Boston Firms 2021 edition Forum

[Anonymous User]

Has Wilmer made offers yet?

[Anonymous User]

Currently at a Boston-based firm, on the transactional side. The second post in this thread is fairly accurate, but wanted to provide my perspective (again, only from the transactional side).

I. THE "BIG 3" (?):
To start, Ropes and Goodwin are head and shoulders the two preeminent firms in the market in terms of transactional work. Ropes has a preeminent PE M&A practice nationally, and is also nationally-regarded for its funds, healthcare, and life sciences work (but PE will always be what it's best known for). Goodwin has re-branded itself over the past 5-10 years as a national leader in tech and life sciences (i.e., aspiring to be the "WSGR, Cooley, Fenwick, etc." of the East Coast), while also having a growing PE practice. Both of them are probably more humane than your average white shoe NY firm in terms of culture (as are most Boston firms generally), but I would say the practice group you pick will be more indicative of hours and culture than the firm itself (i.e., a tech transactions associate at Goodwin probably has a similar work/life balance to a tech transactions associate at Ropes). Goodwin tends to be a more active player in the lateral markets, while also seeming to have a higher attrition rate in terms of rumored "stealth layoffs" (although frankly, everyone does it).

Between the two, Ropes has clearly the stronger PE practice. Goodwin is more active for emerging companies and company-side IPOs (while the Ropes's capital markets work is more underwriter-leaning). Both of them do tech transactions/licensing work extremely well.

I don't dispute this if you're looking at M&A/PE M&A, but if you are more interested in venture work or full lifecycle rep, I would look hard at Cooley/Mintz/Gunderson. You're never fully going to be able to compare a behemoth local firm like Ropes to say, Cooley. But if you're interested in doing all types of deals for tech/life sciences companies (which, by the way, can lead to "better" in-house marketability because you'll have had very broad exposure), these "lesser" firms are really worth considering.

[Anonymous User]

I’m going to chime in with a different perspective.

Everybody at BC/Bu/hls (to extent interested in boston biglaw) is going to go on about Goodwin and ropes and Choate and foley hoag and Wilmer and Nixon and mintz (with those latter two being a small tier below) because they are the biggest and consequently the best known in the city. So naturally law students will think those should be the top targets.

But this line of thought ignores the potential to get extremely valuable experiences at relatively smaller offices of amlaw100 firms. As a mid level lit associate, consensus among a not necessarily representative sample of people I talk to is that experiences in much smaller groups of giant firms are often better. Think market or maybe a tad below market giant firms with relatively small/new boston offices (to name a few, Quinn orrick Dla Goulston, hogan Lovells, foley and Lardner, and there are many many others). Note that some of these might be small to the point that they don’t participate in OCI and instead just take direct Aps.

All I’m saying is don’t count these types of situations out. It’s easier to thrive as a junior-going-on-mid when there aren’t 10 other people your exact same year in your exact same subgroup vying for the exact same choice work from the exact same partners. Simply put, it can be a way less stressful environment that’s more conducive to mentorship.

Just food for thought as you 2Ls make your decisions.

[Anonymous User]

This thread has been extremely helpful; thank you to all who have participated.

I'm in the process of leaving NYC and headed to Boston to be closer to family. My current v35 NYC firm doesn't have a satellite in Boston, so I'm looking to lateral. I'm a corporate junior associate and less concerned with firm prestige in or outside of Boston and, along with market pay, most interested in QoL. Some of the more regional, Boston-centric firms seem interesting.

[Anonymous User]

are Boston firms notoriously slow? I feel like I applied to non-existent firms at this point

[smile0751]

This thread has been extremely helpful; thank you to all who have participated.

I'm in the process of leaving NYC and headed to Boston to be closer to family. My current v35 NYC firm doesn't have a satellite in Boston, so I'm looking to lateral. I'm a corporate junior associate and less concerned with firm prestige in or outside of Boston and, along with market pay, most interested in QoL. Some of the more regional, Boston-centric firms seem interesting.

Whoever this is, I work at Ropes and would be happy to recommend you and split the referral bonus if you come to the firm. PM me if interested (I can’t PM you since your anonymous).