Biglaw jobs

[Pompous101]

I was wondering what kind of marks you need from schools like USC, UCLA, Cornell or Michigan to get biglaw jobs in cities like L.A., Boston or Chicago.

[MITgrad]

I was wondering what kind of marks you need from schools like USC, UCLA, Cornell or Michigan to get biglaw jobs in cities like L.A., Boston or Chicago.

You need to be in the Top 30 fro USC or UCLA and have connections to the market that you are trying to get into. Boston is a self-selecting market, so unless you grew up there, you probably arent going to get into a biglaw firm from those schools; they would rather BC or Harvard grads, or even BU grads. Connections and networking can get your foot in the door though.

Cornell or Michigan will give you a much better chance in NY or Chicago. Still tough for Boston, but better than UCLA or USC. Top 40 should get you an interview from Cornell or Michigan at a NY or Chicago firm.   

[Pompous101]

Do you mean top 30/40 in your class?  Or top 30/40% in your class?

[Pompous101]

Could someone please give me a response?

[cerealkiller]

Yes he's talking about percentiles!

[T. Durden]

by virtue of being unable to figure that out on your own you have now been permanently black listed from any potential big law position

i'm sorry, but it's a competitive world out there

 

[nate]

EDIT: the post that this was a response to was deleted, so it probably makes no sense now on this thread. i'm leaving it up for the rare chance that it might help someone on this board.

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that's not true. he was talking about being ranked in the top 40% at schools in the t20 (USC and UCLA), t14 (cornell) and t10 (michigan).

it is still very possible to get a biglaw job at a t20 school if you finish in the top 50% of your class (though top third would be more of a guarantee). it's probably a little easier than that at cornell, and much easier at michigan. you only need to be top 10-15% and on LR for biglaw if you're at a school in low tier 1 or below.

and as far as YHS, i would venture to guess that at least 80% (maybe 90%) of the class could land biglaw jobs. in fact yale doesn't even have grades so it's probably more like 100%.

[Happy_Weasel]

I am thinking I could get Big Law in Denver if I land top 25%(top 20 students) (Holland and Hart) or top 40% with an LLM.

What is considered big,middle,small and micro law and the subsequent salaries?
                               
I am thinking: 2-12 under 45k (anyone can be)
               13-50 45-70K   (at least middle in class for small school, T3/4)
               50-150 70-100K (Top quarter for T3/4, top half for T2 and T1)
               150< 100K-14kK (You have to be from a local law school and Order of the Coif or at least in middle of class of T14 or from HYS)

[tenth8sphere]

This may be of interest. My guess is GENERALLY speaking, the percent hired at top 50 firms is roughly equal to the percent of the students in the class. IE, if your school hires 20 percent into biglaw, I would guess you'd want to be around top 20 percent (obviously at Yale/Harvard/etc a lot go into academia or other.) If you don't see your school, try to compare to similar ones, and keep in mind the percentages drop outside those listed schools.

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1126256708738

Hope it's some help for general guidelines.

[Ad oculos]

I am thinking I could get Big Law in Denver if I land top 25%(top 20 students) (Holland and Hart) or top 40% with an LLM.

What is considered big,middle,small and micro law and the subsequent salaries?
                               
I am thinking: 2-12 under 45k (anyone can be)
               13-50 45-70K   (at least middle in class for small school, T3/4)
               50-150 70-100K (Top quarter for T3/4, top half for T2 and T1)
               150< 100K-14kK (You have to be from a local law school and Order of the Coif or at least in middle of class of T14 or from HYS)

BIGLAW=make market in a national firm. So Jones Day in Cleveland ($135k) is BIGLAW, but something in Kansas City that pays $95k isn't.

I don't think an LLM will help you make BIGLAW.