Kirkland announced 3x/week “hybrid” return to office, attorneys “expected” to be in office Tuesday-Thursday Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm a SP (not in CH or NY) and I can confirm that CH is still the center of the firm. That won't change until Ballis and Steinmetz retire.

[Anonymous User]

They all have a chip on their shoulder because they carry around the unasked question of "why didn't you go to [Simpson / Cravath / Paul Weiss] if you were going to work in NY?" Vs. the Chicago attorneys who went to what's widely seen as the best / most elite large firm in the city w/ the grade cutoffs to back that statement up as discussed.

We don’t need this 2L, impress your classmates bullshit mentality in here. If you’ve practiced corporate law during this 13-year bull run, then you would know that prestige is worthless and it’s all about who’s can do the job and do it well. Leave that law school GPA, most selective firm nonsense for the litigators. For corporate people, it’s purely who’s good enough to get shares and what deals you’ve done. Nowhere exemplifies this more than Kirkland with its focus on poaching lateral talent. Sure, they hire many many duds but they also pay up to get plenty of the more promising attorneys.

Ah, the prototype speaks: defensive Kirkland NY attorney that graduated from lower tier t14 with 3.31 or from a T30 with 3.51. Upset that people still discuss GPAs.

I’ve never thought about an associate’s or partner’s GPA since I’ve been working. Are you a midlevel or more senior attorney?

Obviously referring to posts on TLS and people thinking the GPAs of recruited law school students being irrelevant.

[Anonymous User]

Um -- what? There's so much crap on this site from what are obviously young(ish) associates not plugged into the dynamics of the firm. The center of power is absolutely still in Chicago. If you're referring to the fact that NY just matched Chicago in attorney head count, that doesn't change that. The center of business generation and firm leadership is in the Chicago office and it's always going to be that way.

Is this true for litigation too though? Aren't the big name litigation partners in the NY office, especially the crew from Cravath that came in a few years back?

It's true for all aspects of the firm. Kirkland has definitely become a more geographically diverse firm over the past 10 years--the input from e.g., London has grown significantly, weirdly enough; the Firm Committee is obsessed with growth in Texas and you get the feeling the Texas partners are treated w/ kid gloves--but Chicago is still regarded as the absolute HQ by the partnership. If anything the argument of a power shift toward NY is much stronger in certain transactional spaces vs. litigation. Don't get me wrong; people recognize the value of the NY office and its growth especially over the past five years but that's different from claiming that the firm's "power center" has moved out east; it hasn't.

Just laughably wrong, and I'm not a young associate. Tell Ed Lee, Johnathan Davis, Daniel Wolf, Pete Martelli, the entire restructuring group, etc, that Kirkland's "center of power" is still in Chicago and see what they say.

Congrats on your fifth year at the firm. Listen dude, I'm glad you're proud of your work in NY doing m&a, but that doesn't mean that K&E's power center is there. This is so typical of the NY office crew's cope.

Also consider that to get out of law school to K&E NY you need a 3.4 from lower tier T-14s lol. To get to K&E Chicago you need a 3.7-3.8 from those same lower tier schools. K&E NY folks have been so underwhelming to work with.

They all have a chip on their shoulder because they carry around the unasked question of "why didn't you go to [Simpson / Cravath / Paul Weiss] if you were going to work in NY?" Vs. the Chicago attorneys who went to what's widely seen as the best / most elite large firm in the city w/ the grade cutoffs to back that statement up as discussed.

Nice, congrats on working in the best/most elite large firm in a third tier city that's bleeding residents.

[Anonymous User]

Is this true for litigation too though? Aren't the big name litigation partners in the NY office, especially the crew from Cravath that came in a few years back?

It's true for all aspects of the firm. Kirkland has definitely become a more geographically diverse firm over the past 10 years--the input from e.g., London has grown significantly, weirdly enough; the Firm Committee is obsessed with growth in Texas and you get the feeling the Texas partners are treated w/ kid gloves--but Chicago is still regarded as the absolute HQ by the partnership. If anything the argument of a power shift toward NY is much stronger in certain transactional spaces vs. litigation. Don't get me wrong; people recognize the value of the NY office and its growth especially over the past five years but that's different from claiming that the firm's "power center" has moved out east; it hasn't.

