Cravath vs. Davis Polk (Corporate / NYC) Forum
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Re: Cravath vs. Davis Polk (Corporate / NYC)
Anyone faced with this choice this year? I'm set on corporate and pretty torn between the two. I'm pretty confident the hours are identical at both so should I really make my decision based on personality/ rotation system?
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Re: Cravath vs. Davis Polk (Corporate / NYC)
I'm actually in the same exact boat. I'm 100% torn. The idea of saying no to Cravath now and never being able to go there again feels like a really big door to close so early on. At the same time, I think that as far as corporate goes (it should really be called transactional for a lot of firms, IMO), DPW has a few more of the smaller practice area options-- IP, real estate, etc., and I don't necessarily want to close doors on those either. I liked the people the same at both, but I think it really is going to come down to the "stuffiness" factor for me. DPW seems a TINY bit more laid back than Cravath in terms of BigLaw standards.
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Re: Cravath vs. Davis Polk (Corporate / NYC)
Soon-to-be-starting DPW associate here, so I'm slightly biased having made this choice myself. I'll add a couple thoughts:
1. I don't think the idea of "never being able to work at CSM if I don't choose it now" is a legitimate reason to choose CSM (and there are many legitimate reasons to choose CSM). I have heard other people say that, and it just doesn't make sense to me. Historically, none of the cream-of-the-crop white-shoe firms in NYC (DPW, S+C, STB) take on tons of laterals. Sure, you might be able to lateral to one of them later on, but you're only going to work at so many firms in your career, and you won't be lateraling to all of these firms. So some of the doors are already "closed" in the sense that they won't all be hiring associates with your skill sets -- you just don't know which ones they are.
2. I know two associates at Davis Polk who previously worked at Cravath (not to undermine my previous point, lol), and they said the hours are absolutely worse at CSM. (I understand this is anecdotal, but few people have worked at both firms.) You will certainly work many long days at DPW, but the centralized assignment system makes it a bit easier to avoid getting absolutely crushed all the time (though that will still happen). In the rotation system at CSM you have nowhere to hide.
3. Speaking of the rotation system, I think that's what the choice should really come down to if you can't decide based on firm culture ("stuffy and slightly aggressive" vs. "polite and passive-aggressive"), the associates you liked more, etc. It's hard for me to imagine someone being completely ambivalent in regards to the rotation system.
1. I don't think the idea of "never being able to work at CSM if I don't choose it now" is a legitimate reason to choose CSM (and there are many legitimate reasons to choose CSM). I have heard other people say that, and it just doesn't make sense to me. Historically, none of the cream-of-the-crop white-shoe firms in NYC (DPW, S+C, STB) take on tons of laterals. Sure, you might be able to lateral to one of them later on, but you're only going to work at so many firms in your career, and you won't be lateraling to all of these firms. So some of the doors are already "closed" in the sense that they won't all be hiring associates with your skill sets -- you just don't know which ones they are.
2. I know two associates at Davis Polk who previously worked at Cravath (not to undermine my previous point, lol), and they said the hours are absolutely worse at CSM. (I understand this is anecdotal, but few people have worked at both firms.) You will certainly work many long days at DPW, but the centralized assignment system makes it a bit easier to avoid getting absolutely crushed all the time (though that will still happen). In the rotation system at CSM you have nowhere to hide.
3. Speaking of the rotation system, I think that's what the choice should really come down to if you can't decide based on firm culture ("stuffy and slightly aggressive" vs. "polite and passive-aggressive"), the associates you liked more, etc. It's hard for me to imagine someone being completely ambivalent in regards to the rotation system.
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