Which partners at your firms are notoriously terrible to work for? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Happy to get this back on track – noticed plenty of negatives about STB M&A partners. Does this carry over into cap markets as well?

Yes, Art Robinson has screamed at juniors for the most ridiculous things. STB is generally all around awful. It’s so quiet because the associates are terrified of the partners and too busy billing to get the PPP up. Another name that is notorious is Benjamin Smith in funds - also known to scream at his mid level and juniors.

How is STB in their satellite offices? LA and Palo Alto?

If you are looking for a “chill firm”, STB isn’t it. Those people in your law school classes who never spoke but got better grades than you work at STB. A very bizarre culture. Satellite offices are all packed with partners or associates from the mothership on the corporate side who got pushed out or moved for personal reasons so same vibe.

Former associate at STB satellite here: can confirm this, 100%. This was actually a perfect description. My satellite was loaded with departures from the mothership. Most bizarre, unpleasant culture you could imagine. There are a few good people but it was disheartening how hard they were to come by.

Whatever the opposite of "chill" is...that's STB.

One of the funnier dynamics at the mothership is how resentful other offices are of the mothership. It’s like they hate NYC for giving them deals to do. Miserable place to work with uniquely out of touch and terrible people. Dick Beattie is a legend however. No amount of weirdo all lower case partner emails can change that.

STB drawing the "quiet gunner" type is spot on. But at my STB satellite I don't think it's quite as abysmal as made out here. Perhaps it depends on how well the satellite is performing... and at any rate I think we probably have it better than many/all of the v10 sweatshops. Hard agree that if you want to "chill" then don't choose STB, but probably don't choose any of the v10...

[Anonymous User]

Any horror stories from Texas firms? By and large, the homegrown firms still seem to pitch the "this is kinder, gentler Biglaw" spiel, even though no one buys that anymore. I am curious if there are any particularly tyrannical folks in Houston/Dallas/Austin.

As far as K&E TX, I'm not sure I would say any share partners are particularly terrible (there are some worse or more demanding than others, and there are plenty of NSPs who are terrible) other than the big guy himself, but I don't really hear of anyone working for him anymore as he is busy just making it rain, so that is kind of moot. I almost feel bad saying this because I think the guy clearly has a serious mental illness, but RVS is notoriously annoying to work for.

Can anyone expand on this? I don't know who the "big guy" is supposed to be, and I want to know more about this suggestion of mental illness...

Also, bump

[Anonymous User]

Any horror stories from Texas firms? By and large, the homegrown firms still seem to pitch the "this is kinder, gentler Biglaw" spiel, even though no one buys that anymore. I am curious if there are any particularly tyrannical folks in Houston/Dallas/Austin.

As far as K&E TX, I'm not sure I would say any share partners are particularly terrible (there are some worse or more demanding than others, and there are plenty of NSPs who are terrible) other than the big guy himself, but I don't really hear of anyone working for him anymore as he is busy just making it rain, so that is kind of moot. I almost feel bad saying this because I think the guy clearly has a serious mental illness, but RVS is notoriously annoying to work for.

Can anyone expand on this? I don't know who the "big guy" is supposed to be, and I want to know more about this suggestion of mental illness...

Also, bump

I have a feeling this might be the guy, but not entirely sure.
https://abovethelaw.com/2020/05/partner ... ne-at-all/

[Anonymous User]

Happy to get this back on track – noticed plenty of negatives about STB M&A partners. Does this carry over into cap markets as well?

Yes, Art Robinson has screamed at juniors for the most ridiculous things. STB is generally all around awful. It’s so quiet because the associates are terrified of the partners and too busy billing to get the PPP up. Another name that is notorious is Benjamin Smith in funds - also known to scream at his mid level and juniors.

How is STB in their satellite offices? LA and Palo Alto?

If you are looking for a “chill firm”, STB isn’t it. Those people in your law school classes who never spoke but got better grades than you work at STB. A very bizarre culture. Satellite offices are all packed with partners or associates from the mothership on the corporate side who got pushed out or moved for personal reasons so same vibe.

Former associate at STB satellite here: can confirm this, 100%. This was actually a perfect description. My satellite was loaded with departures from the mothership. Most bizarre, unpleasant culture you could imagine. There are a few good people but it was disheartening how hard they were to come by.

Whatever the opposite of "chill" is...that's STB.

One of the funnier dynamics at the mothership is how resentful other offices are of the mothership. It’s like they hate NYC for giving them deals to do. Miserable place to work with uniquely out of touch and terrible people. Dick Beattie is a legend however. No amount of weirdo all lower case partner emails can change that.

STB drawing the "quiet gunner" type is spot on. But at my STB satellite I don't think it's quite as abysmal as made out here. Perhaps it depends on how well the satellite is performing... and at any rate I think we probably have it better than many/all of the v10 sweatshops. Hard agree that if you want to "chill" then don't choose STB, but probably don't choose any of the v10...

