Better know a law firm: Debevoise Forum

[Anonymous User]

The following is what I have written down going into an interview with Deb. My intuition is that it's way too much research, but I thought I'd post it here to see what others are doing/thinking with respect to researching firms at the screening interview phase.

Location & Size: New York (533), D.C. (35). Small international practice (London, Paris, etc.).

Summer class: 67 (’08), 104 (’09), 50 (’10). 108 of 109 offers in 2009.

Compensation: Matches market ($160K NYC & DC, $3,077 / wk for summer). Gym & other benefits. Matched Cravath bonus in ’09, half-skadden’d in ’08.

Practice Areas & Ranking: 188 corp associates, 193 lit, 36 tax, 10 T&E. M&A is its largest corporate group.
Vault 13, 9 in NY. C&P: Anti-Trust (3), Banking (3), Bankruptcy (4), M&A (2), Benefits (2), Insurance trans/reg (1), IP (1), Lit (2), Securities lit (3), White collar (1), Media (1), Real Estate (3), Tax (2).
• Strong in M&A, corporate investigation / defense, lit, & financial regulation.
• Big in PE fund formation & PE buyouts
• Big corporate investigation / defense practice
• Fin services reg on the rise

Layoffs / ITE: No cut salaries and no layoffs. PPP fell 15.9% to 1..87 mil, 12.2% decline in revenue to 668 mil. Instead of deferrals, used staggered start dates.

In the news: Firm represented members of the Association of American Publishers in a suit to stop Google from scanning and digitally distributing copyrighted books

History: Founded early 1930s.

Buzz: Smart, Nice, Old-School, pro-bono noteworthy. Gentle, academic. Satisfied attorneys; “as good as it gets.” Very friendly, a bit left. Associates review partners (new). All attorneys get their own office (Chambers says many in NYC share?). Large, comfortable, good views. New 2009 training program. Place to work with friendly people but have a life outside of the office. Still quite demanding.

Mechanics: Corp, lit, Tax, T&E. Corp biggest, has 12 “teams” with yearly rotation. Lit and tax don’t have teams. Senior lawyers in lit specialize. Assigned based on preference. Team assigned and oversees work to make sure things flow smoothly. Extensive formal training, especially early. Partner mentors.
• Summer: no formal rotation. Begins with formal training. Assignments matched based on interests. Summers get blackberries.

Clients: Sony, Verizon, NFL, Amazon
• Verizon acquiring MCI, Rural Cell, Alltel ($28 billion)
• Siemens defense was major – conducted enormous internal investigation

Interviewers:
(minor biographical information on the people interviewing at my school's OCI)

Nuts & Bolts: Bring resumes and transcripts, references and writing samples not required.

[NYAssociate]

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[IzziesGal]

The following is what I have written down going into an interview with Deb. My intuition is that it's way too much research, but I thought I'd post it here to see what others are doing/thinking with respect to researching firms at the screening interview phase.

Location & Size: New York (533), D.C. (35). Small international practice (London, Paris, etc.).

Summer class: 67 (’08), 104 (’09), 50 (’10). 108 of 109 offers in 2009.

Compensation: Matches market ($160K NYC & DC, $3,077 / wk for summer). Gym & other benefits. Matched Cravath bonus in ’09, half-skadden’d in ’08.

Practice Areas & Ranking: 188 corp associates, 193 lit, 36 tax, 10 T&E. M&A is its largest corporate group.
Vault 13, 9 in NY. C&P: Anti-Trust (3), Banking (3), Bankruptcy (4), M&A (2), Benefits (2), Insurance trans/reg (1), IP (1), Lit (2), Securities lit (3), White collar (1), Media (1), Real Estate (3), Tax (2).
• Strong in M&A, corporate investigation / defense, lit, & financial regulation.
• Big in PE fund formation & PE buyouts
• Big corporate investigation / defense practice
• Fin services reg on the rise

Layoffs / ITE: No cut salaries and no layoffs. PPP fell 15.9% to 1..87 mil, 12.2% decline in revenue to 668 mil. Instead of deferrals, used staggered start dates.

