NY: Latham vs Kirkland Forum

[Anonymous User]

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[Anonymous User]

what does "#1 for litigation" mean?

[Anonymous User]

Definitely Latham.

[Anonymous User]

You really can't go wrong to be honest, but if litigation is your focus--it makes more sense to go with Kirkland.

[Anonymous User]

what does "#1 for litigation" mean?

That was vague. I meant that I know they were recently ranked #1 by Law360 in litigation powerhouse rankings. They also have been ranked highly for lit by other ranking systems as well--I guess I just meant that I know their lit dept is bangin.

[Anonymous User]

Definitely Latham.

If you happen to check this thread again, could you elaborate why? People's reasonings would be really helpful to me. Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

You really can't go wrong to be honest, but if litigation is your focus--it makes more sense to go with Kirkland.

Thanks for your input. I am just worried about associate life and work/life balance. I've heard terrible things about Kirkland when it comes to that, so that's really my hesitation.

[shock259]

You really can't go wrong to be honest, but if litigation is your focus--it makes more sense to go with Kirkland.

Thanks for your input. I am just worried about associate life and work/life balance. I've heard terrible things about Kirkland when it comes to that, so that's really my hesitation.

3rd year associate here. Not trying to be an asshole, but if you are worried about work/life balance, maybe these aren't the firms for you. 2 years unassigned does sound like a nice perk, though. And I'd be very wary of the idea of junior associates turning down work. Sounds good in theory, but in reality, that's extremely difficult.

[Anonymous User]

You really can't go wrong to be honest, but if litigation is your focus--it makes more sense to go with Kirkland.

Thanks for your input. I am just worried about associate life and work/life balance. I've heard terrible things about Kirkland when it comes to that, so that's really my hesitation.

3rd year associate here. Not trying to be an asshole, but if you are worried about work/life balance, maybe these aren't the firms for you. 2 years unassigned does sound like a nice perk, though. And I'd be very wary of the idea of junior associates turning down work. Sounds good in theory, but in reality, that's extremely difficult.

Thanks I appreciate it. I know that both places you'd work hard and a lot, obviously, but people keep saying to me that Kirkland is particularly "rough" or crazy hours etc. - but it's all from people who don't work there and so I am just curious to talk to someone who does and find out more of what that means and how different work lifestyle is at Kirkland than from other firms.

[Anonymous User]

I don't know about Latham, but I was at Kirkland NY this past summer. From what I know of their lit department (disclaimer: I mainly focused on corporate assignments) is that you get a lot of responsibilities early on if you seek it. You get a chance to go and prep for trial as early as your first year, if this is what you want. That's a plus if that's something you're looking for. So basically the saying is true about Kirkland, it is as intense as you want to make it. If you don't want it to be so intense, you can probably get away with doing less in the beginning. The partners I've met for lit have been extremely nice and really helpful. Also you might want to ask more about KITA. We did both KITA and Corporate Workshop (KICP is the formal training program for associates for corporate practice) as summers, and although I'm all in for corp, I thought KITA was by far the best in that I learned so much in a few days and it was so much more fun. I don't know if Latham has similar mock trials and training programs, but you could inquire about it.

Honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with either starting off your career. Latham seems to be on the rise, but so is Kirkland NY. But you definitely won't have anything to worry about, such as getting Lathamed at Kirkland.

[Anonymous User]

You really can't go wrong to be honest, but if litigation is your focus--it makes more sense to go with Kirkland.

Thanks for your input. I am just worried about associate life and work/life balance. I've heard terrible things about Kirkland when it comes to that, so that's really my hesitation.

3rd year associate here. Not trying to be an asshole, but if you are worried about work/life balance, maybe these aren't the firms for you. 2 years unassigned does sound like a nice perk, though. And I'd be very wary of the idea of junior associates turning down work. Sounds good in theory, but in reality, that's extremely difficult.

Thanks I appreciate it. I know that both places you'd work hard and a lot, obviously, but people keep saying to me that Kirkland is particularly "rough" or crazy hours etc. - but it's all from people who don't work there and so I am just curious to talk to someone who does and find out more of what that means and how different work lifestyle is at Kirkland than from other firms.

I'm also considering Kirkland and I've been hearing the same things. Is the culture there really as bad as people say?

[Anonymous User]

No it's not, relative to its peer firms.