I'm a 1L student who's attended a few talks about the practice, and there's a few professors at my school who are experts in the field. The work seems interesting, and I'm thinking about asking these professors for a chat about their previous experience to find out more. But I don't want to waste their time if it turns out that I have no chance at breaking into this field, especially as a KJD with no second language proficiency.
Does anyone have any anecdotes or knowledge of how competitive this field is to get into? I'm not aiming for the best of the best in the practice, but would like to work at a big law firm. For context, my first semester grades put me in the top 1/3 at my mid-to-lower-tier T14. Thank you!!
How competitive is it to get into international arbitration at a big law firm? Forum
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FriendlyCereal
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2020 1:53 am
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crazywafflez
- Posts: 680
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Re: How competitive is it to get into international arbitration at a big law firm?
You are competitive. Just be open to different practice groups in case you don't get it, but you're competitive. It also has terrible hours- just a heads up.
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nealric
- Posts: 4291
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Re: How competitive is it to get into international arbitration at a big law firm?
It would help quite a bit if you had foreign language proficiency (especially French), but it's possible to get. This is not a situation where it's about grades so much as landing at a firm that happens to have availability at the right time (and the decisionmakers liking you and your work during the summer). You may not know if that's the case until after you've completed your summer. Even firms with relatively robust international arbitration practices aren't hiring dozens of fresh associates every year like they would general commercial litigation.