Just laughably wrong, and I'm not a young associate. Tell Ed Lee, Johnathan Davis, Daniel Wolf, Pete Martelli, the entire restructuring group, etc, that Kirkland's "center of power" is still in Chicago and see what they say.

Congrats on your fifth year at the firm. Listen dude, I'm glad you're proud of your work in NY doing m&a, but that doesn't mean that K&E's power center is there. This is so typical of the NY office crew's cope.

Also consider that to get out of law school to K&E NY you need a 3.4 from lower tier T-14s lol. To get to K&E Chicago you need a 3.7-3.8 from those same lower tier schools. K&E NY folks have been so underwhelming to work with.

They all have a chip on their shoulder because they carry around the unasked question of "why didn't you go to [Simpson / Cravath / Paul Weiss] if you were going to work in NY?" Vs. the Chicago attorneys who went to what's widely seen as the best / most elite large firm in the city w/ the grade cutoffs to back that statement up as discussed.

Nice, congrats on working in the best/most elite large firm in a third tier city.

Lmfao at Chicago being a third tier city. Now I know you're a troll.

[Anonymous User]

It's true for all aspects of the firm. Kirkland has definitely become a more geographically diverse firm over the past 10 years--the input from e.g., London has grown significantly, weirdly enough; the Firm Committee is obsessed with growth in Texas and you get the feeling the Texas partners are treated w/ kid gloves--but Chicago is still regarded as the absolute HQ by the partnership. If anything the argument of a power shift toward NY is much stronger in certain transactional spaces vs. litigation. Don't get me wrong; people recognize the value of the NY office and its growth especially over the past five years but that's different from claiming that the firm's "power center" has moved out east; it hasn't.

Just laughably wrong, and I'm not a young associate. Tell Ed Lee, Johnathan Davis, Daniel Wolf, Pete Martelli, the entire restructuring group, etc, that Kirkland's "center of power" is still in Chicago and see what they say.

Congrats on your fifth year at the firm. Listen dude, I'm glad you're proud of your work in NY doing m&a, but that doesn't mean that K&E's power center is there. This is so typical of the NY office crew's cope.

Also consider that to get out of law school to K&E NY you need a 3.4 from lower tier T-14s lol. To get to K&E Chicago you need a 3.7-3.8 from those same lower tier schools. K&E NY folks have been so underwhelming to work with.

They all have a chip on their shoulder because they carry around the unasked question of "why didn't you go to [Simpson / Cravath / Paul Weiss] if you were going to work in NY?" Vs. the Chicago attorneys who went to what's widely seen as the best / most elite large firm in the city w/ the grade cutoffs to back that statement up as discussed.

Nice, congrats on working in the best/most elite large firm in a third tier city.

Lmfao at Chicago being a third tier city. Now I know you're a troll.

1st Tier - NY
2nd Tier - LA
3rd Tier - Chicago/Philly/Houston/DC

[Anonymous User]

1st Tier - NY
2nd Tier - LA
3rd Tier - Chicago/Philly/Houston/DC

Lmfao please. LA???

[Anonymous User]

Is this true for litigation too though? Aren't the big name litigation partners in the NY office, especially the crew from Cravath that came in a few years back?

It's true for all aspects of the firm. Kirkland has definitely become a more geographically diverse firm over the past 10 years--the input from e.g., London has grown significantly, weirdly enough; the Firm Committee is obsessed with growth in Texas and you get the feeling the Texas partners are treated w/ kid gloves--but Chicago is still regarded as the absolute HQ by the partnership. If anything the argument of a power shift toward NY is much stronger in certain transactional spaces vs. litigation. Don't get me wrong; people recognize the value of the NY office and its growth especially over the past five years but that's different from claiming that the firm's "power center" has moved out east; it hasn't.

