Which Corporate Group in Texas? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Culturally vapid. Absolutely ugly area. Very little green space. And the traffic is absolutely atrocious, even compared to Austin. Here's the thing, EVERYONE drives in Dallas and from far away white-flight suburbs typically. It's a massive metroplex with shopping center after shopping center of boring stuff with no viable public transit. Fort Worth is not bad, but too far away.

Of course, I'm being a little over the top, especially when one compares Dallas and Houston to other major cities. But, if you enjoy Austin and the outdoors, and like the firm, the choice is simple.

Not everyone puts a premium on being able to take the bus to work and go hiking every day. In fact, plenty of people enjoy living in “white-flight suburbs” (an interesting choice of words considering that Plano, Frisco, Allen, and McKinney all have a lower % of white residents than Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Buda, and Leander do).

FWIW, I think that all three major TX markets are much better places to live than virtually any other major biglaw market in the country, with the possible exceptions of ATL, Charlotte, and Denver depending on some personal preferences.

As someone who is moving from the west coast to become a Houston biglaw SA, can you explain more about why you think Houston is a great place to be? Personally, I chose it over other markets because of my financial goals( working there should make it much easier to achieve those than SF or NY) and my conservative politics( i'm tired of the west coast progressivism being the norm). I'm extremely excited but after seeing a previous poster disparage non-Austin cities I'd like to hear more. FWIW I know Austin very well. Great city but I do agree with others, it isn't as cheap as Dallas or Houston and it's much too big for its britches.

(1) Cost of living/quality of life, (2) sophisticated work, (3) great exit options. Houston (and Dallas to a lesser extent) probably has the best combination of those three aspects in the country, and the importance of those cannot be overstated.

If you have kids, the Houston area has plenty of very good schools (both public and private). There’s professional football, basketball, and baseball available in town. Great food, good cultural diversity, etc.

If part of the reason you’re fleeing the west coast is because of your politics, you’ll also probably have a much easier time in Houston than you would in Austin. Austinites like to think they’re Californians, and they sometimes try way too hard to give off an impression of progressivism.

I want to reinforce some things said here. I would recommend any new biglaw lawyer who wants to spend their career in Texas to start in Houston. I have also lived in all 3 cities (only spent SA time in Dallas though). I summered in Dallas and Houston. As a lawyer, you work your ass off to get to your career, it should have significant weight put on it

City: I actually much prefer Houston to Austin and a lesser extent Dallas. I absolutely loved Austin for UG and a couple additional working years before law school, but Austin is not for everyone forever (believe it or not). Houston has a much better food scene (I also have not been impressed with the popular restaurants in Austin at all) and in general I don't like the "weird" thing in Austin. More about the less sophisticated work there below. The Austin vibe has changed dramatically in the last 5+ years. The traffic is terrible and often times areas like 6th and Rainey just don't feel like they were meant for young professionals. West 5th is fine, but I don't think it is that great. Biggest downside to Houston is the public schools can be hit or miss, and the areas you have to live for the best schools are very expensive. But if you are willing to move to the burbs, Katy has some of the best schools in the state and is still very cheap.

Work: This, in my mind, is the most important aspect, if you are in Houston biglaw (corporate), making a city change is extremely easy. I have had multiple colleagues make the move from Houston BL to Dallas and Austin biglaw or "mid" law. I am sure you can also move from Dallas or Austin to Houston, but there is some cache with being at VE, BB, LW, or KE in Houston. Houston has the most-complex work, on average, and the most PE and public M&A work. Securities work is dominated almost entirely by Houston top firms, so that comparison is not close. Also, in-house offers in energy tend to pay, on average, more than other industries and there are more of those in Houston than anywhere else.

[Anonymous User]

What's wrong with Dallas?

My buddies and I went to Bob’s for dinner. We do deals. We eat steaks. I got the filet rare. That’s what you order. I didn’t eat the carrot. That’s gay shit. Anyway, our waitress was hot! I’ve been seeing this girl, Ashley St. Standard. I mean, she’s hot too of course, and even though she’s pretty average in the sack and not too smart she was in a good sorority- the same one as my mom. I don’t know where she is tonight. Don’t really care, but I’m getting ahead of myself. So Bob’s was fucking amazing oh and we totally played credit card Russian roulette. I didn’t lose, but I paid for the whole thing anyway. Who the fuck cares who pays, it was practically a business dinner since we talked about all the deals I have going on. I always have deals going on. So do my buddies. So then I looked at my Rolex and it was like 10:30pm, it’s EARLY! My buddy Turner Parkerton was so wasted. He’s a closer too. That’s why we hang out. So anyway he just broke up with his girlfriend who sucked by the way (I mean if she didn’t suck, I’d be dating her) and we wanted to find some really hot tail for him I mean, since I’m seeing that girl.

