Post
by Anonymous User » Mon Jul 27, 2015 2:46 pm
Sure. Note that this is from the perspective from NY corporate:
(1) Don't chase quality of life. All firms work their associates equally hard (or rather, would work their associates equally hard if they had the work flow to do so), and generally speaking, being given more work is better because it means you're building skills you can parlay into better jobs down the road, and you should be working your ass off when you're young for more money / freedom when you're older.
(2) There are a very limited number of firms that open the most doors in corporate. Wachtell, Cravath, S&C, Cleary, DPW, STB. Excluding Wachtell, those firms are fundamentally similar in terms of opportunity to be trained and the doors they open. But they have different cultures and training styles, and you need to figure out for yourself where you're the best fit. If you want to do corporate and you get an offer at only one of these firms, then that's where you should work.
(3) Don't chase practice areas. You don't know if you want to do XYZ law because, except for very rare exceptions, you don't know what XYZ law is, or what it's like to practice it, or whether it will be a growing / profitable practice in 9 -11 years, when you (hopefully) are trying to make partner or counsel. The best firms will develop strong practices in whatever proves to be profitable.
(4) Ordinal firm rankings are meaningless; but tiers are meaningful. In my mentor's view, there were about 3 tiers of firms in NY - the top corporate firms listed above, the next tier down of Weil/Gibson/K&E type places, and then everywhere else, and everywhere else was more or less fungible.
(5) At firms, money buys happiness. The bigger the pie to split among partners, the less political infighting there is and the better the work environment is for associates. When in doubt, go to the firm that's making more money.
(6) Your salary isn't the most important compensation you get from your first job. You are investing in a 30 year professional career, either at firms, in house, etc. The question you need to be asking yourself when you pick your job (and throughout your early career) isn't what maximizes my compensation/happiness in year 1 or year 2, but in year 10, 20, 30. Put differently, you're not picking your first job when you go through OCI, you're really picking your second or third job.
(7) Mouth shut, eyes and ears open. Self explanatory. Shut up, head down, do good work, get good grades, good things will happen. None of this stuff is that complicated.
(8) Everyone will have at least one big screwup / setback. A lot of people, particularly where we are, have never failed before, and running into failure for the first time blows them up. If you don't get a job, work on a Plan B - a clerkship, a LLM, whatever, just keep scheming and working to get back on your feet. If you don't get the job you want, set yourself up to upgrade next year. Never get thrown off - just keep on plugging. You never know if the guy who aced OCI is actually not that good at being an associate, and maybe you don't interview well but you'll actually be good at the job. So keep your head up, always.
It goes without saying that this was my mentor's advice, and it worked for him and may not be for everyone - particularly if you're not trying to be an NY corporate lawyer. And it is advice worth as much as it costs. Everyone has their own best way to skin the cat.
