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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:03 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Thoughts on Kirkland and Skadden LA?
I loved Kirkland LA when I visited. By far my favorite people at any law firm in any office. They are very very very heavily staffed on the corporate side and there is almost no litigation work that comes through that office. The office is also beautiful. I'm sure you work hard but I know for a fact that they bill far fewer hours than Kirkland in New York. I think the biggest indicator for them is personality fit. Grade distributions at MVP were around median but they only gave a few callbacks and a one offer at my school. I know the people that interviewed there and the people who got callbacks s those who didn't really hedged on personality. If you're outgoing and can actually hold a conversation for a long period of time withotu saying something stupid, and its something that a lot of people, including myself, struggle to do, you have a great shot.
Kirkland LA has a pretty great litigation practice; not sure why you say there is almost no litigation work.
Only anecdote that I've ever heard about Kirkland was from someone who left after working for a screaming partner. She would actually hide under her desk from this woman. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't heard it from the horse's mouth, so take that for whatever it's worth.

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jul 21, 2014 7:34 pm

Any info on Susman LA? They get a terrible rap on TLS, maybe the worst of any firm, so I'm already hesitant, and their LA office is tiny (12 attys on their website). But I have the grades for it, I want to do lit in LA and I like that they are happy to let you split, so I'm hoping someone can shed a little more light on them.

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KD35

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by KD35 » Tue Jul 22, 2014 12:26 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Any info on Susman LA? They get a terrible rap on TLS, maybe the worst of any firm, so I'm already hesitant, and their LA office is tiny (12 attys on their website). But I have the grades for it, I want to do lit in LA and I like that they are happy to let you split, so I'm hoping someone can shed a little more light on them.
I'm pretty sure that they don't give offers to SAs because you need to do a circuit clerkship before joining them.

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Jul 22, 2014 2:34 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Any info on Susman LA? They get a terrible rap on TLS, maybe the worst of any firm, so I'm already hesitant, and their LA office is tiny (12 attys on their website). But I have the grades for it, I want to do lit in LA and I like that they are happy to let you split, so I'm hoping someone can shed a little more light on them.
This probably doesn't add much to what you already know, but the current/former associates I've spoken with suggest that Susman attorneys regularly put in soul-crushing hours and that the job involves a lot of travel and work from airplanes. Upside is the $ and the lean staffing, which theoretically leads to early responsibility, but I'm not sure how much more early responsibility you'd get there than at a place like, say, Munger or Irell where you'd also have more humane hours and I'm not sure if even the huge bonuses make up for the hours on a dollar-per-hour basis when compared with the other elite LA firms.

But I guess there isn't much of a down side to splitting between them an another firm - to see if you like the culture and work. And there's certainly something intellectually appealing about doing some plaintiff-side work and still getting a huge salary.

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:14 pm

KD35 wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Any info on Susman LA? They get a terrible rap on TLS, maybe the worst of any firm, so I'm already hesitant, and their LA office is tiny (12 attys on their website). But I have the grades for it, I want to do lit in LA and I like that they are happy to let you split, so I'm hoping someone can shed a little more light on them.
I'm pretty sure that they don't give offers to SAs because you need to do a circuit clerkship before joining them.
So no kind of conditional offer "you can come back after you clerk?" I imagine people who actually get this gig have good enough grades that clerking is very realistic for them.
Anonymous User wrote: This probably doesn't add much to what you already know, but the current/former associates I've spoken with suggest that Susman attorneys regularly put in soul-crushing hours and that the job involves a lot of travel and work from airplanes. Upside is the $ and the lean staffing, which theoretically leads to early responsibility, but I'm not sure how much more early responsibility you'd get there than at a place like, say, Munger or Irell where you'd also have more humane hours and I'm not sure if even the huge bonuses make up for the hours on a dollar-per-hour basis when compared with the other elite LA firms.

