General Questions about Wachtell Forum

[miamiman]

Can we end this thread? Its seriously pissing me off.

Its like asking how to become an Apollo mission astronaut or US Senator. No one in this community will get wlrk. Just accept it, be happy to get any biglaw gig, and move on. Fuck.

[Mr. Pablo]

Everything has its cost.

[09042014]

Can we end this thread? Its seriously pissing me off.

Its like asking how to become an Apollo mission astronaut or US Senator. No one in this community will get wlrk. Just accept it, be happy to get any biglaw gig, and move on. Fuck.

A former TLSer is a SA at WLRK right now.

[miamiman]

Can we end this thread? Its seriously pissing me off.

Its like asking how to become an Apollo mission astronaut or US Senator. No one currently in this community will get wlrk. Just accept it, be happy to get any biglaw gig, and move on. Fuck.

A former TLSer is a SA at WLRK right now.

ftfm

[d34d9823]

Can we end this thread? Its seriously pissing me off.

Its like asking how to become an Apollo mission astronaut or US Senator. No one in this community will get wlrk. Just accept it, be happy to get any biglaw gig, and move on. Fuck.

There's a ton of people on here with HYS acceptances. They have as good a chance as anyone.

[09042014]

I think Apimp has a decent shot if he guns hard. God help me if he ever finds this post.

[RisingMichigan3L]

Just to put an end to the Wachtell dicksucking here, I'll add a few pointers:

1) Not everything WLRK does is cutting-edge. They're pretty much the go-to firm if you're a seller in a transaction because they have experience with these situations (and, indeed, Marty Lipton crafted the poison pill, so you'd bet they have plenty of expertise). Corporate law is filled with fiduciary duties for sellers that trigger at various points, and those points tend to be unclear, so even the most routine transactions require a great degree of precision.

2) I chuckled a bit when someone here said that "you hire WLRK not to screw up," and then gave the BoA/Merrill example later in his post. WLRK actually screwed up big-time in that case, exposing itself when the judge lifted Attorney-Client privilege.

The following articles are pretty informative on the matter:
http://lawshucks.com/2009/10/bad-blood- ... aul-weiss/
http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdail ... htell.html
http://lawshucks.com/2009/04/amlaw-wach ... or-apollo/
http://lawshucks.com/2009/04/deal-prof- ... -did-fine/

1Ls (rising 2Ls) will be 1Ls (rising 2Ls)

[RisingMichigan3L]

Also, it's pretty silly to say that Wachtell gets most of the cutting-edge work, as opposed to other top NY firms. At the end of the day, the usual suspects are all involved in the deal, doing the same sort of work Wachtell is doing. You can guess those usual suspects really easily.

The point of Wachtell is the type of work you're doing. I'd bet hard cash associates are given significant responsibility early on. This cannot be said for other top NY firms like Davis Polk, Sullivan & Cromwell, etc. Again, this is just the way the firms are structured. The better the leverage at a firm, the easier it is to get responsibility early on. This is why boutiques tend to offer a better overall experience than the traditional biglaw firms. The worst the leverage, the more you're expected to be behind the scenes as a junior/midlevel associate, doing work that will probably be farmed out to India in a few years

Edit: And interestingly enough, some consider WLRK to be an M&A boutique rather than a traditional biglaw firm.

[RisingMichigan3L]

Last post in this string, I promise.

"Cutting-edge" work can be found at many other firms, some of which are less selective. It just depends on what you want to do. Given that we're in a recession, arguably the most cutting edge stuff is in bankruptcy, in which case Weil Gotshal and Kirkland & Ellis are handling the most sophisticated cases (the former is doing Lehman Bros, which I believe is the largest bankruptcy in monetary terms; the latter is handling the General Growth bankruptcy, which is the largest bankruptcy in real estate). Neither of those firms is terribly selective.

