Jones Day Forum

[KeepitKind]

One Firm Worldwide is more than just a slogan.

I thought the entire bolded portion was their slogan..

[Anonymous User]

I'm an associate. Ask away

Would you mind revealing which office?

How much exposure is given between litigation and corporate work as a first year in the New Lawyers Group? Can you pick projects from both, or are you expected to have settled on one by then?

What is the summer experience like? How many hours are expected? How many social events are hosted by the firm?

Any information would be awesome. Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

I'm an associate. Ask away

What general region if you're ok with disclosing? How do you feel about the cross-firm work?

[Anonymous User]

I'm an associate. Ask away

Would you mind revealing which office?

How much exposure is given between litigation and corporate work as a first year in the New Lawyers Group? Can you pick projects from both, or are you expected to have settled on one by then?

What is the summer experience like? How many hours are expected? How many social events are hosted by the firm?

Any information would be awesome. Thanks!

Not the associate who just said "ask away" but a junior associate in one of the bigger offices.

In the NLG, you can cross over between corp/lit as much as you like. The NLG coordinator will work with you, but most of my NLG work (apart from the initial assignment) has been stuff I've tracked down myself (largely from folks I worked with over my summer).

The summer experience was great. If you have prior WE it will probably be no different than that. Rarely was in the office after 6. Good balance of work/social events, IMO. Even nights where there were no official events, summers would go out together. Those with families local just went home--no pressure for unofficial or optional events.

Edit to clarify: Crossing over will be more prevalent in the first few months. By month 8-9 you should have a good idea where you want to practice and be working hard to impress them.

[Anonymous User]

I'm an associate. Ask away

Any idea about what point in the summer they have the DC orientation? A friend asked me to be his best man and I was trying to figure out if there was a chance it overlapped.

Also, should I shave my beard for a JD welcome dinner or have we hit the point where beard is okay.

[Anonymous User]

I'm an associate. Ask away

Any idea about what point in the summer they have the DC orientation? A friend asked me to be his best man and I was trying to figure out if there was a chance it overlapped.

Also, should I shave my beard for a JD welcome dinner or have we hit the point where beard is okay.

They usually give you the option of 2 or 3 start dates. End date stays the same unless you're at Stanford or Chicago (who arrive late because of the quarter system). If you're looking late May/first week of June, you'll probably make it. Second weekend of June is possible. Third weekend in June/later, probably not. But you could make a weekend trip out of it depending on where it is.

As for the beard, if you have an offer they want you to come and it won't change that decision. But does it really mean that much to you? Very few in the office have beards and if you can remove a potential irritant why not just suck it up and shave? Also, all the beards I can think of are very close. If you're sporting a Mountain Man, you'll want to at least trim it close.

[Anonymous User]

How is the summer orientation in DC?

[Anonymous User]

How is the summer orientation in DC?

Orientation technically is only the first couple of days there. It is definitely useful if not the most stimulating. It's a lot of IT training, learning the practicalities of keeping time, etc.

If you're talking about the summer program as a whole, I very much enjoyed it-- both the work and the play.

[Anonymous User]

How is the summer orientation in DC?

Orientation technically is only the first couple of days there. It is definitely useful if not the most stimulating. It's a lot of IT training, learning the practicalities of keeping time, etc.

If you're talking about the summer program as a whole, I very much enjoyed it-- both the work and the play.

I was actually asking about the event in DC that all of the Jones Day SAs around the country go to.

[Anonymous User]

How is the summer orientation in DC?

Orientation technically is only the first couple of days there. It is definitely useful if not the most stimulating. It's a lot of IT training, learning the practicalities of keeping time, etc.

If you're talking about the summer program as a whole, I very much enjoyed it-- both the work and the play.

I was actually asking about the event in DC that all of the Jones Day SAs around the country go to.

Anon from above that has the wedding... I was asking the same since I figured if the two overlapped I would need to bail on the wedding.

[TatteredDignity]

Does anyone know about the issues and appeals group? Are they primarily based in one or two of the offices? Does anyone get an offer for that group, or do you have to earn your way there? Or is it different if you're coming off of, say, an appellate clerkship? Does the group function differently from all the others in terms of billable hours, less menial work for jr associates, etc?

[Anonymous User]

How is the summer orientation in DC?

Orientation technically is only the first couple of days there. It is definitely useful if not the most stimulating. It's a lot of IT training, learning the practicalities of keeping time, etc.

