Which firms do top HYS students go to? Forum

[sener212]

DLA PIPER

[Npret]

Is the real question here where can the top 5 students get jobs that pay as much as biglaw law but work 1/2 to 1/3 as much? How do the top 5 get rich fast and easy, is that the question? I don't think the answer is going to be work for a law firm.

[Person1111]

V5 litigation is not a thing. Litigators don't dream about going to cravath or skadden. They want Gibson, Covington, Williams etc. or fancy lit boutiques like Susman, Kaker, Munger. Vault Rankings don't equate to level of competitiveness in hiring or desirability for specific areas of law.

FWIW, Cravath and Skadden are not at all equivalent in this context. Cravath was very popular with high achievers in my class who wanted to do litigation. Skadden, not so much. The big difference seems to be that the top students who wanted to litigate generally tended to gravitate toward DC (and, to a lesser extent, the west coast), while the top students who wanted to do transactional work gravitated toward NYC.

[Desert Fox]

The Cream don't go to white and case.

[Anonymous User]

V5 litigation is not a thing. Litigators don't dream about going to cravath or skadden. They want Gibson, Covington, Williams etc. or fancy lit boutiques like Susman, Kaker, Munger. Vault Rankings don't equate to level of competitiveness in hiring or desirability for specific areas of law.

FWIW, Cravath and Skadden are not at all equivalent in this context. Cravath was very popular with high achievers in my class who wanted to do litigation. Skadden, not so much. The big difference seems to be that the top students who wanted to litigate generally tended to gravitate toward DC (and, to a lesser extent, the west coast), while the top students who wanted to do transactional work gravitated toward NYC.

Op here. I've noticed the same regional trend. I understand the appeal of DC, but do you have any explanation for the aversion to NYC?

[Anonymous User]

It's expensive, has materially worse hours/QoL than other markets, and isn't regarded as the most "prestigious" among litigators. Some people like NYC and decide to practice litigation there in spite of all of this, but there's not as much upside to practicing there as there might be to practicing litigation in another market. (Disclaimer: I practice in LA and would never in a million years consider practicing in NY.)

ETA: Sorry, this is hlsperson1111.

[Anonymous User]

Beyond the "top students" question -- the more ridiculous thing about Y is that you can go into FIP with 3 grades, one or fewer H's, and get multiple V10 offers. The biglaw hiring process is downright silly.

[TheSpanishMain]

Hopefully I'm not hijacking the thread too much, but people have alluded quite a bit to the top HYS students not going to law firms and I'm wondering what other opportunities there are out there, especially if one has unusual career goals (compared to other top HYS students). I get the sense that most of these people have specific things/career trajectories they are passionate about (SCOTUS clerk, academia, government), but what if someone had top 5 (people, not %) grades at HYS and didn't really care what they did, and in fact didn't really want to work much at all, just wanted to make money as quickly and painlessly (to the extent those aren't mutually exclusive) as possible and then retire? I realize that most people recommend ibanking/consulting or above-market biglaw for making money, but those options all seem very sweatshop-y to me. Basically the question is whether (and how) someone could leverage top grades into a job that made money comparable to normal biglaw but with more 9-5ish hours, or if that isn't possible, then what would be the highest-paying job that top grades could get (so that one could gtfo of the sweatshop as soon as possible).

Tbf, this is not a problem that anyone in the "top 5" that I know has.

Op here. What do you mean by this?

I think he means that the kind of people who end up as top 5 students at elite law schools tend to be very driven. You don't end up in that position if you're someone looking to phone it in.

[jbagelboy]

if you go on the basis of Sears Prize winners as a proxy for top students at top schools, of those that head to firms, Wachtell is common (rather unsurprisingly)

[Anonymous User]

Hopefully I'm not hijacking the thread too much, but people have alluded quite a bit to the top HYS students not going to law firms and I'm wondering what other opportunities there are out there, especially if one has unusual career goals (compared to other top HYS students). I get the sense that most of these people have specific things/career trajectories they are passionate about (SCOTUS clerk, academia, government), but what if someone had top 5 (people, not %) grades at HYS and didn't really care what they did, and in fact didn't really want to work much at all, just wanted to make money as quickly and painlessly (to the extent those aren't mutually exclusive) as possible and then retire? I realize that most people recommend ibanking/consulting or above-market biglaw for making money, but those options all seem very sweatshop-y to me. Basically the question is whether (and how) someone could leverage top grades into a job that made money comparable to normal biglaw but with more 9-5ish hours, or if that isn't possible, then what would be the highest-paying job that top grades could get (so that one could gtfo of the sweatshop as soon as possible).

Tbf, this is not a problem that anyone in the "top 5" that I know has.

Op here. What do you mean by this?

