties, so I didn't want to put all my eggs in that basket, but I figured I had an ok enough GPA that it was worth a shot. For the same reason, I've included around 5ish firms that I recognize are reaches. Oh and I have personal ties to Pittsburgh, so that's why it's there, but I'm not overly concerned about location really. The thing I'd really most appreciate is any advice on the ordering of the list itself, but if there are glaring issues in the firm selection, I'd like to hear that as well.

1. Jones Day (Pittsburgh)
2. White & Case
3. Debevoise & Plimpton
4. Covington & Burling (DC)
5. Akin Gump Strauss Haur & Feld (DC)
6. Alston & Bird (DC)
7. Latham & Watkins
8. Sidney Austin
9. K&L Gates
10. O'Melveny & Myers
11. Jenner & Block
12. Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman (DC)
13. Kirkland & Ellis
14. Proskauer Rose
15. Weil, Gotshal & Manges
16. Kasowitz Benson Torres
17. Baker Botts (DC)
18. Linklaters
19. Morrison & Foerster
20. Paul Hastings
21. Ropes & Gray
22. Reed Smith
23. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
24. Crowell & Moring
25. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson (DC)
26. Cooley (DC)
27. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
28. Perkins Cole (DC)
29. Steptoe & Johnson (DC)
30. Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft
31. Mayer Brown
32. Gibson Dunn & Crucher
33. Shearman & Sterling
34. Hughes, Hubbard & Reed (DC)
35. Hughes, Hubbard & Reed
36. Norton Rose Fulbright (DC)
37. Hogan Lovells
38. Allen & Overy
39. Venable (DC)
40. Dechert
41. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
42. Winston & Strawn
43. Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati (DC)
44. Greenberg Traurig
45. Cahill, Gordon & Reindel
46. Mintz Levin
47. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel
48. McDermott Will & Emery
49. Stroock & Stroock & Lavin
50. Wilkie Farr & Gallagher


Thanks in advance for any help!

[mt2165]

What rank is 3.44 at NYU? Top 1/3? Is this the DC office of White and Case? If NYC, I don't know why. And if DC, does like Hogan come to OCI? That would seem a better choice but idrk tbh. Also unless you have reason to think Jones Day Pitt will be unreasonably popular (i.e. you have a lot of friends/colleagues who you think will bid it highly) idk if you need it at number 1.

[Anonymous User]

I'm not certain the rank, but I think it should be around top 1/3. Hogan's DC office is coming. I heard it's very competitive though, and I didn't want to put too many reaches in. I'd gladly add them if I'm wrong though. White and Case in NY is one of the firms that I would want to interview with for their international arbitration practice. And yeah, I'll move Jones Day down. Probably being overly cautious there.

[Anonymous User]

OP again.

It's due on Tuesday, is there no other advice to offer? Anyone care to just give it a thumbs up or down?

[Slytherpuff]

Move Gibson Dunn, Shearman, and Linklaters way up. Weil and Kirkland could stand to be a little higher too. Covington, Akin Gump, and Pillsbury can all go way down. There aren't as many people who interview in DC so you're almost guaranteed a spot at the DC firms you bid on - don't waste a high bid on a lot of them unless they have abnormally small interview slot allotments. I think interviewing with Hogan NY is smart because their NY office is less selective and you can try to split your summer with their DC office if you get an offer there.

[Slytherpuff]

APKS and Baker & McKenzie could be good additions for international arbitration.

[Anonymous User]

OP.

Ok, cool. Thanks a lot for the advice. I'll be sure to bump down a lot of the D.C. bids. I've added some other new firms to the list, including the two suggested. I changed a lot of the D.C. firms as well. I've put it into the system like this, but It can be edited until Tuesday morning if there's any thoughts about it.

1. White & Case
2. Debevoise & Plimpton
3. Weil, Gotshal & Manges
4. Latham & Watkins
5. Ropes & Gray
6. Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
7. Kirkland & Ellis (DC)
8. Proskauer Rose
9. Linklaters
10. Akin Gump Strauss Haur & Feld (DC)
11. Morrison & Foerster
12. Covington & Burling (DC)
13. Paul Hastings
14. Sidley Austin
15. Jones Day (Pittsburgh)
16. Gibson Dunn & Crucher (DC)
17. O'Melveny & Myers
18. Kasowitz Benson Torres
19. Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman (DC)
20. K&L Gates (Pittsburgh)
21. Reed Smith
22. Venable (DC)
23. Perkins Coie (DC)
24. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
25. WilmerHale (DC)
26. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft
27. Shearman & Sterling
28. Crowell & Moring
29. Cooley
30. Greenberg Traurig
31. Hunton & Williams (DC)
32. Hogan Lovells
33. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
34. Steptoe & Johnson (DC)
35. foley hoag (DC)
36. Mayer Brown
37. Baker & McKenzie
38. Allen & Overy
39. King & Spalding
40. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
41. Dechert
42. Winston & Strawn
43. Cahill, Gordon & Reindel
44. Mintz Levin
45. Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati (DC)
46. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
47. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel
48. McDermott Will & Emery
49. Stroock & Stroock & Lavin
50. Wilkie Farr & Gallagher

[Slytherpuff]

Move up:
Linklaters - I know my year they had to be top 5 to guarantee a slot
Shearman and Baker & McKenzie need to be top 10 or you won't get an interview, and I'd honestly suggest top 5 to be safe for B&M since they usually don't have many slots
Hogan Lovells should be top 15
Jones Day/K&L Gates Pittsburgh - how many interview slots do they have? If it's only a few, I'd move them up higher just to be safe. If they have 10+ then you're fine.

