NYU OCI ( BIDLIST ADVICE) Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi all. Rising 2L at NYU, AA URM with a 3.0 and very little work experience.



1 Sidley Austin DC
2 White and Case DC
3 Skadden NY
4 Paul Weiss NY
5 Latham DC
6 Shearman & Sterling NY
7 Linklaters NY
7 Cleary Gottleib NY
8 Proskaur Rose NY
9 Weil NY
9 Fried Frank NY
10 Jones Day DC
11 Akin Gump DC
12 Linklaters NY
13 Fried Frank DC
14 Sidley Austin NY
16 White and Case NY
17 Baker Botts DC
18 Gibson Dunn NY
19 Schulte Rose NY
20 Ropes and Gray NY
21 Kirkland and Ellis NY
22 Debevoise NY
23 Hogan Luvells DC
24 Kirkland and Ellis DC
25 Cleary Gottleib DC
26 Cahill NY
27 Venable DC
27 Vinson Elkins DC
28 Arnold and Porter DC
29 Sullivan and Cromwell NY
30 Simpson Thatcher NY
32 Gibson Dunn DC
33 Steptoe DC
34 Paul Hastings NY
35 Covington DC
36 Wilmerhale DC
37 Chadbourne NY

[Slytherpuff]

Some tough love for you:

I think you need to scratch most of the selective firms (the ones OCS said typically hire people with a 3.6+) from your list. Your 3.0 and lack of work experience are going to make interviewing very hard on you, and I don't want to see you strike out. Don't waste bids on Cleary, Skadden, Covington, Debevoise, Hogan DC, Sullivan & Cromwell, WilmerHale, or Simpson Thacher. You can maybe include two or three of those at most, but your list has way too many reach firms on it and you are definitely in danger of striking out with this bid list.

For New York firms, target ones that are less grade-conscious and that have large class sizes. For DC firms, you should remove every single grade-conscious firm from your list. Even with ties DC is a very tough market to crack, and unfortunately your GPA is going to rule every grade-conscious firm out.

Going back to stuff I researched for EIW two summers ago, here are some firms that didn't care as much about grades (at least my year) that would be good for the practice areas you mentioned:
Akin Gump (NY or DC)
Allen & Overy
Baker & McKenzie
Clifford Chance
foley hoag (DC)
Herbert Smith Freehills
hogan lovells (NY, definitely don't bid on DC)
Jones Day (DC)
King & Spalding (NY or DC)
Pillsbury (DC)
Ropes & Gray
Sidley Austin

[ernie]

Yeah way too aggressive bidding, K&E, PW, and others should go. Run your list by OCS and then make it even more conservative. I'm 100% serious. Even if you end up at slightly less flashy firm you still make 180k. Or you can bid aggressively, strike out like a close friend of mine did (who is now off associate track and making half as much).

[Anonymous User]

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[Anonymous User]

Hey, thanks so much for taking the time out to review my list. I find the advice here on TLS to be much more helpful than some of the advice i've gotten from OCS, so thanks again. I moved things around a bit, pushing some of the less grade conscious firms to the top.What do you all think, still too aggressive? Also does anyone have an idea of what the bid cut offs are for certain firms, like what should I be bidding Sidely NY, Akin Gump NY, White and Case NY and Kirkland NY to get an interview. Are firms that are listed below 30 usually unlikely to get an interview with? Don't really know what to do with 40-50

1. Proskaur Rose NY
2. Sidley Austin DC
3. Shearman & Sterling NY
4. Linklaters NY
5. Weil NY
6. Skadden NY
7. Sidley Austin NY
8. Fried Frank NY
9. Schulte Rose NY
10. . Jones Day DC
11. . Hogan Luvells NY
12. . Dechert DC
13. Cahill NY
14. Latham DC
15. . Akin Gump DC
16. . Ropes and Gray NY
17. NortonRose/Chadbourne NY
18. Paul Weiss NY
19. Fried Frank DC
20. Mayer Brown NY
21. Akin Gump NY
22. Cooley DC
23. Paul Hastings DC
24. . Greenberg Traurig LLP NY
25. White and Case NY
26. Kirkland and Ellis DC
27. Clifford Chance NY
28. Vinson Elkins DC
29. Fried Frank DC
30. Goodwin NY
31. Wilkie Farr NY
32. Kramer Levin NY
33. Gibson Dunn NY
34. Hughes Hubbard DC
35. Wilkie Farr DC
36. Kirkland and Ellis NY
37. Milbank NY
38. . Baker McKenzie ny
39. Paul Hastings NY
40. Debevoise NY
41. O’Melveny DC
42. Cromwell Moring DC
43. Venable DC
44. Cleary Gottleib DC
45. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP DC
46. Winston and Strawn NY
47. Arnold and Porter NY
48. Wilson Sonsini DC
49. Bois Schilller DC
50. Baker Mckenzie NY

[Slytherpuff]

It's still pretty aggressive - I would move more of the non-grade-conscious firms higher up and consider removing Skadden/Weil/Kirkland. I would move up the firms you mentioned (again, consider dropping Kirkland though). You should move Clifford Chance, Baker & McKenzie, and APKS up way higher on your list.

You should have a shot at an interview with most DC firms in the 20s and 30s, but getting an interview in the 40s is pretty rare. Not much you can do about that. Getting NY interviews in the 30s is unlikely too.

[elendinel]

I'd also consider dropping Cooley DC and Ropes NYC, just from personal knowledge of those firms.

[ernie]

Still. too. aggressive.

Do not waste bids on PW, K&E DC/NY, GDC, Debevoise, Cleary DC. I've heard OMM DC is grade selective too bc of its appellate practice but not positive.

You need more firms on the tier of DLA, Cadwalader, Winston, Dentons (not those exact firms necessarily but you get the picture).

[Anonymous User]

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[Anonymous User]

Serious question - for bidding - do ppl bid reach-firms high because they're willing to bet job prospects for prestige? Like, I know this sounds totally elementary, but if I don't care at all about prestige, should I just bid the lowest gpa's at the top of my list?

If I'm correct this should give me a lot of interveiws with firms I have a high-er than median gpa?

[Anonymous User]

Serious question - for bidding - do ppl bid reach-firms high because they're willing to bet job prospects for prestige? Like, I know this sounds totally elementary, but if I don't care at all about prestige, should I just bid the lowest gpa's at the top of my list?

If I'm correct this should give me a lot of interveiws with firms I have a high-er than median gpa?

Not sure this will help, since bidding is closed. I think what you're saying makes sense, but everybody will get about 22-23 interviews (I think?) so bidding some reach firms is not necessarily a great risk. If you are interviewing at 18 firms where you have a comfortable shot and 4 or 5 firms where it's a bit of a reach (but not a virtual impossibility), that seems like a reasonable tradeoff of job prospects for the potential at getting a more prestigious firm.

ETA: There are other reasons besides prestige for wanting more selective firms (exit opportunities, early responsibility, better compensation in some cases, etc)