If you're talking about the summer program as a whole, I very much enjoyed it-- both the work and the play.

I was actually asking about the event in DC that all of the Jones Day SAs around the country go to.

Ahh yes. The summer event. It's a great time--especially if you have friends from school in different JD offices. That's mid summer, in July. But I don't know whether its a fixed weekend or not.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know about the issues and appeals group? Are they primarily based in one or two of the offices? Does anyone get an offer for that group, or do you have to earn your way there? Or is it different if you're coming off of, say, an appellate clerkship? Does the group function differently from all the others in terms of billable hours, less menial work for jr associates, etc?

There is no written rule about how you get into I&A, but to have the best shot, you need to be coming from a federal appeals court clerkship. DC has several SCOTUS clerks--and at least two prior JD summers who will be SCOTUS clerks next term. Considering there is only so much room in a practice group, it's not so much how good you are, it's how you stack up against others who also want I&A.

[Anonymous User]

I was a SA in the DC office but I asked this question of people in the know.

Getting into I&A use to merely require a COA clerkship. There are a number of midlevel associates and up who clerked for non-feeder COA judges. But they generally say that they would not be able to get into the group as it is now. Most of the new associates in the group clerked for SCOTUS or at least for a legit feeder judge. It is rare that someone goes from the new lawyer group to I&A. What usually happens is that the attorney is recruited directly to I&A off of their clerkship.

HTH.

Edited for accuracy (see below).

[Anonymous User]

I was a SA in the DC office but I asked this question of people in the know.

Getting into I&A use to merely require a COA clerkship. There are a number of midlevel associates and up who clerked for non-feeder COA judges. But they generally say that they would not be able to get into the group as it is now. Most of the new associates in the group clerked for SCOTUS or at least for a legit feeder judge. It is rare that someone goes from the new lawyer group to I&A. What usually happens is that the attorney is recruited directly to I&A off of their clerkship.

Also, the group is mainly (perhaps only but I'm not sure) located in DC.

HTH.

Today's "people search" at jonesday.com lists 73 attorneys in the I&A group (this includes some who are cross-listed with Government Regulation, Global Disputes, etc.). Only 38 are resident here in DC. Other offices with more than 2 in the group: NY (8), Chicago (6), LA (4), SF (4), Cleveland (3), Dallas (3). So it is definitely DC-heavy, but not exclusive.

39 of the 73 are associates; 20 of those are in DC. You can search the bios here: http://www.jonesday.com/_lawyers/Search.aspx

[TatteredDignity]

I was a SA in the DC office but I asked this question of people in the know.

Getting into I&A use to merely require a COA clerkship. There are a number of midlevel associates and up who clerked for non-feeder COA judges. But they generally say that they would not be able to get into the group as it is now. Most of the new associates in the group clerked for SCOTUS or at least for a legit feeder judge. It is rare that someone goes from the new lawyer group to I&A. What usually happens is that the attorney is recruited directly to I&A off of their clerkship.

There is no written rule about how you get into I&A, but to have the best shot, you need to be coming from a federal appeals court clerkship. DC has several SCOTUS clerks--and at least two prior JD summers who will be SCOTUS clerks next term. Considering there is only so much room in a practice group, it's not so much how good you are, it's how you stack up against others who also want I&A.

TYFT. So, your suspicion is that a flyover clerkship (think 8th/10th) won't be good enough? That's disappointing. Would it make any difference if the judge tried to pull some strings, even if he isn't necessarily connected? What about faculty at my school who were formerly in the group?

[Anonymous User]

My bad if folks have been waiting. Anyway:

Any idea about what point in the summer they have the DC orientation? A friend asked me to be his best man and I was trying to figure out if there was a chance it overlapped.

Around Week 7 or 8 if memory serves. First half of July. Sorry I can’t remember specifics. You should go to the DC orientation…

Also, should I shave my beard for a JD welcome dinner or have we hit the point where beard is okay.

Keep it trim and you’re gold.

Would you mind revealing which office?

My summer class was relatively small so I’d prefer to keep that to myself. Not Cleveland, DC or NY, although I know a lot about those offices.

How much exposure is given between litigation and corporate work as a first year in the New Lawyers Group? Can you pick projects from both, or are you expected to have settled on one by then?