[Anonymous User]

Are any partners at Winston & Strawn (NY) notoriously bad? I summered there and pretty much every partner I worked with was either friendly or neutral, except one who yelled at me because she sent a pro bono client the wrong Zoom link and it was somehow my fault even though I'd just been assigned to the project that day. So, just curious if I missed some other bad ones.

[Anonymous User]

Are any partners at Winston & Strawn (NY) notoriously bad? I summered there and pretty much every partner I worked with was either friendly or neutral, except one who yelled at me because she sent a pro bono client the wrong Zoom link and it was somehow my fault even though I'd just been assigned to the project that day. So, just curious if I missed some other bad ones.

I work here (2nd year). Pleasant folks. I have not met anyone in NY who has been terrible. All decent people. Who yelled? That’s terrible. Must be real estate lol.

[Anonymous User]

Are any partners at Winston & Strawn (NY) notoriously bad? I summered there and pretty much every partner I worked with was either friendly or neutral, except one who yelled at me because she sent a pro bono client the wrong Zoom link and it was somehow my fault even though I'd just been assigned to the project that day. So, just curious if I missed some other bad ones.

I work here (2nd year). Pleasant folks. I have not met anyone in NY who has been terrible. All decent people. Who yelled? That’s terrible. Must be real estate lol.

You guessed correctly. I don't want to give a specific name because I only had a few interactions with her and maybe she usually doesn't behave that way. However, since you guessed the practice area, you can probably narrow it down.

[Anonymous User]

Are any partners at Winston & Strawn (NY) notoriously bad? I summered there and pretty much every partner I worked with was either friendly or neutral, except one who yelled at me because she sent a pro bono client the wrong Zoom link and it was somehow my fault even though I'd just been assigned to the project that day. So, just curious if I missed some other bad ones.

Someone yelled at a summer????

[Anonymous User]

Are any partners at Winston & Strawn (NY) notoriously bad? I summered there and pretty much every partner I worked with was either friendly or neutral, except one who yelled at me because she sent a pro bono client the wrong Zoom link and it was somehow my fault even though I'd just been assigned to the project that day. So, just curious if I missed some other bad ones.

Someone yelled at a summer????

2nd year anon. Lol that could come off as sarcastic but sadly you are being 100. Outlier. Would stay away from RE.

[Anonymous User]

Any NSPs or SPs at Kirkland chicago notoriously bad?

[Anonymous User]

Any NSPs or SPs at Kirkland chicago notoriously bad?

Or Kirkland NY (litigation), for that matter?

[Anonymous User]

Are any partners at Winston & Strawn (NY) notoriously bad? I summered there and pretty much every partner I worked with was either friendly or neutral, except one who yelled at me because she sent a pro bono client the wrong Zoom link and it was somehow my fault even though I'd just been assigned to the project that day. So, just curious if I missed some other bad ones.

I work here (2nd year). Pleasant folks. I have not met anyone in NY who has been terrible. All decent people. Who yelled? That’s terrible. Must be real estate lol.

You guessed correctly. I don't want to give a specific name because I only had a few interactions with her and maybe she usually doesn't behave that way. However, since you guessed the practice area, you can probably narrow it down.

I know exactly who you're talking about, and no, that incident was not an outlier for her. For all wondering, Winston Real Estate (NY) is as bad as it gets. If the partners aren't being aggressive, they are being passive aggressive. Ridiculous amounts of trash talking, politics, and CYA. Only one, maybe two decent partners in the entire group. Avoid at all costs.

[Anonymous User]

Don't bother asking about Kirkland dirt lol. Go a few pages back and you'll see the same discussion. Kirkland folk are weirdly quiet about their masters.

They are the most frequent TLS posters and there is no way a firm as big as Kirkland doesn't have at least some nasty partners. Yet Kirkland associates are too scared to go there. Lawls.

[Ultramar vistas]

Don't bother asking about Kirkland dirt lol. Go a few pages back and you'll see the same discussion. Kirkland folk are weirdly quiet about their masters.

They are the most frequent TLS posters and there is no way a firm as big as Kirkland doesn't have at least some nasty partners. Yet Kirkland associates are too scared to go there. Lawls.

K&E associates post dirt: K&E partners are mean.

K&E associates don’t post dirt: K&E partners are mean and K&E associates are cowards.

Your bias is showing dude.

[Anonymous User]

Don't bother asking about Kirkland dirt lol. Go a few pages back and you'll see the same discussion. Kirkland folk are weirdly quiet about their masters.

They are the most frequent TLS posters and there is no way a firm as big as Kirkland doesn't have at least some nasty partners. Yet Kirkland associates are too scared to go there. Lawls.

K&E associates post dirt: K&E partners are mean.

