HLS 2012 EIP Thread Forum

[Anonymous User]

Did Paul Weiss yesterday and seriously considering going there over cravatu, sullcrom, cleary, dpw. Really loved it there. Am I crazy?

Yes. It is absolutely crazy to choose a firm full of people that you love being around, doing the type of work that excites you, over a set of other firms where you'll be paid exactly the same amount (yet possibly have to work longer hours) in order to ensure that an infinitesimal fraction of the Earth's population will consider your place of employment marginally more "prestigious" in a ranking yielded by one of the more scientifically-dubious survey methodologies on record.

Fucking nuts, I'd say.

Obviously someone has either made up their mind to go to PW and attempting to justify it by convincing others to join him, or this is a PW recruiter trolling the threads.

PW has a good lit dep't. it wouldn't be a bad choice at all.

Vault rankings are beyond dumb.

[Anonymous User]

anyone heard from holland & knight??

[fatduck]

Also I think people really really overestimate how much "top students" at HLS really do mechanically flock to a small set of "prestigious firms." By my count, last year Law Review students who didn't work for the government or NGOs worked at 29 different places. It's not like there was a set of firms stocked with HLR editors. Instead, only a handful of firms had more than one HLR student, such as Cravath, SullCrom, Irell, AltshulerBerzon, JonesDay, WilmerHale, and by more than one I mean 2-4. Even those students who you would think could really have their choice of firms really do end up choosing a wide variety of firms ranging from those traditionally thought of as targets for "tippy top" students and others than are supposedly for more middle-of-the-road people. In other words, fit really does seem to influence screeners and students more than you'd expect.

of course. it's just like law school admissions, where applicants with HYS numbers take scholarships at lower-ranked schools where they can dominate their feeble-minded classmates. why kill yourself for Cravath's "prestige" where you'll struggle to stand out and will probably leave the firm in 3-4 years when you'll probably make partner in 5 years over your TTT peers at Paul Weiss.

[Anonymous User]

anyone heard from holland & knight??

CB from the Boston office a few days ago.

[Anonymous User]

Also I think people really really overestimate how much "top students" at HLS really do mechanically flock to a small set of "prestigious firms." By my count, last year Law Review students who didn't work for the government or NGOs worked at 29 different places. It's not like there was a set of firms stocked with HLR editors. Instead, only a handful of firms had more than one HLR student, such as Cravath, SullCrom, Irell, AltshulerBerzon, JonesDay, WilmerHale, and by more than one I mean 2-4. Even those students who you would think could really have their choice of firms really do end up choosing a wide variety of firms ranging from those traditionally thought of as targets for "tippy top" students and others than are supposedly for more middle-of-the-road people. In other words, fit really does seem to influence screeners and students more than you'd expect.

of course. it's just like law school admissions, where applicants with HYS numbers take scholarships at lower-ranked schools where they can dominate their feeble-minded classmates. why kill yourself for Cravath's "prestige" where you'll struggle to stand out and will probably leave the firm in 3-4 years when you'll probably make partner in 5 years over your TTT peers at Paul Weiss.

As someone who is probably going to Paul Weiss, I resent that.

[094320]

..

[Anonymous User]

Did Paul Weiss yesterday and seriously considering going there over cravatu, sullcrom, cleary, dpw. Really loved it there. Am I crazy?

Yes. It is absolutely crazy to choose a firm full of people that you love being around, doing the type of work that excites you, over a set of other firms where you'll be paid exactly the same amount (yet possibly have to work longer hours) in order to ensure that an infinitesimal fraction of the Earth's population will consider your place of employment marginally more "prestigious" in a ranking yielded by one of the more scientifically-dubious survey methodologies on record.

Fucking nuts, I'd say.

Well said.

Just be sure you are picking the firm for the right reasons, and aren't just drinking exaggerated marketing kool-aid. A tough line to ascertain, for sure.