To a degree it’s up to you. It’s free market when you come in, which I thought was a little off-putting in law school but I’ve come to like it a lot. It’s not to be feared. Offices vary depending on what the partners do but even at a place without much transactional work, I still do transactional work. I did have to wait for it and was persistent in asking. I also network with other offices (including busy partners at those offices). You’re not expected to have settled on one. In fact I was expected to be a litigator but they were stoked when I told them about wanting to do transactional work because there aren’t a ton of young associates in my region (at any firm really) who are into that.

The one thing I’ve found tough, and that I’ve heard is hard in general, is if no one in your office does what you want to do then the problem becomes who do you go to for help? For example, you’d have a real uphill battle if you were deadset on doing capital markets and no one in your office is doing capital markets. Theoretically you can but it would make for a lot of frustration, even when you do network to find work.

Key is be proactive. I'm sure this advice applies to a lot of firms, this one included.

What is the summer experience like? How many hours are expected? How many social events are hosted by the firm?

Summer is cool. I thought hours were chill; I got to the office between 8:00 and 8:30 and rarely had to stay past 6:00. There were a couple times when I did, but hard to complain about that when other summers at other firms have it worse. They were happy with my hours and I never heard boo about whether most of my time went to billable work or not (it didn’t). We had a good event once every two weeks or so. Enough to be entertained, not enough to feel overburdened.

What general region if you're ok with disclosing? How do you feel about the cross-firm work?

I can answer in detail about everywhere in California, Cleveland, DC and NY, and a little bit about Dallas (they’re doing a TON of big deal M&A right now so if you’re into that and energy matters I'd definitely put it on your list of places to look into more). Less so about Chicago and the smaller spots.

As for cross-firm work, I think it's rad and makes for a lot of good opportunities. It's also a huge reason why the firm can have so many bodies but still be successful.

Any information would be awesome. Thanks!

I’m pretty happy with my decision to come here. People are kind, work is interesting. The two really nice things work-wise would be that cross-office collaboration is real, and that the firm invests a ton in resources. I feel like practicing law is a little easier here then it might be elsewhere. It’s pretty great to search with impunity on Bloomberg to wrap your mind around an issue and not have to worry about billing a client. I don't really see myself jumping ship to another firm unless it was some crazy great offer (doubt it) or there was a family issue where I needed to go somewhere that didn't have an office.

Edit:

Issues and Appeals?

I think there's maybe one or two people in the entire group who haven't clerked, and done so at a high level (think bigtime district court feeder judge on up). It's a pretty star-studded line up. Godspeed no matter where you're at if you're trying to do that. The faculty connection might be helpful if he/she still has friends in the group he/she talks to, but I say that more from a general "go network!" place rather than knowing how it works with them.

[Anonymous User]

What offices do the most M&A work?

[Anonymous User]

What offices do the most M&A work?

[Anonymous User]

Have people heard much about their upcoming summers? I know the NY office had folks out for a dinner a while ago, but I've not heard much beyond start/end dates and tax forms.

[Anonymous User]

What offices do the most M&A work?

NY, SV, Cleveland and Pittsburgh are offices I've worked with on deals. I hear Dallas has a good bit of deal work too.

/s/ New Lawyer not in any of those offices.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know if JD gives a salary advance for people moving across country in order to secure an apartment, or is it just the travel stipend?

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know if JD gives a salary advance for people moving across country in order to secure an apartment, or is it just the travel stipend?

You will get a bar stipend (either 10k or a month's salary, I forget which). You'll either have to make do with that or borrow more while (if) you can.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know if JD gives a salary advance for people moving across country in order to secure an apartment, or is it just the travel stipend?

You will get a bar stipend (either 10k or a month's salary, I forget which). You'll either have to make do with that or borrow more while (if) you can.

Same anon...I meant an SA advance. I have friends at other firms who got one so they could get housing taken care of.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know if JD gives a salary advance for people moving across country in order to secure an apartment, or is it just the travel stipend?

You will get a bar stipend (either 10k or a month's salary, I forget which). You'll either have to make do with that or borrow more while (if) you can.

Same anon...I meant an SA advance. I have friends at other firms who got one so they could get housing taken care of.

Oh, I don't think so. I subletted and the person didn't make me pay a security deposit; the firm paid for the flight. The bigger expense I had was to bulk up on my wardrobe so I wasn't alternating between suit A/suit B.

You could always give recruiting a call. The worst they can say is "sorry, we don't do that." Good luck.