In the news: Firm represented members of the Association of American Publishers in a suit to stop Google from scanning and digitally distributing copyrighted books

History: Founded early 1930s.

Buzz: Smart, Nice, Old-School, pro-bono noteworthy. Gentle, academic. Satisfied attorneys; “as good as it gets.” Very friendly, a bit left. Associates review partners (new). All attorneys get their own office (Chambers says many in NYC share?). Large, comfortable, good views. New 2009 training program. Place to work with friendly people but have a life outside of the office. Still quite demanding.

Mechanics: Corp, lit, Tax, T&E. Corp biggest, has 12 “teams” with yearly rotation. Lit and tax don’t have teams. Senior lawyers in lit specialize. Assigned based on preference. Team assigned and oversees work to make sure things flow smoothly. Extensive formal training, especially early. Partner mentors.
• Summer: no formal rotation. Begins with formal training. Assignments matched based on interests. Summers get blackberries.

Clients: Sony, Verizon, NFL, Amazon
• Verizon acquiring MCI, Rural Cell, Alltel ($28 billion)
• Siemens defense was major – conducted enormous internal investigation

Interviewers:
(minor biographical information on the people interviewing at my school's OCI)

Nuts & Bolts: Bring resumes and transcripts, references and writing samples not required.

Tons of stealth layoffs. This included someone being fired at 5pm at the end of the day and led out by security.

[dbt]

Definitely stealth layoffs at Debevoise.

Serious?

[theghostofDrewTate]

Definitely stealth layoffs at Debevoise.

Serious?

I heard this, too. Rumor was that when the Siemens thing ended they said "bai bai" to a bunch of associates without regard to hours billed. But here's the thing - just about every firm did it. They had to. The business model is built on bringing in dozens of new associates a year to replace the dozens who left. The carousel stopped during the recession and business fell off so suddenly firms had no turnover and less work. This shouldn't be groundbreaking news to anyone in LS or considering LS, though.

[bwv812]

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[dbt]

Definitely stealth layoffs at Debevoise.

Serious?

I heard this, too. Rumor was that when the Siemens thing ended they said "bai bai" to a bunch of associates without regard to hours billed. But here's the thing - just about every firm did it. They had to. The business model is built on bringing in dozens of new associates a year to replace the dozens who left. The carousel stopped during the recession and business fell off so suddenly firms had no turnover and less work. This shouldn't be groundbreaking news to anyone in LS or considering LS, though.

I think Debevoise has enjoyed the reputation of being a firm that didn't do any of this, has been a great place to work where everyone is happy and no one is no-offered, etc., though.

Yes. Debevoise has, from what I've heard at least, always been one of those firms that is very selective (even moreso than its rank would indicate) and a safe haven.

I have not heard, for instance, of Cleary doing something like this.

[NYAssociate]

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[underdawg]

there's stealth layoff rumors about every firm, including davis polk and cleary yeah

[NYAssociate]

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[Anonymous User]

there's stealth layoff rumors about every firm, including davis polk and cleary yeah

DPW is confirmed. Haven't heard anything about Cleary.

NOT true. I work here.

[underdawg]

well i heard there def have been "confirmed" stealths at DPW too

[Anonymous User]

Definitely stealth layoffs at Debevoise.

Serious?

Used to work there. Stealth layoffs happened more than you think.

[dbt]

Ty this is good information going into OCI. Gives me even more reason to prefer Cleary to Debevoise, Davis Polk, etc.

[underdawg]

cleary prob did too. i think every firm did. dpw and deb are just more talked-about firms in general i think.

ps, pretty sure in boom times they would "stealth" people too. you think they're gonna let you stay until you're a 20th-year associate?

[bwv812]

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[NYAssociate]

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