AJF Bid List Review Forum

[Anonymous User]

Any Cornell 3Ls or graduates willing to take a look at my bid list? 3.35 GPA, bidding almost exclusively NYC firms. Incredibly worried and just want to bid in a way that maximizes my chances of getting something from AJF. Thanks!

[mt2165]

Im a Cornell alum if you wanna pm me or just post it. But fwiw 3.35 is perfectly fine if you're a decent interviewer. I'd generally bid large NYC classes outside of the really elite firms. Think Sherman, Dechert, White and Case, Wilkie, Paul Hastings etc.

[Anonymous User]

Im a Cornell alum if you wanna pm me or just post it. But fwiw 3.35 is perfectly fine if you're a decent interviewer. I'd generally bid large NYC classes outside of the really elite firms. Think Sherman, Dechert, White and Case, Wilkie, Paul Hastings etc.

This is my rough draft that I sent career services. I thought about putting Paul Hastings higher because career services has them as Flexible, but I saw they're ranked #21 on the new Vault list and thought they might be out of reach for me. Perkins, Foley, and Jones Day are Chicago, everything else is NYC.

Edit: For some reason I didn't see White and Case on the list of firms for Tuesday when I was making my list, so that's why they're not on there. I plan on bidding them now, though.

Monday:
Reed Smith LLP
Baker Botts L.L.P.
Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP
Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Clifford Chance US LLP
Hogan Lovells LLP
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP
Crowell & Moring LLP
Perkins Coie LLP
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Seward & Kissel LLP
WilmerHale LLP
Morrison & Foerster LLP

Tuesday:
Goodwin LLP
Foley & Lardner
Linklaters
Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Vinson & Elkins
King & Spalding LLP
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
Dechert LLP
Morgan Lewis & Bockius
Paul Hastings, LLP
Jones Day
Sidley Austin LLP
Baker & McKenzie

Wednesday
Greenberg Traurig LLP
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Winston & Strawn LLP
Alston & Bird LLP
Fox Rothschild LLP
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
Milbank LLP
Cooley LLP
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Pepper Hamilton LLP
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Holland & Knight
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP

[mt2165]

Im a Cornell alum if you wanna pm me or just post it. But fwiw 3.35 is perfectly fine if you're a decent interviewer. I'd generally bid large NYC classes outside of the really elite firms. Think Sherman, Dechert, White and Case, Wilkie, Paul Hastings etc.

This is my rough draft that I sent career services. I thought about putting Paul Hastings higher because career services has them as Flexible, but I saw they're ranked #21 on the new Vault list and thought they might be out of reach for me. Perkins, Foley, and Jones Day are Chicago, everything else is NYC.

Edit: For some reason I didn't see White and Case on the list of firms for Tuesday when I was making my list, so that's why they're not on there. I plan on bidding them now, though.

Monday:
Reed Smith LLP
Baker Botts L.L.P.
Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP
Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Clifford Chance US LLP
Hogan Lovells LLP
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP
Crowell & Moring LLP
Perkins Coie LLP
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Seward & Kissel LLP
WilmerHale LLP
Morrison & Foerster LLP

Tuesday:
Goodwin LLP
Foley & Lardner
Linklaters
Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Vinson & Elkins
King & Spalding LLP
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
Dechert LLP
Morgan Lewis & Bockius
Paul Hastings, LLP
Jones Day
Sidley Austin LLP
Baker & McKenzie

Wednesday
Greenberg Traurig LLP
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Winston & Strawn LLP
Alston & Bird LLP
Fox Rothschild LLP
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
Milbank LLP
Cooley LLP
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Pepper Hamilton LLP
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Holland & Knight
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP

I'll try and give you a more complete mark-up of this list later (cause id personally move a lot around here), but DO NOT pay attention to vault as a proxy for selectivity because that's literally not how it works. There's *some* correlation for corporate practices in NYC, but depending on what you want to do still could be very misleading. It looks like you're targeting firms with strictly lower GPA averages, but you really need to be targeting firms marked as flexible and with LARGE summer classes, like 50+. So like, don't waste a #2 bid on Foley unless you have some really strong reason of taking them. Their nyc office is pretty small and so, probably too, is their summer class. Your 3.35 is within the range of acceptable for standard NYC biglaw.

Edit: seeing Foley is in Chicago. Still wouldn't bid them that high because I doubt they're a competitive bid.

[Anonymous User]

Im a Cornell alum if you wanna pm me or just post it. But fwiw 3.35 is perfectly fine if you're a decent interviewer. I'd generally bid large NYC classes outside of the really elite firms. Think Sherman, Dechert, White and Case, Wilkie, Paul Hastings etc.

This is my rough draft that I sent career services. I thought about putting Paul Hastings higher because career services has them as Flexible, but I saw they're ranked #21 on the new Vault list and thought they might be out of reach for me. Perkins, Foley, and Jones Day are Chicago, everything else is NYC.