I'm a different anon than the previous posters in this chain, and I will out myself and say that I work at PW and have been helping with interviews so I am certainly pretty biased. That said, I wanted to jump in to add that I found my callback at PW to be very true to my summer experience, which in turn was very true to my experience thus far as a first-year (soon to be second-year) associate. Incidentally, I have been to trial several times already and have yet to get stuck on a doc review (knock wood). I can't speak for what things are like at other firms, but I have found the work here to be exciting, the hours to be humane, the trial experience to be real, the mentoring to be helpful and valuable, and the coworkers/collegiality to be top-notch. I would pick this firm all over again over pretty much every other firm on the Vault list, with the only possible exception being Wachtell for pure financial reasons. Then again, I really like the fact that I still have a personal life and a healthy relationship, so even Wachtell would give me pause.

Anyway, I don't mean to troll for PW; just wanted to chime in that it would not be crazy to make that choice if you got a good feeling from the place. That feeling has definitely held up for me.

[Anonymous User]

Yes. It is absolutely crazy to choose a firm full of people that you love being around, doing the type of work that excites you, over a set of other firms where you'll be paid exactly the same amount (yet possibly have to work longer hours) in order to ensure that an infinitesimal fraction of the Earth's population will consider your place of employment marginally more "prestigious" in a ranking yielded by one of the more scientifically-dubious survey methodologies on record.

Fucking nuts, I'd say.

Well said.

Just be sure you are picking the firm for the right reasons, and aren't just drinking exaggerated marketing kool-aid. A tough line to ascertain, for sure.

I'm a different anon than the previous posters in this chain, and I will out myself and say that I work at PW and have been helping with interviews so I am certainly pretty biased. That said, I wanted to jump in to add that I found my callback at PW to be very true to my summer experience, which in turn was very true to my experience thus far as a first-year (soon to be second-year) associate. Incidentally, I have been to trial several times already and have yet to get stuck on a doc review (knock wood). I can't speak for what things are like at other firms, but I have found the work here to be exciting, the hours to be humane, the trial experience to be real, the mentoring to be helpful and valuable, and the coworkers/collegiality to be top-notch. I would pick this firm all over again over pretty much every other firm on the Vault list, with the only possible exception being Wachtell for pure financial reasons. Then again, I really like the fact that I still have a personal life and a healthy relationship, so even Wachtell would give me pause.

Anyway, I don't mean to troll for PW; just wanted to chime in that it would not be crazy to make that choice if you got a good feeling from the place. That feeling has definitely held up for me.[/quote]

I am the anonymous who posted about making sure not to drink the koolaid. I meant that as a very general statement about picking your firm, not about PW in particular. In fact, I think PW is highly underrated on these boards. Among practitioners, it has a reputation as a top tier litigation shop. Just another reason why never to look at Vault rankings.

[Anonymous User]

Just be sure you are picking the firm for the right reasons, and aren't just drinking exaggerated marketing kool-aid. A tough line to ascertain, for sure.

I'm a different anon than the previous posters in this chain, and I will out myself and say that I work at PW and have been helping with interviews so I am certainly pretty biased. That said, I wanted to jump in to add that I found my callback at PW to be very true to my summer experience, which in turn was very true to my experience thus far as a first-year (soon to be second-year) associate. Incidentally, I have been to trial several times already and have yet to get stuck on a doc review (knock wood). I can't speak for what things are like at other firms, but I have found the work here to be exciting, the hours to be humane, the trial experience to be real, the mentoring to be helpful and valuable, and the coworkers/collegiality to be top-notch. I would pick this firm all over again over pretty much every other firm on the Vault list, with the only possible exception being Wachtell for pure financial reasons. Then again, I really like the fact that I still have a personal life and a healthy relationship, so even Wachtell would give me pause.

Anyway, I don't mean to troll for PW; just wanted to chime in that it would not be crazy to make that choice if you got a good feeling from the place. That feeling has definitely held up for me.

You're in the ny office, I'm guessing?

[Anonymous User]

would you agree that's the same experience in the DC office?

[Anonymous User]

would you agree that's the same experience in the DC office?