K&E associates don’t post dirt: K&E partners are mean and K&E associates are cowards.

Your bias is showing dude.

While I acknowledge that K&E is a firm that is hated by many on TLS, I am pretty indifferent to K&E and feel that most of the criticism the firm gets about aggressive personalities, being a 'sweatshop', or treating its associates poorly is applicable to the majority of V10 big law firms if not the majority of big law firms in general.

I don't see why you're sensitive to my pointing out that K&E associates generally tend to have a herd mentality rooted in fear (maybe loyalty? I don't know) when it comes to naming partners in their firm of 4,000 attorneys. People with common sense understand that K&E is going to have mean partners much like every firm. This idea that K&E associates refuse to divulge names because they are worried about TLS criticism of K&E is hilarious. I don't see an issue with pointing out to people asking about K&E that K&E associates are too afraid to go there.

You're taking this too personally.

[Anonymous User]

Don't bother asking about Kirkland dirt lol. Go a few pages back and you'll see the same discussion. Kirkland folk are weirdly quiet about their masters.

They are the most frequent TLS posters and there is no way a firm as big as Kirkland doesn't have at least some nasty partners. Yet Kirkland associates are too scared to go there. Lawls.

K&E associates post dirt: K&E partners are mean.

K&E associates don’t post dirt: K&E partners are mean and K&E associates are cowards.

Your bias is showing dude.

While I acknowledge that K&E is a firm that is hated by many on TLS, I am pretty indifferent to K&E and feel that most of the criticism the firm gets about aggressive personalities, being a 'sweatshop', or treating its associates poorly is applicable to the majority of V10 big law firms if not the majority of big law firms in general.

I don't see why you're sensitive to my pointing out that K&E associates generally tend to have a herd mentality rooted in fear (maybe loyalty? I don't know) when it comes to naming partners in their firm of 4,000 attorneys. People with common sense understand that K&E is going to have mean partners much like every firm. This idea that K&E associates refuse to divulge names because they are worried about TLS criticism of K&E is hilarious. I don't see an issue with pointing out to people asking about K&E that K&E associates are too afraid to go there.

You're taking this too personally.

I think his point is you’re taking it too personally. There isn’t some Kirkland conspiracy. People here obsess over the firm in weird ways.

[Anonymous User]

Don't bother asking about Kirkland dirt lol. Go a few pages back and you'll see the same discussion. Kirkland folk are weirdly quiet about their masters.

They are the most frequent TLS posters and there is no way a firm as big as Kirkland doesn't have at least some nasty partners. Yet Kirkland associates are too scared to go there. Lawls.

K&E associates post dirt: K&E partners are mean.

K&E associates don’t post dirt: K&E partners are mean and K&E associates are cowards.

Your bias is showing dude.

While I acknowledge that K&E is a firm that is hated by many on TLS, I am pretty indifferent to K&E and feel that most of the criticism the firm gets about aggressive personalities, being a 'sweatshop', or treating its associates poorly is applicable to the majority of V10 big law firms if not the majority of big law firms in general.

I don't see why you're sensitive to my pointing out that K&E associates generally tend to have a herd mentality rooted in fear (maybe loyalty? I don't know) when it comes to naming partners in their firm of 4,000 attorneys. People with common sense understand that K&E is going to have mean partners much like every firm. This idea that K&E associates refuse to divulge names because they are worried about TLS criticism of K&E is hilarious. I don't see an issue with pointing out to people asking about K&E that K&E associates are too afraid to go there.

You're taking this too personally.

I think his point is you’re taking it too personally. There isn’t some Kirkland conspiracy. People here obsess over the firm in weird ways.

[Anonymous User]

Yay yet another thread devolved into a KE pissing match.

[Anonymous User]

Yay yet another thread devolved into a KE pissing match.

KE associates on here are hyper sensitive

[Anonymous User]

Yay yet another thread devolved into a KE pissing match.

Crazy internet guy: “Guise, there’s a kE conSpiRacy!!! KE attorneys move in PACKS! Listen!”

KE atty: “Um, no dude, chill.”

Not sure where the “pissing match” is.

[Anonymous User]

[Anonymous User]

Okay so ignoring the drama above. Where my KE birds at? Spill the tea.

[Anonymous User]

[Anonymous User]

Are any partners at Winston & Strawn (NY) notoriously bad? I summered there and pretty much every partner I worked with was either friendly or neutral, except one who yelled at me because she sent a pro bono client the wrong Zoom link and it was somehow my fault even though I'd just been assigned to the project that day. So, just curious if I missed some other bad ones.

Which practice group are you working in? I'm in a different office but have worked with lots of the NY team. 99% of them are great but there are one or two corporate partners that you might want to try to steer clear of.

[Anonymous User]

Gavin Westerman
Mariel Cruz

Weil M&A. Stay away.