Best firms for good culture in DC? Forum

[Anonymous User]

If you can land a job there, Wilmer has a compelling combination of positive culture (for large firms) and excellent work. As with anything, this can be group dependent, and I can only speak to the litigation/controversy and regulatory side. Wilmer is not a firm for cultivating a high-intensity social environment; it’s not a daily-happy-hour-with-colleagues, models & bottles shop, but most folks are respectful of a balance of personal life and professional, fairly laid back on remote work (although I can’t speak to the environment at the new offices), and genuinely collegial. If you have small kids, that’s all you can really ask.

Wait a second - which firm is the so-called models and bottles shop? I don’t believe such a thing exists.

That's a NY thing, but DC isn't a city the hardest partiers in law school will self-select to.

Yeah agreed. Skadden DC is very much still Skadden but they're probably the one exception. Even my summer associate events (not @ Skadden) were about as PG and family-friendly as it gets. The party scene here isn't that great anyway, the whole vibe of DC feels pretty staid.

I by no means had a models and bottles or Skadden NY experience at the DC office but perhaps I missed those invites

[Anonymous User]

Any tea on Fried Frank's culture in DC?

[Anonymous User]

Is the Kellogg culture as bad as everyone says?

I wouldn't say the culture is bad, everyone seems quite nice, if reserved and very nerdy, but you are expected to bill an incredible amount.

[Anonymous User]

Kramer Levin's DC office is also worth considering. It's effectively the former boutique Robbins Russell, which Kramer acquired in April 2022.

[Anonymous User]

Morgan Lewis has a very chill culture and seems set on its work from home policy if that’s appealing (2 days in the office). It’s still biglaw but I’ve had a very good experience and really like my coworkers in lit. But they seem to hire into practice groups, and they don’t have an email address for general clerk applications, which is straightforward, I guess, but a bummer

[Anonymous User]

If you can land a job there, Wilmer has a compelling combination of positive culture (for large firms) and excellent work. As with anything, this can be group dependent, and I can only speak to the litigation/controversy and regulatory side. Wilmer is not a firm for cultivating a high-intensity social environment; it’s not a daily-happy-hour-with-colleagues, models & bottles shop, but most folks are respectful of a balance of personal life and professional, fairly laid back on remote work (although I can’t speak to the environment at the new offices), and genuinely collegial. If you have small kids, that’s all you can really ask.

Wait a second - which firm is the so-called models and bottles shop? I don’t believe such a thing exists.

That's a NY thing, but DC isn't a city the hardest partiers in law school will self-select to.

Yeah agreed. Skadden DC is very much still Skadden but they're probably the one exception. Even my summer associate events (not @ Skadden) were about as PG and family-friendly as it gets. The party scene here isn't that great anyway, the whole vibe of DC feels pretty staid.

I by no means had a models and bottles or Skadden NY experience at the DC office but perhaps I missed those invites

Law firms have never been "models and bottles." We don't make that type of money. At most, it's open bar at the ugly wood-paneled "speakeasy" with your bros in restructuring.