Relative Prestige Between HQ and Regional Offices Forum

[nbaguy]

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[270910]

Depends. Different firms use their satellite offices differently. Some (Jones Day) have a major presence in many markets. Some will have tiiiinnyyy offices in other markets that aren't real players.

Each city tends to have focuses too. Any DC office is fairly likely to do regulatory, litigation, and appelate work. So it's a safe bet that Random Firm will have a better regulatory practice in DC than in Albequerque. But the prestige is much more based on the office and how it stacks up in the market, so it's less "non-HQ firms are 1/2 as prestigious" and more "you have to compare a firm to its peers in the region." Gibson Dunn and Jenner & Block are two firms with sizable branch offices in DC that are probably more selective by a long shot than their HQs. They're also prestigious in the city.

Skadden, on the other hand, is a major player in NYC. Its DC office is great, but it doesn't stand out the same way the NYC office does.

As for OCI, it depends (great answer, huh?). Some firms send tons of "offices" to certain schools, other firms only send one "office." It's rare for more than one or two unique interviewers to head out for OCI though, for time reasons. Even if they're recruiting for all of their satellite offices, they can hash it out better in callback interviews than by dispatching 12 hiring attorneys to 20 different OCIs.

[NYAssociate]

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[dresden doll]

I'd be curious to know which of Cleary's two US offices is more prestigious. I've noticed that Cleary DC branch asks students to bring transcripts to their interview whereas Cleary NYC office does not. (On that note, I can't imagine that Cleary NYC office wouldn't want to see candidate's grades, but that's another story.)

[NYAssociate]

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[dresden doll]

Cleary DC is not good in everything but antitrust. Avoid.

I take that to mean that NYC office is more prestigious. Thanks.

As a side note, I wouldn't dream of targeting DC. It's ridiculously competitive. Besides, I actually do want NYC.

[NYAssociate]

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[270910]

Keep in mind that NYC firms are usually like 50,000x the size of DC firms, so even an "unprestigious" DC firm can often afford to be quite selective, and even an uber prestigious NYC firm can often afford to make offers to like 1 in 10 students at CLS

[dresden doll]

Cleary DC is not good in everything but antitrust. Avoid.

I take that to mean that NYC office is more prestigious. Thanks.

As a side note, I wouldn't dream of targeting DC. It's ridiculously competitive. Besides, I actually do want NYC.

Way, way, way, way more prestigious.

I was perversely hoping that DC Cleary would trump NYC Cleary. Dammit.

[NYAssociate]

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[seespotrun]

It really depends on the firm and market.

For NYC there are basically only two, maybe three non-NYC firms that have an established presence: Latham, Kirkland, and Gibson. I think the prestige of working at those places is pretty well established (laugh it up if you want to about Latham, but they still have a rather robust NYC practice).

For DC, the list is even longer: Jenner & Block, Sidley Austin, Gibson, Kirkland, OMM, Jones Day, etc.

For Houston, there really isn't anything non-TX based that is prestigious.

Chicago, maybe Skadden?

San Francisco: Maybe Kirkland??

You get the picture.

The chambers market-rankings are probably the best resource for this type of info.

Great insight, per usual. Outed as LathamNYAssociate?

[NYAssociate]

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[seespotrun]

Great insight, per usual. Outed as LathamNYAssociate?

OH God, please. If that were the case, kill me now.

If I had just outed myself, this is exactly what I would write in response.

[NYAssociate]

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[dresden doll]

Great insight, per usual. Outed as LathamNYAssociate?

OH God, please. If that were the case, kill me now.

If I had just outed myself, this is exactly what I would write in response.

Mass layoffs aside, Latham is still pretty prestigious, far as I know.

[seespotrun]

Great insight, per usual. Outed as LathamNYAssociate?

OH God, please. If that were the case, kill me now.

If I had just outed myself, this is exactly what I would write in response.

Mass layoffs aside, Latham is still pretty prestigious, far as I know.

Yeah, I would pretty much slap my mom to land Latham. You can take that to the bank.

[NYAssociate]

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[seespotrun]

But to get this thread back on topic: I'm really interested in practicing in DE. Skadden DE would be ideal. If I were to lateral out or go in-house, would that be so much different than if I were working at Skadden Chi.?

[NYAssociate]

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[Anonymous User]

But to get this thread back on topic: I'm really interested in practicing in DE. Skadden DE would be ideal. If I were to lateral out or go in-house, would that be so much different than if I were working at Skadden Chi.?

Skadden Chi is very prestigious in Chicago. Vault regional rankings places it as #2 in the city (above sidley and below kirkland).

Don't count on getting Skadden Chi though. They took 9 SAs this year (of which supposedly 1/2 came from Harvard or Yale). This is down from 33 back in the day.


As to the OP, I agree with everyone else saying it depends. For example:

Jenner Chicago <<< Jenner DC

Cleary NY >>> Cleary DC

[270910]

Vault regional rankings places it as #2 in the city (above sidley and below kirkland).

The vault regional rankings are retarded. I swear that they just ask a couple of NYC associates to fill them out. The NYC firms outperform even in the regional surveys for some reason. Skadden is the prime example.

Chambers & Partners rankings get much closer to reality. I'd start there.

[rayiner]

Vault regional rankings places it as #2 in the city (above sidley and below kirkland).

The vault regional rankings are retarded. I swear that they just ask a couple of NYC associates to fill them out. The NYC firms outperform even in the regional surveys for some reason. Skadden is the prime example.

Chambers & Partners rankings get much closer to reality. I'd start there.

Yes. No way Skadden is >> Sidley and Mayer in Chicago.

[dresden doll]

Vault regional rankings places it as #2 in the city (above sidley and below kirkland).

The vault regional rankings are retarded. I swear that they just ask a couple of NYC associates to fill them out. The NYC firms outperform even in the regional surveys for some reason. Skadden is the prime example.

Chambers & Partners rankings get much closer to reality. I'd start there.

Yes. No way Skadden is >> Sidley and Mayer in Chicago.

So Chambers and Partners ranks firms in terms of prestige by city? I need to get my hands on that ranking.

[270910]

Vault regional rankings places it as #2 in the city (above sidley and below kirkland).

The vault regional rankings are retarded. I swear that they just ask a couple of NYC associates to fill them out. The NYC firms outperform even in the regional surveys for some reason. Skadden is the prime example.

Chambers & Partners rankings get much closer to reality. I'd start there.

Yes. No way Skadden is >> Sidley and Mayer in Chicago.

So Chambers and Partners ranks firms in terms of prestige by city? I need to get my hands on that ranking.

http://www.chambersandpartners.com/

(A good way to start is pick a firm you know and see how their practice areas are ranked, then follow the practice area listings. Practicing attorneys I know largely agree with Chambers rankings, even for very specialized fields)

PM me if you want another rising 2L sounding board re: firms, I just got done going through the gauntlet myself.

[nbaguy]

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