Edit: For some reason I didn't see White and Case on the list of firms for Tuesday when I was making my list, so that's why they're not on there. I plan on bidding them now, though.

Monday:
Reed Smith LLP
Baker Botts L.L.P.
Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP
Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Clifford Chance US LLP
Hogan Lovells LLP
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP
Crowell & Moring LLP
Perkins Coie LLP
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Seward & Kissel LLP
WilmerHale LLP
Morrison & Foerster LLP

Tuesday:
Goodwin LLP
Foley & Lardner
Linklaters
Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Vinson & Elkins
King & Spalding LLP
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
Dechert LLP
Morgan Lewis & Bockius
Paul Hastings, LLP
Jones Day
Sidley Austin LLP
Baker & McKenzie

Wednesday
Greenberg Traurig LLP
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Winston & Strawn LLP
Alston & Bird LLP
Fox Rothschild LLP
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
Milbank LLP
Cooley LLP
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Pepper Hamilton LLP
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Holland & Knight
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP

I'll try and give you a more complete mark-up of this list later (cause id personally move a lot around here), but DO NOT pay attention to vault as a proxy for selectivity because that's literally not how it works. There's *some* correlation for corporate practices in NYC, but depending on what you want to do still could be very misleading. It looks like you're targeting firms with strictly lower GPA averages, but you really need to be targeting firms marked as flexible and with LARGE summer classes, like 50+. So like, don't waste a #2 bid on Foley unless you have some really strong reason of taking them. Their nyc office is pretty small and so, probably too, is their summer class. Your 3.35 is within the range of acceptable for standard NYC biglaw.

Edit: seeing Foley is in Chicago. Still wouldn't bid them that high because I doubt they're a competitive bid.

Thank you for your help. I've went through and made some changes and also included the number of interview slots for each firm.

Monday:

Reed Smith LLP 20
Shearman and Sterling LLP 40
Cahill Gordon 60
Fried Frank 60
Clifford Chance 80
Hogan Lovells 40
WilmerHale LLP 40
Akin Gump 40
Baker Botts LLP 20
Seward and Kissel 20
Crowell and Moring 20
Morrison and Foerster 20
Pillsbury Winthrop 20
Perkins Coie 20
Kasowitz Benson Torres 20
Vedder Price 20
Epstein Becker 13
McKool Smith 20

Tuesday:

Goodwin LLP 20
Dechert LLP 40
White and Case 60
Schulte Roth & Zabel 60
Paul Hastings 40
Cadwalader 80
Linklaters 40
Jones Day 40
King and Spalding 20
Morgan Lewis 40
Foley & Lardner 20
Baker & McKenzie 20
Vinson & Elkins 20
Norton Rose Fulbright 9
Kelley Drye & Warren 20
Hunton Andrews Kurth 20
Lowenstein Sandler 20
Richards, Layton & Finger (DE) 20
K&L Gates (Pittsburgh) 20

Wednesday:

Greenberg Traurig 20
Willkie Farr 40
Mayer Brown 20
Stroock & Stroock 20
Proskauer 20
Millbank 40
Cooley 20
Arnold & Porter 20
Alston & Bird 20
Winston & Strawn 40
Hughes Hubbard 20
Fox Rothschild 20
Holland & Knight 20
Pepper Hamilton 20
O'Melveny & Myers 20
Selendy & Gay 20
Ice Miller 20
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter 20
Freshfields 40
Wilson Sonsini 20
Withers Bergman 20

[Yea All Right]

Is it still the case that you have an unlimited number of bids? If so, then also bid on all the firms that you would be willing to work at (even if they're outside your GPA range, you can just place those near the bottom). That way after the lottery you can email the firms you didn't get interviews with and truthfully say that you bid on them and were disappointed to not get an interview. This might snag you another interview or two.

Also go to the summer receptions that firms are hosting because you may be able to get an interview through them or a talking point for an application. Pre-OCI interviews seem to be more common than they used to be too.

[Anonymous User]

Is it still the case that you have an unlimited number of bids? If so, then also bid on all the firms that you would be willing to work at (even if they're outside your GPA range, you can just place those near the bottom). That way after the lottery you can email the firms you didn't get interviews with and truthfully say that you bid on them and were disappointed to not get an interview. This might snag you another interview or two.

Also go to the summer receptions that firms are hosting because you may be able to get an interview through them or a talking point for an application. Pre-OCI interviews seem to be more common than they used to be too.

Yeah we still have an unlimited number of bids. And thanks, I hadn't thought of doing that but it's a really good idea. Do you think I should make any changes to what I have? It was a little tough figuring out which order to put firms in for my top few slots each day.

[Yea All Right]

Is it still the case that you have an unlimited number of bids? If so, then also bid on all the firms that you would be willing to work at (even if they're outside your GPA range, you can just place those near the bottom). That way after the lottery you can email the firms you didn't get interviews with and truthfully say that you bid on them and were disappointed to not get an interview. This might snag you another interview or two.