For litigation, again, the "cutting edge" shit is heading to different shops. Sullivan & Cromwell and Paul Weiss are getting huge chunks from the Goldman Sachs litigation, which will probably spawn a generation of shareholder suits, and which they will be hired for again and again. Because of their expertise, they'll eventually be tapped for later suits by the SEC against other major banks, and the subsequent shareholder litigation. Kirkland & Ellis was just tapped to handle the entire BP oil spill litigation.

So yeah, all this bs about cutting-edge stuff really doesn't make sense. WLRK makes sense because you get to do some cool shit as a rookie. And yes, I'd probably be willing to sacrifice my personal life to have that kind of responsibility.

[clintonius]

And for litigation, also check out Quinn. They're on the up and up, and do some pretty damn interesting litigation work without fear of conflict (sound familiar in this thread?).

[underdawg]

Just to put an end to the Wachtell dicksucking here, I'll add a few pointers:

1) Not everything WLRK does is cutting-edge. They're pretty much the go-to firm if you're a seller in a transaction because they have experience with these situations (and, indeed, Marty Lipton crafted the poison pill, so you'd bet they have plenty of expertise). Corporate law is filled with fiduciary duties for sellers that trigger at various points, and those points tend to be unclear, so even the most routine transactions require a great degree of precision.

2) I chuckled a bit when someone here said that "you hire WLRK not to screw up," and then gave the BoA/Merrill example later in his post. WLRK actually screwed up big-time in that case, exposing itself when the judge lifted Attorney-Client privilege.

The following articles are pretty informative on the matter:
http://lawshucks.com/2009/10/bad-blood- ... aul-weiss/
http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdail ... htell.html
http://lawshucks.com/2009/04/amlaw-wach ... or-apollo/
http://lawshucks.com/2009/04/deal-prof- ... -did-fine/

1Ls (rising 2Ls) will be 1Ls (rising 2Ls)

but...

http://poison-pill.blogspot.com/2007/09 ... marty.html

OWNED

[RisingMichigan3L]

lol@underdawg. i LOVE that blog.

[RisingMichigan3L]

And for litigation, also check out Quinn. They're on the up and up, and do some pretty damn interesting litigation work without fear of conflict (sound familiar in this thread?).

Yes. There are several firms out there that aren't afraid to bring out the brass-knuckles for a good fight. Kirkland, Quinn, and Boies come to mind, though I'm sure there are a few others.

Boies is just tradition there. He was previously a litigation partner at Cravath, and while there he worked alongside Barr, who was one of the co-founders of the "litigation is war" movement (Fred Bartlitt Jr. being the other). Needless to say, he brought that same shit to Boies, Schiller where he's rocking da boat.

I have nothing to say about Quinn other than...

CHECK YOU BLACKBERRY.

[clintonius]

Also, don't question the Redskins.

[imchuckbass58]

Just to put an end to the Wachtell dicksucking here, I'll add a few pointers:

1) Not everything WLRK does is cutting-edge. They're pretty much the go-to firm if you're a seller in a transaction because they have experience with these situations (and, indeed, Marty Lipton crafted the poison pill, so you'd bet they have plenty of expertise). Corporate law is filled with fiduciary duties for sellers that trigger at various points, and those points tend to be unclear, so even the most routine transactions require a great degree of precision.

2) I chuckled a bit when someone here said that "you hire WLRK not to screw up," and then gave the BoA/Merrill example later in his post. WLRK actually screwed up big-time in that case, exposing itself when the judge lifted Attorney-Client privilege.

The following articles are pretty informative on the matter:
http://lawshucks.com/2009/10/bad-blood- ... aul-weiss/
http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdail ... htell.html
http://lawshucks.com/2009/04/amlaw-wach ... or-apollo/
http://lawshucks.com/2009/04/deal-prof- ... -did-fine/

1Ls (rising 2Ls) will be 1Ls (rising 2Ls)

I don't mean to come off as a huge cheerleader for Wachtell, because I have no reason to be, but a couple of points:

-As those articles note, there's a healthy debate as to whether WLRK actually screwed up BofA/Merrill and Apollo/Hunstman (especially the former), or whether they are (voluntarily) getting thrown under the bus for a decision their clients made to avoid potential liability for shareholder suits. I am not saying this is the case, but it is not as cut and dried as "they messed up."

