Triple Issue: How you must perform law firm research (3 of 3)
Leave your emotions behind with this step; things you should just ignore.
(Continued from the previous one)
Now, consider the demographic data
We’re backtracking a bit because this information is on the NALP Directory, but we cover it here because it doesn’t apply to everyone in the same way. We won’t go too deep in analyzing this data - you do it yourself and think about what it means for your situation. However, we do want to note that we believe in the power of the individual, regardless of their background. We want you - our reader - to maximize your chances based on the realities of how things work at the law firm and beyond.
What we’ve observed is that law firms do not drastically alter their demographic constitution, including, for example, the ratios of minorities versus white associates. If it changes, it slowly changes. Same goes for men versus women ratios.
We want to set aside our emotions for now and think of these things as a reality you must consider when you bid on law firms or interview with them. (Ofcourse, even if you’re someone who wants to implement change on these matters, such change is not likely to happen in your screening interview.)
Specifically, a law firm’s demographic composition at the different levels (partners, counsel, associates) may impact your chances when there is a mismatch between the population of law students aiming to secure an offer at that firm versus the composition of the current associates at the firm. This can be good or bad for you, depending on the law firm and your background.
Let’s take a look at Debevoise:
Now consider these numbers in the context of the demographic composition of your law school.
For instance, say you’re a law student at Columbia. You can easily find the school’s student demographics online:
Let’s just look at women versus men here as an example. You see that while there are higher proportions of women at Debevoise at the associate and summer associate levels, there is actually a smaller proportion of women at Columbia Law School’s current 1Ls. Visualize this as follows:
People will find different things problematic with the ratios but right now - you should be thinking about your specific strategy to secure the best offers.
Assuming Debevoise hires women at the same rate and the demographic composition of Columbia law students interested in Debevoise somewhat match this class year’s demographic composition, Columbia law women might have a better chance at securing an offer than men at Debevoise. Do they have a better chance at Debevoise or at other law firms? That’s a question that also must be looked into at some point, by comparing the make up of those law firms with Debevoise’s.
And it might not be equal for all women (or men for that matter). Are you chances better or worse because you’re an Asian woman as opposed to a white woman? The data may provide insight into this. Whatever your angle, you should look at both the law firm data and any other relevant data you can get, such as your peer composition at your law school.
Now there are a couple of other points we want to cover, because we don’t want you to be misled.
Ignore things like…
AmLaw Global Rank - not meaningful.
You might have noticed that when we looked at Debevoise’s Amlaw profile, we didn’t talk about the Amlaw ranking itself. This is because the Amlaw ranking system is based just on overall revenue and the number by itself isn’t that meaningful. It’s profitability that matters. If you don’t know the difference between revenue and profit, check out the first two or three paragraphs in this short Investopedia article (no need to read the entire thing for our purposes).
“The Inside View” by Chambers Associate - fun to read, but better not to pay too much attention.
We can’t recommend relying on this too much. Smart, ambitious associates who have interesting lives don’t have time to respond to these calls. And people who find serious problems with their firms aren’t those with enough time or patience to spend time talking to someone they don’t know about their deepest issues. Basically, there could be severe selection biases at play here.
Vault Rankings - helpful only for certain aspects
The overall rankings may come in handy, as we’ll explain below.
However, be wary of the granular rankings they provide, especially with regard to practice areas (some of which are just missing, such as hedge fund-related practices) and categories that are just hard to understand what they mean.
For instance for “Best Law Firms for International Practice,” Debevoise scored #4 out of the top Vault 100 law firms, beating Latham, Shearman, Linklaters, Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance… We think the very reason Debevoise would be ranked higher than these law firms on anything “international” actually goes to the heart of the matter, which is the fact that Vault’s rankings are purely based on the perceptions of (mostly junior, we’re guessing) associates who generally don’t have a clue what they’re doing. We used to be junior associates too, so we know how it’s like. Very few of these junior associates actually interface with other law firms on important matters. And the mid-level or senior associates that are more knowledgable about other law firms based on actual experience just don’t have the time or patience to deal with these surveys.
