WUSTLplacement in the pacific region

[cisforcookie]

Does anyone have any strong insight into how difficult this would be? Of particular interest would be Oregon and Washington, where I have some friends and family, but northern california is also attractive.

[FB]

This link will give you an idea of what firms do OCI at WUSTL as well as the class rank cutoffs. There aren't too many firms from the PNW, but I suspect that you could do some of your own legwork and get a decent job there.

http://law.wustl.edu/career_services/doc/employerlistforweb.pdf

[Karma Sucks]

You will have to do your own legwork, but if you are top 1/3, I think you can get good offers in the northwest (Seattle/Portland).  The problem you will have is that most decent firms only like to give offers to those that might stay for a while.  The northwest is particularly insular like that.  They don't want to spend 2 years training someone only to have them leave once they are getting truly useful.  So you may have to really pound the drum of "Why I want to live in ______ for a long long time."  Family connection is always good for this.

I'm currently living in Seattle with my wife, who is an attorney here.  I will probably be going to WUSTL (FT offer, hard to turn down), before returning to Seattle.

BTW, even without connections, its possible to break into the market here.  Just harder.  My wife and I are east-coasters with no left coast connections, but I've always loved this area so after law school at Michigan my wife searched for jobs here.  She had multiple offers.

Good luck.

[cisforcookie]

Yeah, I wasn't expecting too many firms at OCI. It's a pretty small school. I had somehow not seen this file though. I am more curious whether people feel that there is any carry of reputation toward the west coast for a school like WUSTL, which is certainly some sort of a regional power but may not be much more, or whether a prospective employer in say seattle will look at a resume and cover letter and just say "Washington University? don't you mean University of Washington? obviously a typo. reject pile". My uncle is a lawyer in seattle, and my interest in the area is one of a permanent move, so maybe I can sell that. Your comments have been very helpful, thanks.

[wustl3l]

I am going to the west coast, although not the pacific northwest. The WashU reputation is pretty good out there. I never ran into anyone who wasn't familiar with the school and the rank. I think it's primarily due to the PR the school has received because of the rise in rank.

Not many Pacific NW schools recruit at OCI or the West Coast program but like the other poster said you should be good to go if you have some ties. I'd venture a guess to say that if your grades are good that you could do alright with no ties.

Here are some statistics from the 2006 off-campus recruiting programs that might help a little.

http://law.wustl.edu/career_services/doc/ALL2006IntervProgStats.pdf

[FB]

I'm actually hoping to end up in the Seattle area. I grew up there and that is where my family lives. Hopefully that will help if I end up in St. Louis for a few years.

I think it's primarily due to the PR the school has received because of the rise in rank.

Have you seen much change in the perception of the school during your time there?

[wustl3l]

Well if you have family there then I think you should do alright if you do some legwork (i.e., mass mail).

I haven't really seen much of a difference in perception. All of the attorneys I knew prior to entering law school all knew that it was a very good school and encouraged me to go and that continued when I was interviewing. I think I came into the fold too late to experience the difference in perception.

What I did find interesting was that the older WashU alum that I interviewed with were all a little bitter that they didn't get to take advantage of the ranking and facilities when they were in school. I don't necessarily think it was a negative but almost uniformly came up in the interview.

[FB]

Well if you have family there then I think you should do alright if you do some legwork (i.e., mass mail).

I haven't really seen much of a difference in perception. All of the attorneys I knew prior to entering law school all knew that it was a very good school and encouraged me to go and that continued when I was interviewing. I think I came into the fold too late to experience the difference in perception.

What I did find interesting was that the older WashU alum that I interviewed with were all a little bitter that they didn't get to take advantage of the ranking and facilities when they were in school. I don't necessarily think it was a negative but almost uniformly came up in the interview.

That is pretty interesting about the older alumni. The new building looks really nice--can't wait to see it in a few weeks. What are some of the best and worst things about the school? I kind of applied on a whim, but not it's looking more and more like I will end up there.

[wustl3l]

Off the top of my head:

Best: Great facilities, lots of commitment to make the school top notch (i.e., they don't mind spending money on salaries, staff, scholarships, etc.), VERY laid back student body, relatively strong national placement compared to lower ranked schools.

Worst: Career services not proactive in helping those who don't get jobs out of OCI (it's still relatively to get a job but the CSO office isn't very helpful), relatively weak national placement compared to higher ranked schools especially in the West and Southeast, St. Louis legal community not too supportive of the school (they almost consider the students carpetbaggers and prefer SLU and Mizzou students for the most part).

[FB]

Off the top of my head:

Best: Great facilities, lots of commitment to make the school top notch (i.e., they don't mind spending money on salaries, staff, scholarships, etc.), VERY laid back student body, relatively strong national placement compared to lower ranked schools.

Worst: Career services not proactive in helping those who don't get jobs out of OCI (it's still relatively to get a job but the CSO office isn't very helpful), relatively weak national placement compared to higher ranked schools especially in the West and Southeast, St. Louis legal community not too supportive of the school (they almost consider the students carpetbaggers and prefer SLU and Mizzou students for the most part).

I've heard that about the St. Louis community--kind of disappointing, but understandable all the same.

If you don't mind, what did you study? How were the professors in that area?