DC Lit Firms Forum

[Anonymous User]

What are some good DC lit firms?

I hear that W&C is great (plus a great work culture), and Gibson Dunn is excellent too. I've heard good things about Arnold & Porter, although also that it is kind of sweat shoppy.

[TLSModBot]

There are traditionally DC centric firms like WilmerHale, Hogan Lovells, Williams & Connolly, A&P, and Covington

There are also national firms with good reputation DC offices like Cleary and Simpson. Depends on the practice area probably but Antitrust, FCPA, and White Collar seem to have a lot of heavy hitters here (relative to other practice areas in DC not relative to like NY)

[Anonymous User]

There are traditionally DC centric firms like WilmerHale, Hogan Lovells, Williams & Connolly, A&P, and Covington

There are also national firms with good reputation DC offices like Cleary and Simpson. Depends on the practice area probably but Antitrust, FCPA, and White Collar seem to have a lot of heavy hitters here (relative to other practice areas in DC not relative to like NY)

Thanks! Heard anything about Skadden, Kirkland, or Jones' reputations?

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L summering in the lit group in DC at one of the firms that has been mentioned (not Cleary) and I know that Cleary DC does a ton of antitrust work.

Any answer you get to "Is this firm good?" will be highly anecdotal so I won't bother sharing the info that I have both firsthand and also through friends at other firms. I think you should learn for yourself especially as someone who appears to have very little knowledge of the DC market right now.

One thing that may be more important in DC relative to NYC is firm "fit" (not "do I like the people?" but more like "can I work with this person? do they do what i'm interested in?" etc.) because the offices are generally smaller and thus the variety is less, both in terms of the type of work done firm by firm as well as the people that you could end up working for.

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L summering in the lit group in DC at one of the firms that has been mentioned (not Cleary) and I know that Cleary DC does a ton of antitrust work.

Any answer you get to "Is this firm good?" will be highly anecdotal so I won't bother sharing the info that I have both firsthand and also through friends at other firms. I think you should learn for yourself especially as someone who appears to have very little knowledge of the DC market right now.

One thing that may be more important in DC relative to NYC is firm "fit" (not "do I like the people?" but more like "can I work with this person? do they do what i'm interested in?" etc.) because the offices are generally smaller and thus the variety is less, both in terms of the type of work done firm by firm as well as the people that you could end up working for.

Thanks for your response. Because I don't come from a legal family, and didn't summer in DC, it's hard for me to get the type of anecdotal information that is so important (because while everything may look good on paper at a firm, that guarantees nothing about the work environment, associate morale, etc).

So any ancedotal info I get often comes from TLS, which I know is not necessarily the best source. But I'm at a loss as to where I can get a sense of these intangibles.

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L summering in the lit group in DC at one of the firms that has been mentioned (not Cleary) and I know that Cleary DC does a ton of antitrust work.

Any answer you get to "Is this firm good?" will be highly anecdotal so I won't bother sharing the info that I have both firsthand and also through friends at other firms. I think you should learn for yourself especially as someone who appears to have very little knowledge of the DC market right now.

One thing that may be more important in DC relative to NYC is firm "fit" (not "do I like the people?" but more like "can I work with this person? do they do what i'm interested in?" etc.) because the offices are generally smaller and thus the variety is less, both in terms of the type of work done firm by firm as well as the people that you could end up working for.

Thanks for your response. Because I don't come from a legal family, and didn't summer in DC, it's hard for me to get the type of anecdotal information that is so important (because while everything may look good on paper at a firm, that guarantees nothing about the work environment, associate morale, etc).

So any ancedotal info I get often comes from TLS, which I know is not necessarily the best source. But I'm at a loss as to where I can get a sense of these intangibles.

I'm the quoted anon. I totally get what you are saying and I didn't mean to be dismissive of your post. I also assumed you were a rising 2L heading into OCI and that appears not to be the case, so your opportunities to learn info are more limited. But with that said I still don't think you'll get helpful info by asking "What are good lit firms" and "What is the reputation of X firm office". If you have a more precise sense of what you are interested in, be it practice area or particular unique firm culture or whatever, that might be a better spot to gather useful info.

