seancs14_IHB
New member
First, a little appreciation. I have been reading IHB for about 8 months now and it has been a great resource for me. Thanks to all the regular contributors. I really have enjoyed all your expertise. I remember reading mortgage ads in the LA times in 03-06 while visiting my parents and thinking how unsustainable and ridiculous the prices were.
I grew up in LA, but haven't lived in CA for about 11 years, since I graduated high school. I am in law school now at a good school and my wife and I would like to return to So. Cal. once I graduate, but we have a couple concerns I was hoping to get some insight on. Most large law firms hire summer interns in the fall after the first year of law school. The firm you intern at is the firm you generally end up working at, so we pretty much need to decide where we want to end up this fall.
We really like Orange County in general and have family there, so it is high on the list of our options. I don't want to work in downtown LA, so Orange County (or SD) is pretty much the main choice. I would consider Century City, but it is even more expensive to live anywhere with a reasonable commute than ORange County and my wife and I would prefer somewhere a little more easy-going and quiet than LA's westside or Santa Monica.
My questions are about Orange County's economy. It seems like the main industries are financial services, housing, and some biotech. there doesn't seem to be much else other than that. we're also considering Dallas and their economy seems so muchmore diverse and stronger, even excluding the current economic conditions. Dallas County's population is around 2.4mil (which exludes Fort Worth adn a lot of suburbs) and Orange Countys is around 3mil. Yet, a quick look on wikipedia on the number of companies based in each place is very different.
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Companies_based_in_Orange_County,_California">Companies based in Orange County</a>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_in_Dallas">Companies based just in the City of Dallas</a>. This excludes a lot of companies in the Dallas area, like Exxon and Frito Lay.
I realize Dallas overall is quite a bit larger, but it still seems like there aren't that many companies in Orange County and LA is too far away to really count companies based there since you can't realistically make that commute.
Where does everyone in Orange County work? Are there a lot more small business or are there large offices of companies that are not based in Orange County?
Lawyers are totally reliant on the existance of other companies for work, so a diverse economy would seem important. If a few industries get hammered, say hypothetically financial services and housing, then lawyers get hit doubly-hard. I want to do corporate/transactional work, so this is a big concern. Given the California premium of far higher taxes and higher housing costs (even after everything drops), a volatile legal market may just tip the scales away from moving back.
Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated, especially those that know the Orange County legal market or Dallas.
I grew up in LA, but haven't lived in CA for about 11 years, since I graduated high school. I am in law school now at a good school and my wife and I would like to return to So. Cal. once I graduate, but we have a couple concerns I was hoping to get some insight on. Most large law firms hire summer interns in the fall after the first year of law school. The firm you intern at is the firm you generally end up working at, so we pretty much need to decide where we want to end up this fall.
We really like Orange County in general and have family there, so it is high on the list of our options. I don't want to work in downtown LA, so Orange County (or SD) is pretty much the main choice. I would consider Century City, but it is even more expensive to live anywhere with a reasonable commute than ORange County and my wife and I would prefer somewhere a little more easy-going and quiet than LA's westside or Santa Monica.
My questions are about Orange County's economy. It seems like the main industries are financial services, housing, and some biotech. there doesn't seem to be much else other than that. we're also considering Dallas and their economy seems so muchmore diverse and stronger, even excluding the current economic conditions. Dallas County's population is around 2.4mil (which exludes Fort Worth adn a lot of suburbs) and Orange Countys is around 3mil. Yet, a quick look on wikipedia on the number of companies based in each place is very different.
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Companies_based_in_Orange_County,_California">Companies based in Orange County</a>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_in_Dallas">Companies based just in the City of Dallas</a>. This excludes a lot of companies in the Dallas area, like Exxon and Frito Lay.
I realize Dallas overall is quite a bit larger, but it still seems like there aren't that many companies in Orange County and LA is too far away to really count companies based there since you can't realistically make that commute.
Where does everyone in Orange County work? Are there a lot more small business or are there large offices of companies that are not based in Orange County?
Lawyers are totally reliant on the existance of other companies for work, so a diverse economy would seem important. If a few industries get hammered, say hypothetically financial services and housing, then lawyers get hit doubly-hard. I want to do corporate/transactional work, so this is a big concern. Given the California premium of far higher taxes and higher housing costs (even after everything drops), a volatile legal market may just tip the scales away from moving back.
Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated, especially those that know the Orange County legal market or Dallas.