Just laughably wrong, and I'm not a young associate. Tell Ed Lee, Johnathan Davis, Daniel Wolf, Pete Martelli, the entire restructuring group, etc, that Kirkland's "center of power" is still in Chicago and see what they say.

Congrats on your fifth year at the firm. Listen dude, I'm glad you're proud of your work in NY doing m&a, but that doesn't mean that K&E's power center is there. This is so typical of the NY office crew's cope.

Also consider that to get out of law school to K&E NY you need a 3.4 from lower tier T-14s lol. To get to K&E Chicago you need a 3.7-3.8 from those same lower tier schools. K&E NY folks have been so underwhelming to work with.

They all have a chip on their shoulder because they carry around the unasked question of "why didn't you go to [Simpson / Cravath / Paul Weiss] if you were going to work in NY?" Vs. the Chicago attorneys who went to what's widely seen as the best / most elite large firm in the city w/ the grade cutoffs to back that statement up as discussed.

Nice, congrats on working in the best/most elite large firm in a third tier city that's bleeding residents.

Settle down. It's great that you're working hard at the twelfth or thirteenth best regarded firm in New York between your TGI Fridays Times Square outings; Vandy prepared you for this well.

[Anonymous User]

monkey_fight.gif

[Anonymous User]

It's true for all aspects of the firm. Kirkland has definitely become a more geographically diverse firm over the past 10 years--the input from e.g., London has grown significantly, weirdly enough; the Firm Committee is obsessed with growth in Texas and you get the feeling the Texas partners are treated w/ kid gloves--but Chicago is still regarded as the absolute HQ by the partnership. If anything the argument of a power shift toward NY is much stronger in certain transactional spaces vs. litigation. Don't get me wrong; people recognize the value of the NY office and its growth especially over the past five years but that's different from claiming that the firm's "power center" has moved out east; it hasn't.

Just laughably wrong, and I'm not a young associate. Tell Ed Lee, Johnathan Davis, Daniel Wolf, Pete Martelli, the entire restructuring group, etc, that Kirkland's "center of power" is still in Chicago and see what they say.

Congrats on your fifth year at the firm. Listen dude, I'm glad you're proud of your work in NY doing m&a, but that doesn't mean that K&E's power center is there. This is so typical of the NY office crew's cope.

Also consider that to get out of law school to K&E NY you need a 3.4 from lower tier T-14s lol. To get to K&E Chicago you need a 3.7-3.8 from those same lower tier schools. K&E NY folks have been so underwhelming to work with.

They all have a chip on their shoulder because they carry around the unasked question of "why didn't you go to [Simpson / Cravath / Paul Weiss] if you were going to work in NY?" Vs. the Chicago attorneys who went to what's widely seen as the best / most elite large firm in the city w/ the grade cutoffs to back that statement up as discussed.

Nice, congrats on working in the best/most elite large firm in a third tier city that's bleeding residents.

Settle down. It's great that you're working hard at the twelfth or thirteenth best regarded firm in New York between your TGI Fridays Times Square outings; Vandy prepared you for this well.

When KE associates eat their own

[Anonymous User]

Just to say it, I had reasonably strong prefftige tickets punched (COA clerkship, toward the top of the class at CCN). I picked Kirkland over the more preffitgeous places because it paid more, I like the aggressive culture, and I liked the kind of work done here (restructuring, PE, etc). To each their own. And people that still care about these preffitge ticket punching exercises after a handful of years out are clowns.

[Anonymous User]

As a current associate, let me just assure any law students or prospective laterals that most of the attorneys here are not nearly this annoying in-person lol. Thankfully, this sort of bickering seems confined to anonymous TLS posts, not the proverbial watercooler (at least in my office).

