Help with 2L OCI Bids Forum

[lawthrowaway44]

I am somewhere near the top of my class at a T3 (all Hs, 3+ prizes) and am wondering what firms to bid for 2L OCI. I'm interested in litigation, but don't have a ton more direction outside of that (though I think I'd be better served going to a litigation boutique than a normal full service firm). Interested mostly in the CA market, LA preferably. Any thoughts on the best litigation boutiques/litigation-focused firms to bid on for someone with my background?

[lawschoolistough23]

I am somewhere near the top of my class at a T3 (all Hs, 3+ prizes) and am wondering what firms to bid for 2L OCI. I'm interested in litigation, but don't have a ton more direction outside of that (though I think I'd be better served going to a litigation boutique than a normal full service firm). Interested mostly in the CA market, LA preferably. Any thoughts on the best litigation boutiques/litigation-focused firms to bid on for someone with my background?

Congrats, first off! Assuming T3 means HYS here.

There are more important things than figuring out OCI for you right now - game planning clerkships recommenders and seeing if you can snag something off plan at one of the less conservative feeders (Sutton or Bibas come to mind).

But, the major CA lit boutiques are Munger, Hueston Hennigan and Keker. Throw in Dovel if you are interested in plaintiffs work. The CA lit scene is dominated by the full service firms with strong lit practices (Gibson, Latham, MoFo, Quinn) but they aren't known for giving early experience (outside of Quinn-ish).

If you are fully interested in the boutique thing, boutiques are notably prevalent in DC, NYC, and weirdly, TX. Bartlit Beck is a (very notable) exception in Chicago. The DC boutiques skew appellate but some have complimentary trial groups (Kellogg, Munger). The NYC boutiques are all over the map (Kaplan Hecker = PI firm-ish, Kobre = white collar, Selendy is just small Quinn). The TX boutiques seem to do everything.

But, a lot of the boutiques are not going to be coming to OCI. I was at HLS and only Susman, Dovel, Keker, and Munger came to 2L OCI. Kellogg just started coming to 3L OCI. A lot of these places make return offers contingent on obtaining a clerkship (or already having one), which is a big part of why the off plan apps are important if you are interested in going down this path.