I noticed Dawit's "BigLaw" in the "MoneyConcerns" page turned into a blue word with a question mark, meaning it hasn't been discussed before on the Twiki. Maybe this is something to discuss, even outside of the money concerns discussion. I wanted to try out this function, but this is what we all talk about day to day here at CLS, so maybe a conversation in the context of this class would be useful. Personally, I feel that it's strange that BigLaw is such a given for all of us. It's so definite that we talk so much about it. Yet so many of us have internal conflict with it. It's pretty amazing that this is nearly guaranteed for us, but I wonder how this sits with everyone else? -- OliviaMartinez - 04 Feb 2021

Hey Olivia, thanks for making this topic. I completely agree, and I think it is also strange that the "default" is going to Biglaw. There might be competing forces at play, however, that might be worth discussing if you or anyone else had any thoughts. The first is that even before I came to Columbia, I was already aware of its strong BigLaw focussed reputation. I don't actually remember how I figured that out, but I was made aware somehow. The other factor is Columbia's location, where maybe by being in the heart of NYC and relatively close to all these firms, OCI (back when it was in person) was very simple to run and from there the school built these relationships with many of the BigLaw firms. To be clear, I am not making a value judgment, but I just wanted to throw these factors out there to see if anyone else had any thoughts or other explanations as to why Columbia is so BigLaw focussed.

-- DylanShamoon - 05 Feb 2021