-I didn't mean to imply Wachtell does crazy work that no other firm does. Rather, I meant to imply that while other firms do similar work as WLRK, Wachtell does not do everyday bread-and-butter (and arguably boring) SEC compliance, JV structuring, or securities issuance that most other firms. It is predominantly deals and high-stakes litigation.

-It is true that WLRK is "the go-to firm" for sellers, but they again do not tend to do super-simple transactions. A disproportionately high number of WLRK's deals involve multiple bidders, hostile takeovers, or sellers trying to extort a higher price. You rarely see WLRK doing a consensual merger-of-equals between a single buyer and a single seller.

But, point taken that a lot of people (perhaps myself included) get a bit too excited about Wachtell.

[PLATONiC]

Can we end this thread? Its seriously pissing me off.

Its like asking how to become an Apollo mission astronaut or US Senator. No one currently in this community will get wlrk. Just accept it, be happy to get any biglaw gig, and move on. Fuck.

A former TLSer is a SA at WLRK right now.

ftfm

A former TLSer might become a U.S. president some day.

[soundgardener]

Can we end this thread? Its seriously pissing me off.

Its like asking how to become an Apollo mission astronaut or US Senator. No one currently in this community will get wlrk. Just accept it, be happy to get any biglaw gig, and move on. Fuck.

A former TLSer is a SA at WLRK right now.

ftfm

A former TLSer might become a U.S. president some day.

Doubtful, but anything is possible. It just seems like you're planning out how to spend your lottery winnings before you've even bought a ticket.

[T14_Scholly]

Can we end this thread? Its seriously pissing me off.

Its like asking how to become an Apollo mission astronaut or US Senator. No one currently in this community will get wlrk. Just accept it, be happy to get any biglaw gig, and move on. Fuck.

A former TLSer is a SA at WLRK right now.

ftfm

A former TLSer might become a U.S. president some day.

Or so frequent TLS posters wish.

[merichard87]

Can we end this thread? Its seriously pissing me off.

Its like asking how to become an Apollo mission astronaut or US Senator. No one currently in this community will get wlrk. Just accept it, be happy to get any biglaw gig, and move on. Fuck.

A former TLSer is a SA at WLRK right now.

ftfm

What does ftfm mean?

[kittenmittons]

I think Apimp has a decent shot if he guns hard. God help me if he ever finds this post.

QFP

[goodolgil]

These guy had the right idea. Few years at Wachtell->open up own constitutional law practic->political pundit.

--ImageRemoved--

[A'nold]

A former TLSer is a SA at WLRK right now.

ftfm

A former TLSer might become a U.S. president some day.

Doubtful, but anything is possible. It just seems like you're planning out how to spend your lottery winnings before you've even bought a ticket.[/quote]


Actually, I disagree. I say the likelihood of a TLS'er sometime down the road becoming the president, vice president, Supreme Court Justice, etc. are very high. Are you trying to tell me that Barack or Hillary wouldn't have been on here if TLS existed back then? This site draws highly ambitious over-achievers.

[09042014]

A former TLSer is a SA at WLRK right now.

ftfm

A former TLSer might become a U.S. president some day.

Doubtful, but anything is possible. It just seems like you're planning out how to spend your lottery winnings before you've even bought a ticket.

Actually, I disagree. I say the likelihood of a TLS'er sometime down the road becoming the president, vice president, Supreme Court Justice, etc. are very high. Are you trying to tell me that Barack or Hillary wouldn't have been on here if TLS existed back then? This site draws highly ambitious over-achievers.[/quote]

I am constantly shocked at how many of the prolific TLSers score highly in their class. Even splitters, who you'd assume are lazy pieces of shit, seem to knock it out of the park.

I know, that some of it is biased reporting, nobody is bragging about being bottom 30%, but still.

[d34d9823]

Even splitters, who you'd assume are lazy pieces of shit

Hey! I resemble that remark!