But I guess there isn't much of a down side to splitting between them an another firm - to see if you like the culture and work. And there's certainly something intellectually appealing about doing some plaintiff-side work and still getting a huge salary.
Yeah this is in line with what other people have said on TLS. Assuming you get an offer from Irell or Munger I just don't see the upside of Susman. Thanks for this though, very nice break down of the pros and cons.

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:19 pm

Did a CB at Susman LA, ended up withdrawing before a decision and accepting at another top LA firm. Obviously completely anecdotal, but everyone seemed noticeably more overworked than at other top shops I did callbacks with (and there wasn't a trial going on or anything).

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by cookiejar1 » Tue Jul 22, 2014 11:47 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Did a CB at Susman LA, ended up withdrawing before a decision and accepting at another top LA firm. Obviously completely anecdotal, but everyone seemed noticeably more overworked than at other top shops I did callbacks with (and there wasn't a trial going on or anything).
How many summer associates were they planning on hiring? Also, what about clerkships - how did they address that? And, if you don't mind, grades? Top 5% or 10%? LR?

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Jul 22, 2014 11:50 pm

cookiejar1 wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Did a CB at Susman LA, ended up withdrawing before a decision and accepting at another top LA firm. Obviously completely anecdotal, but everyone seemed noticeably more overworked than at other top shops I did callbacks with (and there wasn't a trial going on or anything).
How many summer associates were they planning on hiring? Also, what about clerkships - how did they address that? And, if you don't mind, grades? Top 5% or 10%? LR?
CB wasn't this year, but IIRC they were only going to hire 1 person. They said you needed to do a federal clerkship to return there fulltime. And my grades were top 5%+ and LR.

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Jul 22, 2014 11:59 pm

seconding the Susman discussion, have heard firsthand from SAs who were there in the past few years

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jul 23, 2014 12:23 am

Does anyone know anything about the Arnold Porter (LA) office?

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jul 23, 2014 1:34 am

Anonymous User wrote:Does anyone know anything about the Arnold Porter (LA) office?
At least two people from UCLA summered there last year and liked it, but I don't know them that well so I can't offer more than that. A&P is a DC firm and their SF office is the bigger west coast outpost, so if you're looking for a smaller firm feel within a big firm, it would fit the bill.

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by KM2016 » Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:07 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Anyone have any intel on Proskauer Rose's Century City office, or the firm in general?

I know they have strong transactional and litigation groups, but was wondering if anyone has any knowledge regarding the culture, work-life balance, or anything else that would be relevant.

I have a big wig partner at another one of their other offices in contact with the LA office recruiters and was told that I will be having a callback style interview right off the bat rather than a screener. Any input is much appreciated.

Thanks!
Would also like to know if anyone is familiar with Proskauer LA. Reputation, opinions, etc.?

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jul 25, 2014 1:58 pm

anyone know what Gibson LA's callback schedule is like? do they still do the dinner?

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jul 25, 2014 1:59 pm

Anonymous User wrote:anyone know what Gibson LA's callback schedule is like? do they still do the dinner?
Yeah, four 30-minute interviews, 90-120 minute lunch, break, 120 minute dinner.

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jul 25, 2014 2:03 pm

any idea what you do during the lunch and dinner break? that's a long span of time. does everyone get invited back to the dinner regardless of whether they plan to give you an offer? also, what's the CB:offer ratio generally?

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jul 25, 2014 2:07 pm

Anonymous User wrote:any idea what you do during the lunch and dinner break? that's a long span of time. does everyone get invited back to the dinner regardless of whether they plan to give you an offer? also, what's the CB:offer ratio generally?
I would assume that people just go back to their hotel and chill. It is my understanding that everyone gets invited to the dinner. CB/Offer ratio likely depends on the school.

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by shifty_eyed » Fri Jul 25, 2014 2:16 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:any idea what you do during the lunch and dinner break? that's a long span of time. does everyone get invited back to the dinner regardless of whether they plan to give you an offer? also, what's the CB:offer ratio generally?
I would assume that people just go back to their hotel and chill. It is my understanding that everyone gets invited to the dinner. CB/Offer ratio likely depends on the school.
Why do you say that? I was under the impression that once you make it to the CB stage, personality/fit mattered more than school/class rank.

