Skadden Chicago Forum

[Anonymous User]

Any comments about Skadden's Chicago office would be welcome, but I'm particularly interested in:

1. Work environment. The people I spoke to made it sound as if whatever I'd heard about Skadden applied to the NY office only, without explaining what they thought I might have heard. They also made it sound as if they worked better hours than NY. Is Skadden Chicago better than NY in these respects?

2. Would I be making any kind of a sacrifice in picking Skadden Chicago over the NY office of a NY-based V20 -- in terms of career options or the quality of work available?

If you need more information about me: I'm interested in corporate work, and weighing Skadden Chicago against a couple of NY V20 firms. I'm still waiting to hear back from a NY V10, but at this point I'm not very hopeful. I have a preference for living in Chicago, and family there, but not a strong preference. I could tolerate living in NY for a few years first. My career plan/goal is to move in house after 5-10 years at a firm, although I would stay in the unlikely event that I made partner.

[Anonymous User]

I've only done diligence on the corporate group, but they have not made a partner since 2008. After learning that info, I immediately canceled my callback.

[IAFG]

I've only done diligence on the corporate group, but they have not made a partner since 2008. After learning that info, I immediately canceled my callback.

I see. Which partner-minting firm did you select?

[Anonymous User]

I've only done diligence on the corporate group, but they have not made a partner since 2008. After learning that info, I immediately canceled my callback.

I see. Which partner-minting firm did you select?

Not sure yet -- but likely K&E Chicago. Though if PE deal volume collapses anytime soon, I doubt they'll be making partners either.

[Old Gregg]

I've only done diligence on the corporate group, but they have not made a partner since 2008. After learning that info, I immediately canceled my callback.

I see. Which partner-minting firm did you select?

Not sure yet -- but likely K&E Chicago. Though if PE deal volume collapses anytime soon, I doubt they'll be making partners either.

If you weren't making partner at Skadden, you sure as hell aren't making partner at K&E.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. The partner discussion is interesting, but I don't think anyone should go to a big law firm with a serious expectation of making partner.

Any other comments? There must be posters here who work in Chicago and hear rumours.

[Anonymous User]

Not OP here but i'm also curious and would appreciate any further input from TLSers

[Anonymous User]

I liked the people I met there and if the attorneys there can be believed, they do work better hours than New York does.

I'm less sure about market perception/strength of practice areas. I wouldn't be surprised if some groups are still pretty busy. From what I could tell Skadden Chicago is still very well regarded in the city but is seen as a step below K&E/Sidley.

In terms of career options, I think it depends on where your long term plans are. If you want to end up in the Midwest, I'd wager that Skadden Chicago is better than random NY V20. Things might be different if the firm were Boies and you wanted to be a litigator or something like that, but I think Skadden Chicago is probably the right choice if you liked them.

[Anonymous User]

Bump. So, according to Chambers, there are four firms that are Band 1 for Corporate/M&A & Private Equity in Illinois:

Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP
sidley austin llp
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates

That's not very helpful without some idea of order. Is the order (1) K&E; (2) Skadden; (3) Sidley Austin (4) Latham & Watkins? Or is Sidley better than Skadden for corporate in Chicago?

[Anonymous User]

I've heard the workflow can be slow at times. In responding to a similar line of questions I asked, someone I know and respect IRL told me that a choice between offers at Winston and Skadden would be the Sophie's Choice of the Chicago market (Winston no-offered 1/3 of their summers recently).

[Anonymous User]

I've heard the workflow can be slow at times. In responding to a similar line of questions I asked, someone I know and respect IRL told me that a choice between offers at Winston and Skadden would be the Sophie's Choice of the Chicago market (Winston no-offered 1/3 of their summers recently).

Is the workflow slow at Winston as well? After the 2012 no-offers, I heard the smaller class of 2013 summers all received offers.

[IAFG]

Bump. So, according to Chambers, there are four firms that are Band 1 for Corporate/M&A & Private Equity in Illinois:

Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates

That's not very helpful without some idea of order. Is the order (1) K&E; (2) Skadden; (3) Sidley Austin (4) Latham & Watkins? Or is Sidley better than Skadden for corporate in Chicago?

It's almost like bands are designed to indicate that firms are peers

[Anonymous User]

Bump. So, according to Chambers, there are four firms that are Band 1 for Corporate/M&A & Private Equity in Illinois:

Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates

That's not very helpful without some idea of order. Is the order (1) K&E; (2) Skadden; (3) Sidley Austin (4) Latham & Watkins? Or is Sidley better than Skadden for corporate in Chicago?

It's almost like bands are designed to indicate that firms are peers

They might be peers in some rough sense, but I'm assuming they're not equal - that there is a significant difference between K&E and Latham, for example.

[Pokemon]

Bump. So, according to Chambers, there are four firms that are Band 1 for Corporate/M&A & Private Equity in Illinois:

Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates

That's not very helpful without some idea of order. Is the order (1) K&E; (2) Skadden; (3) Sidley Austin (4) Latham & Watkins? Or is Sidley better than Skadden for corporate in Chicago?

It's almost like bands are designed to indicate that firms are peers

They might be peers in some rough sense, but I'm assuming they're not equal - that there is a significant difference between K&E and Latham, for example.

Think of them as soccer teams. Bayern, Real and Barca are peers... there is no point to saying Bayern 1, Real 2, Barca 3.

[Anonymous User]

I've heard the workflow can be slow at times. In responding to a similar line of questions I asked, someone I know and respect IRL told me that a choice between offers at Winston and Skadden would be the Sophie's Choice of the Chicago market (Winston no-offered 1/3 of their summers recently).

Huh? Simply because the work was slow, or for other reasons also? A low number of billable hours doesn't seem comparable to a 1 in 3 chance of being no-offered.

[skers]

Bump. So, according to Chambers, there are four firms that are Band 1 for Corporate/M&A & Private Equity in Illinois:

Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates

That's not very helpful without some idea of order. Is the order (1) K&E; (2) Skadden; (3) Sidley Austin (4) Latham & Watkins? Or is Sidley better than Skadden for corporate in Chicago?

It's almost like bands are designed to indicate that firms are peers

They might be peers in some rough sense, but I'm assuming they're not equal - that there is a significant difference between K&E and Latham, for example.

There is some difference in the type of work done at each firm (for example if you want to do PE work Kirkland would seem to be a no brainer, but you wouldn't go there for hedge fund stuff), but it doesn't sound like you're really that choosy.

Some people will say there is a difference between doing work at a home office v. secondary, but I'm not sure how accurate that is, especially considering a pretty integrated firm like Skadden.

[Anonymous User]

Is Skadden Chicago a financially stable office?

[Anonymous User]

Is Skadden Chicago a financially stable office?

I remember a partner mentioning on my CB that it was "profitable." That might not sound like much, but my understanding is that a lot of smaller/foreign biglaw offices are not (e.g., London offices).