Cornell August Job Fair Bidding Question Forum

[Anonymous User]

Cornell Rising 2L
3.76 GPA (Top 10% is 3.81- not sure where this puts me)
No word on journals yet

Would preferably like to do transactional work in DC and NYC. Would prefer DC but realize this may not be the best strategy for landing the best job which is why I need advice. I don't want to sacrifice working at a V20 firm if my chances of working for a great firm in DC doing transactions are slim.

Is Sullivan & Cromwell DC even worth a bid? What about Cravath NY? Latham DC? Weil?

[thesealocust]

(1) There is almost no transactional work done in DC. Hogan might be the biggest department at something like 100 attorneys.

(2) S&C DC is tiny (under 50 lawyers). They claim to do transactional work, but my guess is it's mostly litigation + regulatory work (financial institutions / anti-trust & merger clearance) out of the DC office. Definitely research it more thoroughly, but be careful of just assuming that a great transactional firm with a DC office must make for a great transactional practice in DC.

(3) With your grades you're easily competitive at every firm you listed. You won't get offers at every firm, because this isn't like applying to college, but none of those are going to take issue with your GPA during an interview.

[seriouslyinformative]

(1) There is almost no transactional work done in DC. Hogan might be the biggest department at something like 100 attorneys.

There are quite a few firms that do private equity/transactional work out of DC.

[thesealocust]

(1) There is almost no transactional work done in DC. Hogan might be the biggest department at something like 100 attorneys.

There are quite a few firms that do private equity/transactional work out of DC.

I'm really not sure what point you're trying to make here? I don't disagree with you, which you can probably discern from my own post that conceded some transactional work was done in DC.

[seriouslyinformative]

I'm really not sure what point you're trying to make here? I don't disagree with you, which you can probably discern from my own post that conceded some transactional work was done in DC.

"Some" is ambiguous. "Almost no," is different from the claim I was making. I think there is a substantial amount of corporate work done in DC. It's not anywhere near the scale of NYC, but it's definitely not as small as "almost no." Maybe I'm nitpicking?

Latham & Watkins and K&E do a substantial amount of private equity work in DC. For public M&A, Skadden and Hogan are good picks. Covington also runs their fair share of deals. Again, they're not at the top of league tables, but all these firms contribute to a sizable amount of corporate work in DC.

[thesealocust]

Right. I don't disagree with you, and I don't want to come across as arguing or nitpicking. The point I'm trying to make is that the DC litigation + regulatory market dwarfs the DC transactional market, and the NYC transactional market eclipses it. If you are headed to work in a DC transactional practice tomorrow, that is actually completely meaningless. But for somebody who is beginning a job search, I think a focus on the DC market for transactional practice is unwise all else being equal. First, there just aren't that many job openings compared to NYC. Second, the work is going to be more high profile out of NYC offices, which is likely to have at least some impact on a long term career. Many DC transactional attorneys start in NYC - which contributes to difficulty getting hired on the ground level to do corporate work in DC, and also confirms the bias in the market.

If all else ISN'T equal, then by all means go for a transactional practice in DC. If you have a trailing spouse with ties or a job in DC, if you couldn't imagine living in NYC, if you want to be close to family in DC, if you really click with a DC firm or have ties to a client serviced by the transactional lawyers in DC, or any number of other reasons, by all means attempt to start your career there. It's not dumb if there are factors on that side of the scale.

But without more info in a general OCI thread, I stand by my advice and comment that there is "almost no" transactional work being done in DC. To back that up, here are some numbers. Not an effort to 'prove' anything or escalate a pissing match, just to be illustrative beyond a general discussion.

6 prominent DC firms and their transactional practices:

Hogan DC: 53 corporate associates
Latham DC: 41 corporate associates
Skadden DC: 22 M&A associates, 9 'banking / regulatory' associates
Arnold & Porter DC: 21 Corporate associates
Wilmer DC: 20 corporate associates
Kirkland DC: 9 corporate associates

Total: 175

(Covington is frustratingly obtuse on their NALP form)

compare and contrast:

6 prominent NYC firms and their transactional practices:

Wachtell: 69 corporate associates
Cravath NYC: 208 corporate associates
S&C NYC: 300 corporate associates
Skadden NYC: 330 corporate associates
DPW NYC: 259 corporate associates
STB NYC: 260 corporate associates

Total: 1,426

NB: There will be substantially more NYC firms with large corporate practices beyond this list, not so much in DC.

[seriouslyinformative]

Comparing DC corporate staffing to the corporate staffing of firms in the largest corporate market in the country, if not the world, doesn't really demonstrate "almost no" corporate work.

[thesealocust]

Comparing DC corporate staffing to the corporate staffing of firms in the largest corporate market in the country, if not the world, doesn't really demonstrate "almost no" corporate work.

It absolutely does from the perspective of a law student trying to get a first job and contemplating a list of firms and regions to spend a limited number of bids.

[seriouslyinformative]

Cool story bro!