Akin Gump vs Baker McKenzie 1L Summer Associate Forum

(On Campus Interviews, Summer Associate positions, Firm Reviews, Tips, ...)
Forum rules
Anonymous Posting

Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are revealing sensitive employment related information about a firm, job, etc. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.

Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned.
TLSThrowaway123456

New
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2019 9:45 am

Akin Gump vs Baker McKenzie 1L Summer Associate

Post by TLSThrowaway123456 » Wed Jan 16, 2019 9:49 am

Hi everyone,

Not sure if this is the correct board. I was lucky enough to get an offer from both these firm's Houston offices. Has anyone summered at either firm and care to share insights into these programs?


Thanks

Anonymous User
Posts: 427953
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Akin Gump vs Baker McKenzie 1L Summer Associate

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jan 16, 2019 2:02 pm

Having worked in Houston, my 2nd hand impression is that Akin Gump is more middle-of-the-road, at least for transactions. Baker McKenzie is closer to the lower end in terms of Houston biglaw. I would go with Akin here but if you could get a VE, Kirkland, BB, Sidley type of place, those would be better. Feel free to correct me if this sounds off.

Any practice area preferences? I would also consider offer rates (1L rates not available but 2L numbers as proxy). NALP says Baker McKenzie had 0 2Ls but offered 2 of them. If this is a typo (i.e. two 2Ls and both getting no-offered), I would stay far away. I think Akin usually has 100% offers for 2Ls at least.

TLSThrowaway123456

New
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2019 9:45 am

Re: Akin Gump vs Baker McKenzie 1L Summer Associate

Post by TLSThrowaway123456 » Wed Jan 16, 2019 2:39 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Having worked in Houston, my 2nd hand impression is that Akin Gump is more middle-of-the-road, at least for transactions. Baker McKenzie is closer to the lower end in terms of Houston biglaw. I would go with Akin here but if you could get a VE, Kirkland, BB, Sidley type of place, those would be better. Feel free to correct me if this sounds off.

Any practice area preferences? I would also consider offer rates (1L rates not available but 2L numbers as proxy). NALP says Baker McKenzie had 0 2Ls but offered 2 of them. If this is a typo (i.e. two 2Ls and both getting no-offered), I would stay far away. I think Akin usually has 100% offers for 2Ls at least.

Thanks! I'm primarily interested in corporate M&A or tax. I interviewed with V&E and Norton Rose while in Houston, but they require grades (at least V&E does) before they send out offers. I'm pretty certain I won't have grades until after the Akin offer expires. Both the AG and BM offers are similar with respect to pay, time (10 weeks), and ability to rotate through different practice groups.

Anonymous User
Posts: 427953
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Akin Gump vs Baker McKenzie 1L Summer Associate

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jan 16, 2019 3:56 pm

TLSThrowaway123456 wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Having worked in Houston, my 2nd hand impression is that Akin Gump is more middle-of-the-road, at least for transactions. Baker McKenzie is closer to the lower end in terms of Houston biglaw. I would go with Akin here but if you could get a VE, Kirkland, BB, Sidley type of place, those would be better. Feel free to correct me if this sounds off.

Any practice area preferences? I would also consider offer rates (1L rates not available but 2L numbers as proxy). NALP says Baker McKenzie had 0 2Ls but offered 2 of them. If this is a typo (i.e. two 2Ls and both getting no-offered), I would stay far away. I think Akin usually has 100% offers for 2Ls at least.

Thanks! I'm primarily interested in corporate M&A or tax. I interviewed with V&E and Norton Rose while in Houston, but they require grades (at least V&E does) before they send out offers. I'm pretty certain I won't have grades until after the Akin offer expires. Both the AG and BM offers are similar with respect to pay, time (10 weeks), and ability to rotate through different practice groups.
Same anon here. Don't know about their tax practices, but Akin has the stronger rep for M&A. Just in case you hear from Norton Rose Fulbright in the meantime: Fulbright has a good tax practice but its M&A practice is weak. It's more of a legacy litigation firm, probably has the largest # of litigators and litigation practices in the city. They're also infamous for no offers, for what it's worth.