[Anonymous User]

It's true for all aspects of the firm. Kirkland has definitely become a more geographically diverse firm over the past 10 years--the input from e.g., London has grown significantly, weirdly enough; the Firm Committee is obsessed with growth in Texas and you get the feeling the Texas partners are treated w/ kid gloves--but Chicago is still regarded as the absolute HQ by the partnership. If anything the argument of a power shift toward NY is much stronger in certain transactional spaces vs. litigation. Don't get me wrong; people recognize the value of the NY office and its growth especially over the past five years but that's different from claiming that the firm's "power center" has moved out east; it hasn't.

Just laughably wrong, and I'm not a young associate. Tell Ed Lee, Johnathan Davis, Daniel Wolf, Pete Martelli, the entire restructuring group, etc, that Kirkland's "center of power" is still in Chicago and see what they say.

Congrats on your fifth year at the firm. Listen dude, I'm glad you're proud of your work in NY doing m&a, but that doesn't mean that K&E's power center is there. This is so typical of the NY office crew's cope.

Also consider that to get out of law school to K&E NY you need a 3.4 from lower tier T-14s lol. To get to K&E Chicago you need a 3.7-3.8 from those same lower tier schools. K&E NY folks have been so underwhelming to work with.

They all have a chip on their shoulder because they carry around the unasked question of "why didn't you go to [Simpson / Cravath / Paul Weiss] if you were going to work in NY?" Vs. the Chicago attorneys who went to what's widely seen as the best / most elite large firm in the city w/ the grade cutoffs to back that statement up as discussed.

Nice, congrats on working in the best/most elite large firm in a third tier city that's bleeding residents.

Settle down. It's great that you're working hard at the twelfth or thirteenth best regarded firm in New York between your TGI Fridays Times Square outings; Vandy prepared you for this well.

Sometimes I need a break from our 76 Michelin starred restaurants. Must be a relief to be able to eat at every single Michelin starred restaurant your city offers in less than a month!

[Anonymous User]

This is wildly partner/group specific and my guess is that everyone saying KE doesn't care and has never cared is a corporate associate. To wit, shortly before covid hit, the entire NY litigation group had a meeting in which we were told that we were expected to be in the office five days per week during working hours.

I chuckle at how some people assume everyone is in New York, even for a firm that with an HQ outside of New York. I am in lit in a non-NY office and no one cared where work was done pre-Covid. Most partners were out of the office much (if not most) of the time anyway.

Ask anyone where Kirkland's main office is nowadays -- 90% of them won't say Chicago.

I was responding to someone saying "Everyone saying KE doesn't care is in corporate, because the NY lit group cares." There are more KE associates outside of NY than inside.

Sure, and there are more KE associates in NY than in any other office. You don't think it's relevant to this discussion that an entire group in KE's largest office had a five-day-per-week in-person policy before covid?

I am the quoted anon (posts 2 and 4) and I am marveling at how both of the quoted replies in this chain are just non-sequiturs.

*The OP guessed that "everyone saying KE doesn't care [about WFH] and has never cared is a corporate associate," based on OP's experience in the NY litigation group.
*I said it's funny OP assumed "everyone" is in New York; made funnier by the fact that KE's HQ is in Chicago (which is unusual for a V10).
*The next poster said 90% of people won't say KE's "main office" isn't in Chicago. (Who gives a shit?)
*I explained myself.
*You said the NY office is the largest. (Again, so what?)

It remains very funny that NY people try to discuss the firm as though the rest of us do not exist. Yes, we know there are more of you. I generally try not to work with NY people because my experience working with people in Texas, Chicago, DC, LA, and SF has been more pleasant - both based on interpersonal skills/personalities and work competence, in general. At my lower T-14, New York bids were safeties for most of us in case we struck out elsewhere at firms in other markets with smaller classes.

[Anonymous User]

SP here - i'd love to find out who you bickering morons are and staff you on a bunch of shit so you don't have time for this nonsense.

[Anonymous User]

This thread is amazing. I feel like we're all collectively melting down waiting for DPW.

[JorgeMichael]

ITT: Reasons to avoid K&E at all costs.

[Anonymous User]

SP here - i'd love to find out who you bickering morons are and staff you on a bunch of shit so you don't have time for this nonsense.