I told Turner I’d drive, so we all got into my black Tahoe. I mean Tahoes are great that’s what guys should have. I’d get an ’07 Range Rover, but I don’t want to beat it up on my hunting lease. The valet took forever, so I just gave the dude a $20. I don’t have time to wait for change. It’s just a bunch of ones. That’s not even money. We were going to go to Sense and get a table and some bottles of Ketel, but we didn’t want some North Dallas chicks throwing themselves at us and drinking off our bottles. I don’t touch 972s anyway.

This is not bad, but no self-respecting Dallas dealbro would be caught dead at Bob’s. Try Nick & Sam’s or Al Biernat’s instead

[Anonymous User]

What's wrong with Dallas?

My buddies and I went to Bob’s for dinner. We do deals. We eat steaks. I got the filet rare. That’s what you order. I didn’t eat the carrot. That’s gay shit. Anyway, our waitress was hot! I’ve been seeing this girl, Ashley St. Standard. I mean, she’s hot too of course, and even though she’s pretty average in the sack and not too smart she was in a good sorority- the same one as my mom. I don’t know where she is tonight. Don’t really care, but I’m getting ahead of myself. So Bob’s was fucking amazing oh and we totally played credit card Russian roulette. I didn’t lose, but I paid for the whole thing anyway. Who the fuck cares who pays, it was practically a business dinner since we talked about all the deals I have going on. I always have deals going on. So do my buddies. So then I looked at my Rolex and it was like 10:30pm, it’s EARLY! My buddy Turner Parkerton was so wasted. He’s a closer too. That’s why we hang out. So anyway he just broke up with his girlfriend who sucked by the way (I mean if she didn’t suck, I’d be dating her) and we wanted to find some really hot tail for him I mean, since I’m seeing that girl.

I told Turner I’d drive, so we all got into my black Tahoe. I mean Tahoes are great that’s what guys should have. I’d get an ’07 Range Rover, but I don’t want to beat it up on my hunting lease. The valet took forever, so I just gave the dude a $20. I don’t have time to wait for change. It’s just a bunch of ones. That’s not even money. We were going to go to Sense and get a table and some bottles of Ketel, but we didn’t want some North Dallas chicks throwing themselves at us and drinking off our bottles. I don’t touch 972s anyway.

This is not bad, but no self-respecting Dallas dealbro would be caught dead at Bob’s. Try Nick & Sam’s or Al Biernat’s instead

Dude, no one goes to Bob's or Al Biernat's now. All Town Hearth. And maybe N&S.

[Right2BearArms]

Not the above-mentioned poster but here's my subjective/Texan take on the three cities:

Houston is massive, messy, cosmopolitan, sprawly and glorious. There's a "don't give a dam" attitude (reflected in the aesthetics of the city itself, see lack of zoning) that can be liberating in a way. Houston people don't care about judging others and are busy being can-doers. Obviously stereotyping broadly but you get the point. Houston is at once BigOil, international/cosmopolitan and blue-collar (the latter according to Dallas people especially).

Austin is a cool city but is definitely a bit too big for its britches. There's a certain faux-Californian feel to the city which many people find appealing (and which many non-Austin Texans find a bit annoying). Probably has the best natural scenery of the three.

Dallas is also great. In many ways similar to Houston but also very different. Like Houston, sprawly and massive. Not as diverse as Houston, but still surprisingly diverse, especially in the suburbs. Dallas feels significantly more organized/clean when compared to Houston. Probably a bit more parochial than Houston. Houstonians think that Dallas people are too snobby for their own good. More diversified economy.

This is pretty spot-on. I will add that Houston has by far the best food/bar scene of the three (unless you like college-scuz 6th street). Downtown Housotn, while not great when measured against a lot of other cities, is rapidly getting more vibrant and has 10x the bars and restaurants it did 5 years ago (a lot of which now stay open past 8pm). The last time I was in downtown Dallas after-hours (admittedly almost a year ago now) the place was dead after 6 with the exception of the sliver of places near the American Airlines center.

I strongly disagree that Houston’s bar scene is better than Dallas’. I don’t know how you can say Dallas is dead after 6. The area immediately around the AAC (Victory Park) is admittedly pretty boring, but Uptown, Deep Ellum, Bishop Arts, etc. are all much more lively than Downtown Houston. And if you’re a young attorney, you’ll likely live in Uptown.

But yes, if you go looking around Victory Park and Downton Dallas then you won’t find much going on.

Notice I said downtown was dead, not the city at large. Context matters oh brave annon. Overall Dallas has a lot and I never said otherwise, Houston is just better having lived and spent time in both (I am from out of state so no regional alliances here, just my subjective take).

Houston has Montrose, Midtown, the Heights, EaDo, Washington Corridor, Uptown, fledgling scenes in the Third Ward, Fifth Ward and Near Northside, all of which are within the loop where most people under 30 seem to live and within 10-15 min of downtown and all which have unique vibes and different bar/food scenes.

Restaurants, its hands down Houston.

[DoveBodyWash]

without reading all the other replies, V&E has impressed us every time we've worked with/across from them. Didn't know WSGR had an office down there.