50 Market Survey (Secondary Market Advice Compilation)

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Not all lawyers work in NYC, believe it or not. And not all markets hire the same way, work flow the same way, or developed as a legal market the same way. I think, as a profession, we need to embrace that each market is unique, the qualifications required for each market is different, and people looking to get into that market must substantially understand the nuances of that market before they try to get a job there. While this compilation will be primarily geared toward the big firms in these markets, advice can absolutely be included on the PI, local government, and any other area of the profession that you are familiar with.

Want to learn more about your market? Here is where you will find it!

Links to the specific markets:
Southern CA
Pacific Northwest
North Carolina
Chicago/IL
Dallas
Minneapolis/Minnesota
North Dakota/South Dakota
Delaware

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The LA Market thread has some dedicated members who can answer most questions about the LA/OC market.

Southern CA

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Ezrafitz's guide to DE

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Pacific Northwest

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Chicago/Illinois

Caveat: This is a jumping off point, people should feel welcome to push back on certain points and correct anything I don't know what I'm talking about.

Biglaw Firms
Kirkland - the leader of the pack and considered most prestigious firm in the city. Have established practice areas in basically anything and everything. They've got litigators that encompass the entire spectrum: commercial, securities, IP, etc. Private equity is their bread and butter, including fund formation and capital markets. They also have established more traditional M&A corporate practices. They seem to hire a lot of Chicago and Northwestern students through OCI and then will fill in gaps with a very active lateral hiring market that is experience focused and will consider those with good experience from less prestigious backgrounds.

Skadden - Chicago leader in tax work. Also very built out real estate capital markets group.
OCI hiring pretty prestige driven, so lots of UChicago grads.

Moving into the middle tier of Winston, McDermott Will & Emery, Sidley, and Mayer Brown.
Winston is a very traditional, old school firm. Fine top to bottom, but I think they stand out in their litigation. They want to be pretty prestige focused in hiring but probably have to dip to some schools they would not otherwise prefer to for the right candidates (e.g., Illinois, Ohio State, etc.)
MWE: People here bill a lot. They've got a really great tax practice that includes international tax planning and state and local controversy. They also have a fine corporate M&A group. I don't think they are too prestige focused in hiring and will hire the right candidate regardless of school if wow-ed.
Sidley: They do a lot of things well and are probably the most complete firm here in this tier. They have strangleholds on some niche litigations, niche tax groups, good corporate group etc. They are pretty old school/white shoe and prefer to hire from the prestigious law schools.
Mayer Brown: this is what I would consider the first Chicago blue collar law firm listed. They hire from all the schools in the city and state if you excel with grades/law review. They do a lot of debt finance/collateralization work, which is a pretty niche type of work that does not lead to many exit options but can make you an above average player in the firm. They also have an alright tax group that does everything from deal support to the corporate and above mentioned debt finance work, federal controversy, and some transfer pricing planning.

The last tier of big firms Baker McKenzie, Morgan Lewis, DLA Piper, Katten, Jones Day etc. All of these firms, generally (consult Chambers and Partners because they all have some niches with huge rainmakers) are characterized by doing lower margin work that other firms don't really care about doing/clients won't pay top dollar for including employee/labor employment; lower stakes litigation; generic corporate work etc. They hire from all law schools (if the right grades and fit) and across the entire midwest region.

Not market paying big firms:
Lots of litigation work that represent insurers in everything from run of the mill insurance defense to subrogation etc. Johnson Bell, Hinshaw Culbertson, Schiff Hardin, etc.

Best Personal Injury Firms
Chicago is the birthplace of the best PI firms because of the infamous Cook County jury (that until recently gave the largest awards)
Clifford is the poster boy, but he has spun off several proteges at this point that have done the same including his most famous Corboy and Demetrio

If I were to be very general in what all of these firms are looking for I think Skadden and Kirkland are looking for prestigious educations and smart people. They don't care about ties because their model doesn't need people to stick around. All of the other firms are sensitive to ties and want to know why Chicago and want people that will try and cut it there for an entire career.

Obviously the litigation firms (PI and non-market) are most focused on real litigation/trial experience and do not care about any prestige oriented credentials. They hire a lot from the state's attorney/DA offices.

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