Yes. I've worked on a bunch of cases with partners in the D.C. office, and I'd say it's the same or slightly better in D.C. Because the office is smaller you get more of the good stuff (collegiality, manageable hours -- DC partners are gunning to go home for dinner to see their families). Also, because there are several superstar trial attorneys in the D.C. office, you have lots of chances for real trial experience very early. I heard that half of the D.C. summer class went to trial during the summer.

[Anonymous User]

I have a PW NYC CB and want to be in DC. Any shot?

[Anonymous User]

I have a PW NYC CB and want to be in DC. Any shot?

Did you interview for DC as well or just NY? I believe the way it works is that the NY office can send your information down to the DC office, but an NY callback does not guarantee you a DC callback.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone hear from Milbank NY, interviewer AW?

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone heard anything one way or the other from W&C? It seems like they are taking a while. Unless people have been getting CBs and just haven't posted.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone heard from:

Proskauer LA
Akin Gump LA
OMM Downtown LA
Morgan Lewis LA
Sheppard Mullin Century City

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone heard from:

Proskauer LA
Akin Gump LA
OMM Downtown LA
Morgan Lewis LA
Sheppard Mullin Century City

OMM Downtown LA has given CBs. Good luck!

[Anonymous User]

Got an offer from my top choice the day after the CB. I'm pretty much done now. How long do you have to give before you cancel your other CB's? 3 days right. I have two scheduled this week do I do them even if I already accepted the offer? It will feel so good to cancel all the rest of my CB's. Hopefully everyone gets their top choice.

[Anonymous User]

Got an offer from my top choice the day after the CB. I'm pretty much done now. How long do you have to give before you cancel your other CB's? 3 days right. I have two scheduled this week do I do them even if I already accepted the offer? It will feel so good to cancel all the rest of my CB's. Hopefully everyone gets their top choice.

Congrats on getting your top choice. 24 hours advance notice is perfectly acceptable. But obviously, the sooner the better if you are certain. And if you're not going to take their offer, don't waste their time. Definitely do not do a callback if you have already accepted an offer, barring an intention to split, and even then, that might be tricky. I'd talk to OCS first.

What was your top choice? Congrats again.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone heard from:

Proskauer LA
Akin Gump LA
OMM Downtown LA
Morgan Lewis LA
Sheppard Mullin Century City

I heard from Proskauer LA, Akin Gump LA, and OMM Downtown, all last week.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone hear from Milbank NY, interviewer AW?

Or from interviewer RM?

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone heard from:

Proskauer LA
Akin Gump LA
OMM Downtown LA
Morgan Lewis LA
Sheppard Mullin Century City

OMM Downtown LA has given CBs. Good luck!

Interviewed at Proskauer, AG, and SM and haven't heard from any of them. At this point I'm proceeding like they're snail mail dinging people who haven't heard - although I haven't heard of other people hearing from them either. I'm still getting some trickling in (one cb today, one yesterday) but it's slipping into the no-hope category.

[Anonymous User]

Got an offer from my top choice the day after the CB. I'm pretty much done now. How long do you have to give before you cancel your other CB's? 3 days right. I have two scheduled this week do I do them even if I already accepted the offer? It will feel so good to cancel all the rest of my CB's. Hopefully everyone gets their top choice.

Congrats on getting your top choice. 24 hours advance notice is perfectly acceptable. But obviously, the sooner the better if you are certain. And if you're not going to take their offer, don't waste their time. Definitely do not do a callback if you have already accepted an offer, barring an intention to split, and even then, that might be tricky. I'd talk to OCS first.

What was your top choice? Congrats again.

I agree. Also, remember the firms are paying for you're hotel & travel, etc, so if you're no longer interested it would be nice to let them know so they don't waste their money.

[Anonymous User]

Foley & Lardner CB NY. Happy callbacks are still coming out.

[Anonymous User]

Various email dings this week:

-Proskauer NY
-Winston & Strawn NY
-Cleary NY
-Cooley NY