Attorneys of Kirkland. Talk to incoming 2L SAs about your experience at the firm. Forum

[Anonymous User]

I've had a great experience at K&E. 9 years+ (was at another firm before lateraling) and now a share partner (transactional). I've always been good at managing my schedule (i've averaged around 2000-2100 hours/year during my career, except with this past year being a bit ridiculous and definitely an outlier). I've had, and continue to have, great mentors who've supported me the whole way because they want to see me succeed (and of course also because I do the work for them). I've always been given a ton of responsibility and independence, which I've developed over the years into my own client base. I try my best to be fair with my associates and honest in my feedback. They are valuable members of my team and I cannot do my job without them - thus I afford them the respect they deserve. I don't like giving weekend work unless absolutely necessary because I enjoy my weekends as well. I've pulled almost no true all-nighters during my entire time here and I will never respond to emails past midnight because I am asleep and don't wake up until 7:30am.

None of this is PR spin and all of it is 100% true for me. I can verify my identity if helpful. Every person's experience can and will vary, but K&E has been great for me and I wouldn't work at any other law firm.

I find this a lot more believable (if likely atypical experience) than the previous rainbow unicorn farts fanfic.

Why? Because they provided less detail? You guys are absolute clowns. I have no dog in the fight and don't care about KE. I've criticized KE associates for being too thin skinned (and I still think they can be). But this type of shit proves their point. If you have a concrete disagreement with what a KE associate is saying, go at it. But to blindly attack KE associates for having a positive experience? How pathetic. The idea is that none of the thousands of KE associates can have a glowing review of their experience thus far?

Your obsession with KE is unhealthy if you can't keep yourself from interjecting with your take in an inherently subjective topic.

If I was blindly attacking KE ppl reporting positive experiences, wouldn't I blindly attack both people? Seems like someone is blindly attacking and it's not me.

My "concrete disagreement" is that PR guy #1 reported not a single negative, in tone and style doesn't sound like a human being, and the claim that "Everyone in my class was super friendly and drama free, we have a lot of fun together and there was zero competition" doesn't pass the smell test for any biglaw.

It's certainly possible that different people have different experiences, and that's why I believe the second person. But if you believe that the first one is reflective of someone's actual experiences I have an ntf of a bridge to sell you.

So because someone isn't balanced enough in their review of the firm that THEY work in, they have to be full of shit? Lmao.

Do you police posts that only say negative things about KE in the same way?

Again, you are policing a thread asking for subjective input on the basis of your desire for objectivity, and with the assumption that everyone perceives drama in the same manner that you do.

This isn't about being sold a bridge. I don't think any biglaw firm is utopia. It's a good thing that several people are posting in this thread and OP is able to read several different responses. If you're concerned that this one unbalanced review of KE is going to disservice OP, be assured that there are plenty of comments with only negative components of KE. Someone not being balanced enough for your liking does not make them PR or a troll or a liar. Possibly just naive or shortsighted, which likely informs their sincere even if in your understanding flawed perspective.

[Anonymous User]

the claim that "Everyone in my class was super friendly and drama free, we have a lot of fun together and there was zero competition" doesn't pass the smell test for any biglaw.

Not the quoted poster but I’ve been critical of KE in this thread - and this excerpt seems pretty fucked up to me. My class was and is very friendly, I can’t recall any drama with anyone in my class, and we aren’t competitive with each other at all, even now as midlevels. We are at worst pleasant and polite and at best actual good friends that spend weekends together. does that not happen at other firms?

The issues arise when people of different seniority levels interact; I have no bad words to say about any of my class-year colleagues at all.

[Anonymous User]

the claim that "Everyone in my class was super friendly and drama free, we have a lot of fun together and there was zero competition" doesn't pass the smell test for any biglaw.

Not the quoted poster but I’ve been critical of KE in this thread - and this excerpt seems pretty fucked up to me. My class was and is very friendly, I can’t recall any drama with anyone in my class, and we aren’t competitive with each other at all, even now as midlevels. We are at worst pleasant and polite and at best actual good friends that spend weekends together. does that not happen at other firms?

The issues arise when people of different seniority levels interact; I have no bad words to say about any of my class-year colleagues at all.

My bad, I overlooked "in my class". PR OP, what's your experiences been like with other classes, and why didn't you mention them in your post?

