Denver firms

[ilovecolo]

Does anyone here have a good sense of the reputations of various firms in Denver and how hard they are to get a summer associate position at?  I'm a 1L at a T20 school and am planning to return to Denver (where I am originally from) after law school.  It looks like some of the national firms pay $160k starting, like Gibson Dunn and Arnold and Porter, and the rest pay around $120k.  Any sense of how hard it would be to get one of these jobs?

[nealric]

They are all really tough to get to tell the truth- generally much harder than NY/DC biglaw if you are not from DU/CU. The problem is they don't have large class sizes like firms in bigger markets. The fact that you are from Denver helps (in fact it is almost a prerequisite), but you are going to need some serious grades to seal the deal.

Definitely apply for a 1L clerkship (despite the fact that it's pretty much futile) for the reason of establishing your interest.

As for starting salaries. The 160k firms are only going to hire 1-2 a year, if that. The firms with a big Denver presence (Holland & Hart, Fagre, Shearman & Howard) will have larger class sizes, and are therefore a more reasonable goal. 

[Matthies]

They are all really tough to get to tell the truth- generally much harder than NY/DC biglaw if you are not from DU/CU. The problem is they don't have large class sizes like firms in bigger markets. The fact that you are from Denver helps (in fact it is almost a prerequisite), but you are going to need some serious grades to seal the deal.

Definitely apply for a 1L clerkship (despite the fact that it's pretty much futile) for the reason of establishing your interest.

As for starting salaries. The 160k firms are only going to hire 1-2 a year, if that. The firms with a big Denver presence (Holland & Hart, Fagre, Shearman & Howard) will have larger class sizes, and are therefore a more reasonable goal. 

Pretty much agree with Nelric here, 120k is normal big law in Denver. Join the Co bar assoication is free for studnets and the weekly newsletter does a good job of letting you know what going on in the Denver market. Play up your Denver contacts, its a very insular market and they really do prefer local grads becuase CO is so tranistnt