I think he means that the kind of people who end up as top 5 students at elite law schools tend to be very driven. You don't end up in that position if you're someone looking to phone it in.

I'm the original anonymous user quoted above (not the OP). While I appreciate lawlorbust's anecdote about not knowing anyone in the top 5 who doesn't want to work, I wasn't just throwing out a random hypothetical, but was asking for advice from a personal standpoint, as I am in the situation described.

[Anonymous User]

if you go on the basis of Sears Prize winners as a proxy for top students at top schools, of those that head to firms, Wachtell is common (rather unsurprisingly)

Op here. I don't know if this is the right thread to ask this, but do they all go into corporate? Or are some in Wachtell's litigation practice too?

[jbagelboy]

if you go on the basis of Sears Prize winners as a proxy for top students at top schools, of those that head to firms, Wachtell is common (rather unsurprisingly)

Op here. I don't know if this is the right thread to ask this, but do they all go into corporate? Or are some in Wachtell's litigation practice too?

I don't know. I don't work there. I would guess corporate. The litigators go clerk for a couple years and then work at boutiques, if they enter private practice at all.

[PeanutsNJam]

Hopefully I'm not hijacking the thread too much, but people have alluded quite a bit to the top HYS students not going to law firms and I'm wondering what other opportunities there are out there, especially if one has unusual career goals (compared to other top HYS students). I get the sense that most of these people have specific things/career trajectories they are passionate about (SCOTUS clerk, academia, government), but what if someone had top 5 (people, not %) grades at HYS and didn't really care what they did, and in fact didn't really want to work much at all, just wanted to make money as quickly and painlessly (to the extent those aren't mutually exclusive) as possible and then retire? I realize that most people recommend ibanking/consulting or above-market biglaw for making money, but those options all seem very sweatshop-y to me. Basically the question is whether (and how) someone could leverage top grades into a job that made money comparable to normal biglaw but with more 9-5ish hours, or if that isn't possible, then what would be the highest-paying job that top grades could get (so that one could gtfo of the sweatshop as soon as possible).

Tbf, this is not a problem that anyone in the "top 5" that I know has.

Op here. What do you mean by this?

I think he means that the kind of people who end up as top 5 students at elite law schools tend to be very driven. You don't end up in that position if you're someone looking to phone it in.

I'm the original anonymous user quoted above (not the OP). While I appreciate lawlorbust's anecdote about not knowing anyone in the top 5 who doesn't want to work, I wasn't just throwing out a random hypothetical, but was asking for advice from a personal standpoint, as I am in the situation described.

If you mean you're Top 5 at HYS, it seems like SCOTUS clerk -> law professor is the best way to make bank and have like 3 months of vacation per year and no stress. Maybe hop to a law firm for a year or two and eat that sweet clerkship bonus.

PE is lots more money for same biglaw workload (but I don't actually know if PE shops hire JDs at all). You could also do Wachtell/PE/Consulting -> Cushy in-house, which would involve a few years of grinding, but you'd qualify for some sweet cushy in-house gigs.

If you just want to know your immediate next step, why not SCOTUS clerk and then re-evaluate? It closes 0 doors and is a chill, awesome way to spend your time. Or feeder judge.

[rpupkin]

If you just want to know your immediate next step, why not SCOTUS clerk and then re-evaluate? It closes 0 doors and is a chill, awesome way to spend your time. Or feeder judge.

A SCOTUS clerkship a great experience, but no one describes it as "chill." Ex-SCOTUS clerks often describe that year as the hardest-working year of their lives.

Also, being a top-5 student at HYS is no guarantee that you'll make it. SCOTUS clerkship hiring is rather "fit" oriented. Sure, you generally need top grades from a top school, but there are about 100-200 applicants who can claim top grades from top schools, and only 36 spots.

[quiver]

If you just want to know your immediate next step, why not SCOTUS clerk and then re-evaluate? It closes 0 doors and is a chill, awesome way to spend your time. Or feeder judge.

A SCOTUS clerkship a great experience, but no one describes it as "chill." Ex-SCOTUS clerks often describe that year as the hardest-working year of their lives.

Also, being a top-5 student at HYS is no guarantee that you'll make it. SCOTUS clerkship hiring is rather "fit" oriented. Sure, you generally need top grades from a top school, but there are about 100-200 applicants who can claim top grades from top schools, and only 36 spots.

Definitely agree with rpupkin here. And the same goes for certain feeder judges too.

OP--If you want to do lit, I would definitely recommend clerking. By the time you need to transition from clerkship(s) to a job, you may have a better handle on what interests you and what you look for in a firm (especially if you do Dct + COA). If you want corp, just apply to the best corp firms--i.e., Wachtell, et al.