Also go to the summer receptions that firms are hosting because you may be able to get an interview through them or a talking point for an application. Pre-OCI interviews seem to be more common than they used to be too.

Yeah we still have an unlimited number of bids. And thanks, I hadn't thought of doing that but it's a really good idea. Do you think I should make any changes to what I have? It was a little tough figuring out which order to put firms in for my top few slots each day.

Generally looks ok. I do think you should move up Winston on Wednesday near the top. And maybe Fried Frank above Cahill on Tuesday (also Wilmer is likely a wasted bid due to GPA).

[mt2165]

Im a Cornell alum if you wanna pm me or just post it. But fwiw 3.35 is perfectly fine if you're a decent interviewer. I'd generally bid large NYC classes outside of the really elite firms. Think Sherman, Dechert, White and Case, Wilkie, Paul Hastings etc.

This is my rough draft that I sent career services. I thought about putting Paul Hastings higher because career services has them as Flexible, but I saw they're ranked #21 on the new Vault list and thought they might be out of reach for me. Perkins, Foley, and Jones Day are Chicago, everything else is NYC.

Edit: For some reason I didn't see White and Case on the list of firms for Tuesday when I was making my list, so that's why they're not on there. I plan on bidding them now, though.

Monday:
Reed Smith LLP
Baker Botts L.L.P.
Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP
Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Clifford Chance US LLP
Hogan Lovells LLP
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP
Crowell & Moring LLP
Perkins Coie LLP
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Seward & Kissel LLP
WilmerHale LLP
Morrison & Foerster LLP

Tuesday:
Goodwin LLP
Foley & Lardner
Linklaters
Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Vinson & Elkins
King & Spalding LLP
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
Dechert LLP
Morgan Lewis & Bockius
Paul Hastings, LLP
Jones Day
Sidley Austin LLP
Baker & McKenzie

Wednesday
Greenberg Traurig LLP
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Winston & Strawn LLP
Alston & Bird LLP
Fox Rothschild LLP
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
Milbank LLP
Cooley LLP
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Pepper Hamilton LLP
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Holland & Knight
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP

I'll try and give you a more complete mark-up of this list later (cause id personally move a lot around here), but DO NOT pay attention to vault as a proxy for selectivity because that's literally not how it works. There's *some* correlation for corporate practices in NYC, but depending on what you want to do still could be very misleading. It looks like you're targeting firms with strictly lower GPA averages, but you really need to be targeting firms marked as flexible and with LARGE summer classes, like 50+. So like, don't waste a #2 bid on Foley unless you have some really strong reason of taking them. Their nyc office is pretty small and so, probably too, is their summer class. Your 3.35 is within the range of acceptable for standard NYC biglaw.

Edit: seeing Foley is in Chicago. Still wouldn't bid them that high because I doubt they're a competitive bid.

Thank you for your help. I've went through and made some changes and also included the number of interview slots for each firm.

Monday:

Reed Smith LLP 20
Shearman and Sterling LLP 40
Cahill Gordon 60
Fried Frank 60
Clifford Chance 80
Hogan Lovells 40
WilmerHale LLP 40
Akin Gump 40
Baker Botts LLP 20
Seward and Kissel 20
Crowell and Moring 20
Morrison and Foerster 20
Pillsbury Winthrop 20
Perkins Coie 20
Kasowitz Benson Torres 20
Vedder Price 20
Epstein Becker 13
McKool Smith 20

Tuesday:

Goodwin LLP 20
Dechert LLP 40
White and Case 60
Schulte Roth & Zabel 60
Paul Hastings 40
Cadwalader 80
Linklaters 40
Jones Day 40
King and Spalding 20
Morgan Lewis 40
Foley & Lardner 20
Baker & McKenzie 20
Vinson & Elkins 20
Norton Rose Fulbright 9
Kelley Drye & Warren 20
Hunton Andrews Kurth 20
Lowenstein Sandler 20
Richards, Layton & Finger (DE) 20
K&L Gates (Pittsburgh) 20

Wednesday:

Greenberg Traurig 20
Willkie Farr 40
Mayer Brown 20
Stroock & Stroock 20
Proskauer 20
Millbank 40
Cooley 20
Arnold & Porter 20
Alston & Bird 20
Winston & Strawn 40
Hughes Hubbard 20
Fox Rothschild 20
Holland & Knight 20
Pepper Hamilton 20
O'Melveny & Myers 20
Selendy & Gay 20
Ice Miller 20
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter 20
Freshfields 40
Wilson Sonsini 20
Withers Bergman 20

I might move up Seward & Kissel Monday. If this is Wilmer NYC then it's probably fine where it's at but might push it down a bit. I'd move Morgan Lewis up maybe a couple spots, maybe above Jones Day-Chicago? You're just looking for an offer which is completely understandable but Cadwalader sounds like actual hell. Wednesday you need to move Winston way up, like top 4. It should probably directly swap with Mayer Brown. This overall looks pretty good though OP I think you have a great prospects!