Move down:
Kirkland's DC office doesn't need to be that high (I was thinking you were doing NY when I said to move them up)
If Latham has 80+ spots you can move them out of the top 10
White & Case can leave the top 5, although keeping them in the top 10 might be good if they don't have a lot of interview slots
Debevoise should be top 15-20 but you can definitely move them down
Pillsbury DC is safe pretty far down the list - I think I got them at like 38

[wiz]

Move up:
Linklaters - I know my year they had to be top 5 to guarantee a slot
Shearman and Baker & McKenzie need to be top 10 or you won't get an interview, and I'd honestly suggest top 5 to be safe for B&M since they usually don't have many slots
Hogan Lovells should be top 15
Jones Day/K&L Gates Pittsburgh - how many interview slots do they have? If it's only a few, I'd move them up higher just to be safe. If they have 10+ then you're fine.

Move down:
Kirkland's DC office doesn't need to be that high (I was thinking you were doing NY when I said to move them up)
If Latham has 80+ spots you can move them out of the top 10
White & Case can leave the top 5, although keeping them in the top 10 might be good if they don't have a lot of interview slots
Debevoise should be top 15-20 but you can definitely move them down
Pillsbury DC is safe pretty far down the list - I think I got them at like 38

Agree with all of this.

Also keep in mind that the system will only let you have 10-12 interviews per day, so keep an eye on how heavy you are on certain days with firms that you want. If you want to interview with WSGR DC, for example, and are already capped out with interview slots on that day, the system won't give you a WSGR interview slot even if the first failed bid for that firm is lower than 45.

And be careful about mixed office interviews. Some firm schedules have DC separately—or DC plus lots of not-heavily-bidded secondary markets). Others combine DC and the more popular offices, so you'll need to bid those higher than the other DC firms.

[wiz]

I would do a search for CLS first failed bid to get an idea of how popular some of the firms on your list are.

As Slytherpuff is saying, Linklaters, Hogan, Weil, and Skadden are all really popular and high on bid lists. I think Proskauer too? All those NY firms probably need to be above your first DC bid.

[Anonymous User]

So I looked at the slots, and it pretty much aligned with your suggestions. How's this? (I might be being a little cautious for Jones Day, but I want to make sure of it).

1. Weil, Gotshal & Manges
2. Linklaters
3. Baker & McKenzie
4. Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
5. White & Case
6. Shearman & Sterling
7. Jones Day (Pittsburgh)
8. Kirkland & Ellis (DC)
9. Ropes & Gray
10. Proskauer Rose
11. Hogan Lovells
12. Debevoise & Plimpton
13. Akin Gump Strauss Haur & Feld (DC)
14. K&L Gates (Pittsburgh)
15. Latham & Watkins
16. Morrison & Foerster
17. Covington & Burling (DC)
18. Paul Hastings
19. Sidley Austin
20. Gibson Dunn & Crucher (DC)
21. O'Melveny & Myers
22. Kasowitz Benson Torres
23. Reed Smith
24. Venable (DC)
25. Perkins Coie (DC)
26. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
27. WilmerHale (DC)
28. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft
29. Crowell & Moring
30. Cooley
31. Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman (DC)
32. Greenberg Traurig
33. Hunton & Williams (DC)
34. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
35. Steptoe & Johnson (DC)
36. foley hoag (DC)
37. Mayer Brown
38. Allen & Overy
39. King & Spalding
40. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
41. Dechert
42. Winston & Strawn
43. Cahill, Gordon & Reindel
44. Mintz Levin
45. Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati (DC)
46. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
47. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel
48. McDermott Will & Emery
49. Stroock & Stroock & Lavin
50. Wilkie Farr & Gallagher

[Anonymous User]

Didn't see your reply before I posted. I'll bump Proskauer above Kirkland though.

[wiz]

Revised list looks good to me. I think you have the right idea with the popular NY firms with large class sizes looking for students in your grade range at the top of your list.

As always, take everything with a grain of salt because only you know how badly you want to get an interview with certain firms (e.g., Jones Day Pittsburgh), and I wouldn't want you to miss out on a firm you really wanted because I thought you could maybe get it a couple spots lower based on historical data.

[Slytherpuff]

Your revised list looks great. It's all about balancing how much you want the firm with how many interview slots they have (and how many other people typically go for it), so I think you're in good shape. And yeah, at the end of the day, if you really really want a firm then it can never hurt to put them in the top 10 to make sure you get a spot - Jones Day makes sense there.

Good luck!

[Anonymous User]

Awesome. I wasn't very confident about making this, so I really appreciate the advice. You guys have have been great, thanks a lot!

[Anonymous User]

Maybe someone else with more knowledge of the DC market can double check this advice...but what about throwing Schulte in there? The summer is in the NY office but they place into their DC office, which I believe is almost exclusively lit with a lot of regulatory focus.