Congrats on the offers, getting a 1L gig is tough and you should be excited. Other Houston people: feel free to correct or qualify.

Anonymous User
Posts: 427953
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Akin Gump vs Baker McKenzie 1L Summer Associate

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Jan 17, 2019 12:05 am

First of all, congrats on receiving two 1L SA offers. Since both are true "biglaw" firms, either option will set you up nicely for 2L SAs through OCI or other means. Neither option can hurt you.

I don't know if one firm is better than the other here. Their vault rankings are nearly identical. Baker McKenzie probably has more name recognition, for better or for worse. Akin Gump may have a stronger Houston office, but I really don't know much about that firm at all.

FWIW, I summered at Baker McKenzie in Dallas my 1L summer. As a whole, the firm's tax practice is its crown jewel. It's well respected and generates a lot of its own work. With a huge global footprint, BM often offers unique international opportunities, including travel and regularly meeting/working with folks from other countries. These can be fun, though sometimes the cross-border work can be tedious and falls to the mercy of less-than-efficient offices within the firm. At BM, you're definitely part of something larger that transcends Houston, Texas, and even the United States.

I can't speak directly about the BM Houston office, but I don't think it is any "better" than the Dallas office. I had minimal cross-group opportunity during my summer, even though it was marketed as an option. There is no formal rotation, but rather a free market system via a work coordinator. The Dallas office (and likely the Houston office) hires directly into a specific practice group, so be up front about who you want to work with. The firm also makes cold offers - during my summer there were 2 out of 10 in the Dallas office (both 1Ls).

My advice: if you want tax, or would like to get exposure to international work, go with Baker McKenzie. Otherwise, Akin Gump.

Want to continue reading?

Register now to search topics and post comments!

Absolutely FREE!


Anonymous User
Posts: 427953
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Akin Gump vs Baker McKenzie 1L Summer Associate

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Jan 17, 2019 12:17 am

Not challenging any of the advice in the previous post, especially since the poster seems to have a lot of BM-specific knowledge. It all seems to make sense.

I'd just caution against relying on Vault for anything Texas-related. Keep in mind that Susman-Houston, one of the most selective and prestigious lit offices in the country, is ranked 61. Another example: Kirkland, a "V10," is doing extremely well in Houston while Skadden, a "V5" is almost bottom of the barrel. Vault is completely random/unreliable for Texas. Might be worth checking out a lot of the useful past threads on TLS that lay out law firm tiers for Houston and Dallas.

Anonymous User
Posts: 427953
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Akin Gump vs Baker McKenzie 1L Summer Associate

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Jan 17, 2019 12:41 am

Both are great options for your 1L summer. Assuming these are your only two options, I would probably go to Akin. I think it is definitely more well known in Texas for transactional work. If tax is your strong preference, I’d go with Baker. The Akin Houston office is way better than the Dallas office in terms of workflow, office outlook, and culture.

Anonymous User
Posts: 427953
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Akin Gump vs Baker McKenzie 1L Summer Associate

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Jan 17, 2019 9:51 am

Anonymous User wrote:Not challenging any of the advice in the previous post, especially since the poster seems to have a lot of BM-specific knowledge. It all seems to make sense.

I'd just caution against relying on Vault for anything Texas-related. Keep in mind that Susman-Houston, one of the most selective and prestigious lit offices in the country, is ranked 61. Another example: Kirkland, a "V10," is doing extremely well in Houston while Skadden, a "V5" is almost bottom of the barrel. Vault is completely random/unreliable for Texas. Might be worth checking out a lot of the useful past threads on TLS that lay out law firm tiers for Houston and Dallas.
echoing this... the whats going on texas thread has a good summary for houston.

TLSThrowaway123456

New
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2019 9:45 am

Re: Akin Gump vs Baker McKenzie 1L Summer Associate

Post by TLSThrowaway123456 » Mon Jan 21, 2019 10:17 am

Thanks everyone! I accepted the Akin offer today.

Want to continue reading?

Register for access!

Did I mention it was FREE ?


Post Reply Post Anonymous Reply  

Return to “Legal Employment”