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L summering in the lit group in DC at one of the firms that has been mentioned (not Cleary) and I know that Cleary DC does a ton of antitrust work.

Any answer you get to "Is this firm good?" will be highly anecdotal so I won't bother sharing the info that I have both firsthand and also through friends at other firms. I think you should learn for yourself especially as someone who appears to have very little knowledge of the DC market right now.

One thing that may be more important in DC relative to NYC is firm "fit" (not "do I like the people?" but more like "can I work with this person? do they do what i'm interested in?" etc.) because the offices are generally smaller and thus the variety is less, both in terms of the type of work done firm by firm as well as the people that you could end up working for.

Thanks for your response. Because I don't come from a legal family, and didn't summer in DC, it's hard for me to get the type of anecdotal information that is so important (because while everything may look good on paper at a firm, that guarantees nothing about the work environment, associate morale, etc).

So any ancedotal info I get often comes from TLS, which I know is not necessarily the best source. But I'm at a loss as to where I can get a sense of these intangibles.

I'm assuming that you are looking to work there. So apply to all of the litigation shops, see who you get interviews with, and then see which groups you have the best "fit" with. The Covingtons, Jones Days, and Skaddens tend to be more sweatshop-y (and Gibson could probably go in there as well). Covington is very white shoe still in DC, whereas firms like Gibson and Latham are more bro-y. But again, that is just my experience and I know others have differing opinions.

If you truly just care about the "quality" of DC firms in different areas, check out the Chamber rankings. My limited exposure to DC firms through my peers & summering there myself is that the Chamber rankings are relatively accurate in terms of quality.

[Anonymous User]

Rising 3L summering in the lit group in DC at one of the firms that has been mentioned (not Cleary) and I know that Cleary DC does a ton of antitrust work.

Any answer you get to "Is this firm good?" will be highly anecdotal so I won't bother sharing the info that I have both firsthand and also through friends at other firms. I think you should learn for yourself especially as someone who appears to have very little knowledge of the DC market right now.

One thing that may be more important in DC relative to NYC is firm "fit" (not "do I like the people?" but more like "can I work with this person? do they do what i'm interested in?" etc.) because the offices are generally smaller and thus the variety is less, both in terms of the type of work done firm by firm as well as the people that you could end up working for.

Thanks for your response. Because I don't come from a legal family, and didn't summer in DC, it's hard for me to get the type of anecdotal information that is so important (because while everything may look good on paper at a firm, that guarantees nothing about the work environment, associate morale, etc).

So any ancedotal info I get often comes from TLS, which I know is not necessarily the best source. But I'm at a loss as to where I can get a sense of these intangibles.

I'm assuming that you are looking to work there. So apply to all of the litigation shops, see who you get interviews with, and then see which groups you have the best "fit" with. The Covingtons, Jones Days, and Skaddens tend to be more sweatshop-y (and Gibson could probably go in there as well). Covington is very white shoe still in DC, whereas firms like Gibson and Latham are more bro-y. But again, that is just my experience and I know others have differing opinions.

If you truly just care about the "quality" of DC firms in different areas, check out the Chamber rankings. My limited exposure to DC firms through my peers & summering there myself is that the Chamber rankings are relatively accurate in terms of quality.

And you think W&C associates aren't billing just as much, if not more than them?

If you just want to do general litigation, you'll be fine at any major firm that you go to. Just try to find one where you get good vibes from the people you'll be working with. Politically speaking, I think that shops like Wilmer, A&P, and Covington tend to be more left-leaning, while Gibson, Latham, Kirkland, and Jones Day tend to be more right-leaning. Of course, you'll find people across the spectrum at every firm, I'm just speaking of general trends. Some firms tend to have very kool-aid-centric cultures, like JD. You just have to figure out what you want.

My advice would be to do second looks at all the firms you get offers from. Talk to as many people as possible, talk to classmates that are at the firms, etc.