. Forum

[Anonymous User]

Aside from the 2009 layoffs, does anyone know anything regarding Cooley's "model" during downturns?

They drastically slashed their next year's class size.

Really? How so, and from what size to what new size? Thanks for bringing this up. I haven't heard about this at all, and it seems incongruent with their lateral hiring.

How would it be incongruent? Firms can have different needs for various levels of seniority.

Hey there, great point. I guess two things (1) when I said "lateral," I meant 3L hiring as well, which is much closer to the SA position in timing, and (2) it seemed like they were hiring a large number of more experienced juniors and mid-levels, so I was thinking that unless they expect their attrition rates to change, why would they "drastically slash" their next year's class size?

[zonto]

Pretty sure bk was answering your question about 2008-2009, not referencing the 2013 class size.

[Anonymous User]

Pretty sure bk was answering your question about 2008-2009, not referencing the 2013 class size.

Whoops... multitasking fail. That would explain a lot, as I have heard nothing about reducing SA class for this coming summer. Thanks

[Anonymous User]

.

[Anonymous User]

.

3L? or summer

[Anonymous User]

Summer.

[bk1]

Yeah, they do seem to be hiring quite a bit, especially in the lateral market. This indicates they are busy, though I worry that if they overhire, there might be more layoffs coming down the road.

Lateral hiring has been pretty common in SV in general. SV weathered the downturn quite well as SV corporate work has been hot (though cooling in the second half of this year). I don't know about Cooley's lateral hiring amounts, but their SA class sizes have been more conservative of their 2 main competitors (Fenwick/Wilson).

Pretty sure bk was answering your question about 2008-2009, not referencing the 2013 class size.

Correct. I realize now that my response wasn't necessarily clear since the question was premised with "aside from the 2009 layoffs."

[Old Gregg]

Lateral hiring has been pretty common in SV in general. SV weathered the downturn quite well as SV corporate work has been hot (though cooling in the second half of this year). I don't know about Cooley's lateral hiring amounts, but their SA class sizes have been more conservative of their 2 main competitors (Fenwick/Wilson).

Thoughts on long term stability of this? Or is the market quickly becoming "overbought"?

[Anonymous User]

Thoughts on long term stability of this? Or is the market quickly becoming "overbought"?

Relevant to my interests too. Considering offers at Cooley and Goodwin in Boston (interested in tech/life sciences corporate/licensing work). Seems like a firm like Goodwin has more long-term stability because of a more robust portfolio of practice groups to balance things out if VC funding dries up. In Boston at least, the major players in both firms' tech practices came from Testa Hurwitz when it imploded after the tech bubble burst.

It also seems that Goodwin is poaching quite a few Wilson Sonsini partners out in Silicon Valley (but none from Cooley?):
8/21/12
3/21/12
5/10/11

[Anonymous User]

Goodwin is poaching from Wilson Sonsini for a couple reasons.

(1) Goodwin already has a handful of former Wilson Sonsini partners (Anthony McCusker, Caine Moss) and naturally these people keep in contact with their former colleagues.

(2) Wilson Sonsini is extremely siloed off. That is, practice groups are kept completely separate from each other, even to the point that some say that occasionally there is intra-firm competition among partners. Because of the silos, it's easy to poach a partner or a practice group.

(3) In a given practice group at Wilson Sonsini, there are usually 1-2 rainmakers, a handful of service partners, and then a bunch of associates. Again, this further makes it easier to pick off people. If you want the relationships, you take the rainmakers. If you need particular skills, you take the service partners or associates (depending on the level of skill you need).

[Anonymous User]

I've heard that too about Wilson Sonsini. When I asked two partners at an SV firm what drew them there, they both said it was the siloed off thing at Wilson Sonsini that they didn't like. If they wanted to change focus a bit, they would have had to essentially start over over there.

[Anonymous User]

Continuing the discussion of Cooley and Goodwin, I'm curious as to insights into their respective Vault rankings. A few years ago, Goodwin and Cooley were roughly equal on the V100 list; now Goodwin is about 20 spots higher than Cooley. However, Cooley has higher marks in compensation, business outlook, general corporate practice, and M&A (in addition to its obvious advantages in tech/IP). GP edges Cooley out slightly in PE and has a much stronger real estate practice though.

How is Cooley's national reputation then compared to GP now considering the latter's recent expansion into CA?

[bk1]

Continuing the discussion of Cooley and Goodwin, I'm curious as to insights into their respective Vault rankings. A few years ago, Goodwin and Cooley were roughly equal on the V100 list; now Goodwin is about 20 spots higher than Cooley. However, Cooley has higher marks in compensation, business outlook, general corporate practice, and M&A (in addition to its obvious advantages in tech/IP). GP edges Cooley out slightly in PE and has a much stronger real estate practice though.

How is Cooley's national reputation then compared to GP now considering the latter's recent expansion into CA?

Are you referring to their NYC offices? If not, why are you looking at Vault?

[Anonymous User]

Can anyone comment on Cooley? Good, bad, anything

[Anonymous User]

I was a summer at Cooley last summer. Loved the firm. Great people, interesting clients. The firm was also very open about its financials, and I can assure you there isn't anything to worry about on that front.

Last I heard the plan was to expand this year's summer class by 20%

[MEipLAW]

I was a summer at Cooley last summer. Loved the firm. Great people, interesting clients. The firm was also very open about its financials, and I can assure you there isn't anything to worry about on that front.

Last I heard the plan was to expand this year's summer class by 20%

can you PM me?

[deadpanic]

They only hire from the cooley law school.

User has been outed and banned for trolling with the anonymous feature (and being egregiously unfunny).

[Mick Haller]

They only hire from the Cooley Law School.

User has been outed and banned for trolling with the anonymous feature (and being egregiously unfunny).

Was this a permaban? Agree that the joke wasn't funny but in general he was a pretty good poster and a nice guy.

[bk1]

Was this a permaban? Agree that the joke wasn't funny but in general he was a pretty good poster and a nice guy.

Discussions of moderation policy for the mod Q&A thread.

[Anonymous User]

Necro-ing this thread. Is anyone familiar with Cooley's policy not to align partner compensation with origination? This sounds reminiscent of New York lockstep; was wondering if this is something describing as a reason for looking to work at the firm (i.e., making the firm more collaborative).