[Anonymous User]

I’m not the PR OP but I am a junior in the same office. Doesn’t sound terribly off base from my experience honestly (especially the part about getting along with the people in my class year). There have been plenty of negative aspects to working here but they are all shared by the rest of BigLaw (or at least other big peer firms): lots of hours, too many emails, late night and weekend work being common (although not constant), managerial quality of partners/seniors/midlevels ranging from excellent to horrible, meh health care, difficulty finding proper WLB and carving out time for vacations etc.

My experience hasn’t been all roses and unicorn farts, but if you factor out the negative things that would be similar at a peer firm and scale the evaluation accordingly, I think things are pretty good overall. I have nothing to complain about that isn’t inherent in BigLaw. Add on a few things that I think I are uniquely positive (the flexibility of free market staffing, not penny pinching on expenses, minimal pre-Covid face time expectations in the Houston office, SP’s that are generally pretty friendly in a social context) and I’m satisfied being here so far.

I may not stay here forever, but if I leave it’ll be for a big signing bonus or to go in house, not because I hate KE.

[Anonymous User]

Legit curious if it's a troll post or if someone from PR actually posted in here

Anon poster of the KE fluff piece — believe it or not I am an actual midlevel associate at KE, and FWIW, I was answering their questions honestly, as on the whole my experience has been positive. Obviously I don’t go around the firm showering everyone with my positive feelings about KE (it’s much more fun to complain with everyone else about any tiny annoyance or inconvenience I encounter in my day to day life), but I’m actually not BSing. I don’t mind working hard because the trade off is getting good experience, and I source my work from 2 or 3 partners that I really like to work with and turn down anything and everything that I may not like (e.g., de-SPACs, IPOs, if it’s not one of my go to partners or if they don’t let me pick who to staff under me). I’m in no way saying Kirkland is easy and totally acknowledge that it’s not for everyone (and I’m right there griping with the best of them), but i think KE is one of those few places where you have enough autonomy to find what works for you and I just figured that out and took advantage of it relatively early on.

[Anonymous User]

the claim that "Everyone in my class was super friendly and drama free, we have a lot of fun together and there was zero competition" doesn't pass the smell test for any biglaw.

Not the quoted poster but I’ve been critical of KE in this thread - and this excerpt seems pretty fucked up to me. My class was and is very friendly, I can’t recall any drama with anyone in my class, and we aren’t competitive with each other at all, even now as midlevels. We are at worst pleasant and polite and at best actual good friends that spend weekends together. does that not happen at other firms?

The issues arise when people of different seniority levels interact; I have no bad words to say about any of my class-year colleagues at all.

My bad, I overlooked "in my class". PR OP, what's your experiences been like with other classes, and why didn't you mention them in your post?

PR OP here — I didn’t mention my experience with other classes because I wanted to highlight something that I wish I knew when I started (i.e., that my class year at KE actually wouldn’t be comprised of all the annoying gunners from law school that I really couldn’t stand). My class year was pretty tight (and still is) so I thought worth mentioning to dispel any similar fears someone like me might have). My experience with other class levels has been similar to my experience with partners — some I really vibe with and some are “meh” at best, but I have a handful that rotate between the same partners I work with and so I really only work with those I like to work for. And there are plenty of people in other class years I have a lot of fun with, even if they aren’t necessarily one of the ones I choose to work with.

[Anonymous User]

There are already so many kirkland threads on here that I didn't want to start a new one!

Can someone shed light on how picking a practice area within the corporate group works? Do I have to know what practice areas I like best by the end of the summer? Do I experience different areas during my first year with the firm?

Thx!

[Anonymous User]

There are already so many kirkland threads on here that I didn't want to start a new one!

Can someone shed light on how picking a practice area within the corporate group works? Do I have to know what practice areas I like best by the end of the summer? Do I experience different areas during my first year with the firm?

Thx!

As a general matter, you will be actively encouraged to work on matters within many different corporate groups both during your summer and in your first 2-3 years as an associate at the firm — M&A (both public and private), debt, funds, capital markets, etc. At some point around years 3-4 (or earlier if you so choose) you will generally be expected to begin to focus and narrow the scope of your practice primarily to one of the corporate groups (those mentioned above being among the main, but certainly not only, options).

Have been at K&E for a while, glad to answer any other questions as well.