Quit being stingy, announce the raise after Milbank, and we can all go back to work rather than refreshing the TLS page every few minutes?

[Anonymous User]

ITT: Reasons to avoid K&E at all costs.

Oh yeah, the other v10 firms only have kind, gentle and agreeable lawyers. It will be great.

[Anonymous User]

SP here - i'd love to find out who you bickering morons are and staff you on a bunch of shit so you don't have time for this nonsense.

Quit being stingy, announce the raise after Milbank, and we can all go back to work rather than refreshing the TLS page every few minutes?

Relax - you know and everybody else knows we will match. There's a reason why we do things quietly and after all the legal press has moved on from the story.

[Anonymous User]

SP here - i'd love to find out who you bickering morons are and staff you on a bunch of shit so you don't have time for this nonsense.

Quit being stingy, announce the raise after Milbank, and we can all go back to work rather than refreshing the TLS page every few minutes?

Relax - you know and everybody else knows we will match. There's a reason why we do things quietly and after all the legal press has moved on from the story.

If y'all think this person is a SP, I have a bridge to sell ya.

[Anonymous User]

[Anonymous User]

When KE associates eat their own

[Anonymous User]

ITT: Reasons to avoid K&E at all costs.

Oh yeah, the other v10 firms only have kind, gentle and agreeable lawyers. It will be great.

God damn why are the KE people on here always so thin of the skin? I'm at KE too and this type of shit makes me cringe.

"Oh yeah I'm sure we're the only firm that has sweatshop hours right?"

"Oh yeah associates at other firms must be so kindhearted and never have bad days right!?!"

"Oh yeah and I bet partners at other firms CARE SO MUCH about their associates uh huh"

Jfc. Grow up. It's the internet, we work at a firm with a huge number of attorneys and many of them are active here and it naturally leads to KE being discussed more commonly. Yes, sometimes there are generalizations. Such is the nature of a forum dedicated to discussing life in big law. I'd rather our reputation (even if undeserved) be for having aggressive attorneys than thin skinned, whiny woe-mes.

It is the typical KE inferiority complex. They know that the culture is terrible and recruiting is bottom of the barrel, and so desperately try to make themselves feel on par with DPW/Cravath, which they never will be.

And for all the people pretending that GPAs, pedigree, etc... don't matter, keep dreaming. There is a reason DPW is full of Harvard grads and not Hofstra goods, and you can sure as heck bet that on a bet the company corporate deal I want the attorney with 50 more IQ points and not 50 fewer IQ points.

[Anonymous User]

.

[Anonymous User]

ITT: Reasons to avoid K&E at all costs.

Oh yeah, the other v10 firms only have kind, gentle and agreeable lawyers. It will be great.

God damn why are the KE people on here always so thin of the skin? I'm at KE too and this type of shit makes me cringe.

"Oh yeah I'm sure we're the only firm that has sweatshop hours right?"

"Oh yeah associates at other firms must be so kindhearted and never have bad days right!?!"

"Oh yeah and I bet partners at other firms CARE SO MUCH about their associates uh huh"

Jfc. Grow up. It's the internet, we work at a firm with a huge number of attorneys and many of them are active here and it naturally leads to KE being discussed more commonly. Yes, sometimes there are generalizations. Such is the nature of a forum dedicated to discussing life in big law. I'd rather our reputation (even if undeserved) be for having aggressive attorneys than thin skinned, whiny woe-mes.

It is the typical KE inferiority complex. They know that the culture is terrible and recruiting is bottom of the barrel, and so desperately try to make themselves feel on par with DPW/Cravath, which they never will be.

And for all the people pretending that GPAs, pedigree, etc... don't matter, keep dreaming. There is a reason DPW is full of Harvard grads and not Hofstra goods, and you can sure as heck bet that on a bet the company corporate deal I want the attorney with 50 more IQ points and not 50 fewer IQ points.

Bottom of the barrel? Lmao. I agree with the point that KE people on here are annoying but brother, you sound bitter and like someone that was rejected by KE and works at Baker Mckenzie. Sit down.