However, we will note that the Overall Vault Rankings may come in handy when it comes to your bidding preference / order that law students are asked to submit for their school-hosted law firm interview bidding process.
As you may know already, typically your #1 bid provides you with a better chance than your #20 bid at securing an actual interview for your school-hosted interviews. However, that doesn’t mean your bidding preferences should exactly match your actual law firm preferences because there may be relative arbitrage opportunities in bidding, especially if your own law firm preferences (from 1 to 50 or whatever the number may be at your law school) is different from your peers as a group. If there is a mismatch (and there should be - you shouldn’t want exactly what the crowd wants!) all you have to do is ensure that you are safely ranking your preferred law firms generally at a higher level than what others are ranking it, but not much higher.
For instance, if you’re very interested in IP litigation and have done your homework, you’d probably be a fool not to consider Irell Manella, one of the top firms in this area. But alas, this firm is ranked 67 in Vault. Most of your peers probably won’t be ranking this firm very high. Irell may be in your top 5, but you may have a very decent chance at securing an interview with the firm merely by ranking it 15, saving the 14 higher spots for other law firms (even if some of them are personally less desirable to you than Irell but still more popular with other law students than Irell). Make sure you look at the number of interview slots available too. The lower the number of interview slots, the higher you should rank it all other things being equal.
If you’re an international student, you have extra homework.
Think twice before bidding on firms that have not done a good job of hosting green cards for their associates that aren’t citizens or green card holders if you are looking to work in the US. Immigration status concerns are real and some associates find themselves having to switch firms because their first law firm won’t support their green card application.
Don’t wait until it’s too late
For most of you, you will be asked to start bidding on law firms very, very soon. Depending on what practice areas you’re interested in, the law firms that are well-known in such areas, your grades and background, your career plans and work-life balance preferences, you will likely need to do research on 50 law firms at a minimum. Don’t wait until it’s too late.
Law schools tend not to provide too much assistance with law firm research itself because they simple cannot handle the work. (Imagine several hundred, anxious law students pounding on the doors of the office of career services for advice on law firms.) And because your specific circumstances will be different from everyone else’s you should rely on those resources at your fingertips that are immediately accessible at your own schedule.
Our plans at Top1L
We think we should be one of those resources. Most 1Ls don’t have reliable, conflict-free sources that have the deep experience in Biglaw we possess. Recruiters are conflicted. Law schools can’t criticize law firms or play with their data like we do. They can’t really help one student beat other students at the same school; yet this is what inevitably happens anyway because the best opportunities are scarce. Unfortunately, right now sometimes the people who get these opportunities get it somewhat randomly. We want to unrandomize that. We want to make those putting the effort truly succeed, at an explosive speed. And if you’ve already come this far, you could be one of them. It won’t be without effort. And it won’t be possible without insight. We provide that insight and help you allocate your effort the right way.
We are planning on rolling out some very interesting posts in the future, including how analysis of tracking the 10 year career histories for over 100 associates at one of the top law firms in the world and a very deep dive into cross law firm data comparison, which we believe will be immensely valuable for you.
Most of our posts will be free, but some of them will be paid-subscribers only, including the interview secrets series. But we know many of you have debt and your budget may be stretched by our subscription fee. So here’s a deal:
Free paid subscriptions up to 6 months
For every 1L law student you refer to us, you and your friend will get one free month of a paid subscription, up to 6 months (until September, when callbacks will begin to be scheduled). We think this is a great deal, but there’s more.
For every law student that is a 1L at a different school from yours, you and your friend will get 3 months free.
First, subscribe below with your law school email address, then send us an email with your friends’ law school email addresses, and we’ll take care of the rest.
Feel free to share this post with your friends as well.
Expiry date
The deal expires on Tuesday, March 10, 3:00 am ET (midnight PT).
(If you are already a paid subscriber, we will refund your monthly subscription fee for every law student you refer to us in the same manner described above, until all of your fees have been refunded.)