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jul 25, 2014 2:21 pm

shifty_eyed wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:any idea what you do during the lunch and dinner break? that's a long span of time. does everyone get invited back to the dinner regardless of whether they plan to give you an offer? also, what's the CB:offer ratio generally?
I would assume that people just go back to their hotel and chill. It is my understanding that everyone gets invited to the dinner. CB/Offer ratio likely depends on the school.
Why do you say that? I was under the impression that once you make it to the CB stage, personality/fit mattered more than school/class rank.
I know at my school (t14) the ratio is only like a third (though a small sample size), so I figured schools like UCLA may have higher success rates? I suppose it's quite possible that they just have a lower overall rate than many other firms.

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Jul 25, 2014 2:41 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
shifty_eyed wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:any idea what you do during the lunch and dinner break? that's a long span of time. does everyone get invited back to the dinner regardless of whether they plan to give you an offer? also, what's the CB:offer ratio generally?
I would assume that people just go back to their hotel and chill. It is my understanding that everyone gets invited to the dinner. CB/Offer ratio likely depends on the school.
Why do you say that? I was under the impression that once you make it to the CB stage, personality/fit mattered more than school/class rank.
I know at my school (t14) the ratio is only like a third (though a small sample size), so I figured schools like UCLA may have higher success rates? I suppose it's quite possible that they just have a lower overall rate than many other firms.
at my school (CCN) the offer ratio last year was not over 50%, which seems a bit low?

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Jul 26, 2014 2:31 am

Anonymous User wrote:any idea what you do during the lunch and dinner break? that's a long span of time. does everyone get invited back to the dinner regardless of whether they plan to give you an offer? also, what's the CB:offer ratio generally?
Above poster is correct, everyone gets invited to the dinner. Not sure why, but I think they do it in case they want to offer you at dinner bc I know that happened to a few people last year. They also do an invite only screener group dinner, as do Paul Hastings and Proskauer (people can chime in with others if you know of them). MoFo has a reception open to everyone that you should definitely go to if you are interested in them. So does SullCrom I believe. Surprised that those aren't mentioned more because that is something people should be aware of during screeners - you may have what amounts to a second interview later in the day.

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by KD35 » Mon Jul 28, 2014 10:57 am

Anyone know about Bryan Cave (Santa Monica) office culture? Seems pretty small but curious of anyone has had any experience with them.

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jul 28, 2014 12:19 pm

KD35 wrote:Anyone know about Bryan Cave (Santa Monica) office culture? Seems pretty small but curious of anyone has had any experience with them.
Yeah I'd be interested in this, and for their Irvine office as well.

Also would love to hear about Allen Matkins, Katten Muchin, or Orrick Herrington if anyone has any insight.

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by KD35 » Mon Jul 28, 2014 12:33 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:any idea what you do during the lunch and dinner break? that's a long span of time. does everyone get invited back to the dinner regardless of whether they plan to give you an offer? also, what's the CB:offer ratio generally?
Above poster is correct, everyone gets invited to the dinner. Not sure why, but I think they do it in case they want to offer you at dinner bc I know that happened to a few people last year. They also do an invite only screener group dinner, as do Paul Hastings and Proskauer (people can chime in with others if you know of them). MoFo has a reception open to everyone that you should definitely go to if you are interested in them. So does SullCrom I believe. Surprised that those aren't mentioned more because that is something people should be aware of during screeners - you may have what amounts to a second interview later in the day.
Where would we get information about the MoFo/SullCrom open receptions?

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Aug 05, 2014 9:34 am

So is Quinn's whole "early responsibility" thing a big flame? Would you get more substantive experience early on that at places like Gibson or Latham?

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Re: LA Biglaw

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Aug 15, 2015 10:34 pm

What's the perception of Sidley Austin in LA? Didn't see it addressed earlier in the thread

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