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Choosing between Debevoise, Paul Weiss, and Weil, all in NYC. Pretty set on corporate or bankruptcy, but not sure exactly which one. I'm sure there is no single magic answer, but I'd appreciate any help in comparing/contrasting the perceptions of these places since every firm starts to look the same after a while.

Factors: I know its biglaw, but the less of a pure sweatshop, the better. Hoping for decency/respect with regard to vacations and important events (weddings, etc), and to a lesser extent working weekends from home. Got the best vibe from partners at Weil, but liked the people at all three. Concerned with opportunities to learn, become well trained, and have a wide-range of exit opportunities.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Weil if you want bankruptcy, no question.

Yes, Weil is the easy choice for bankruptcy, but keep in mind that with all the work they've been getting due to the economy, some of their bankruptcy associates are billing well above 2400 hours a year.

For corporate, what would the better pick be? Is Weil competitive with Deb/PW, if for example I picked Weil and decided bankruptcy isn't for me?

Unless you really know you want to do bankruptcy, Weil doesn't seem like a good choice. It has an absurd number of deferred associates hanging out and appears to be comfortable no-offering significant portions of the class, a characteristic which may become relevant if the economy double dips.

I'd go with Debevoise or Paul Weiss. Of the two, Debevoise seems to have the strongest corporate practices and the better office, so that would be my choice. But it would certainly be reasonable to go to Paul Weiss if your gut pulled you in that direction.

Anonymous User wrote:For corporate, what would the better pick be? Is Weil competitive with Deb/PW, if for example I picked Weil and decided bankruptcy isn't for me?

I think Weil's corporate practice is roughly as strong as Debevoise's and is better regarded than Paul Weiss's. For the reasons mentioned in previous post, though, I'd definitely think twice before accepting the Weil offer.

Would you mind posting general cb to offer times on those? No insights... I'm going to all three...

From a quality-of-life standpoint, how would you rank the relative "sweatiness" of the three?

Anonymous User wrote:From a quality-of-life standpoint, how would you rank the relative "sweatiness" of the three?

All are terrible. At this level, QOL has much more to do with practice area than firm.

edcrane wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:From a quality-of-life standpoint, how would you rank the relative "sweatiness" of the three?

All are terrible. At this level, QOL has much more to do with practice area than firm.

This. I've heard lit associates at Deb go home at 7pm while corp associates stay until 10 or 11. I also heard summers at Deb this year were working late nights and weekends - as summers.

Anonymous User wrote:

edcrane wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:From a quality-of-life standpoint, how would you rank the relative "sweatiness" of the three?

All are terrible. At this level, QOL has much more to do with practice area than firm.

This. I've heard lit associates at Deb go home at 7pm while corp associates stay until 10 or 11. I also heard summers at Deb this year were working late nights and weekends - as summers.

Not sure about the corp/lit breakdown, but I do know that Deb has traditionally expected summers to work hard. This isn't unique--I know a lot of DPW summers pulled weekends, especially if they did M&A work--and it's not necessarily bad. The best thing you can get from your summer experience is, in my opinion, exposure to work. When you get fluffy stuff that doesn't have a deadline, you can leave at 6:00 pm and collect the same paycheck. But you'll lose out on an opportunity to figure out what different practices are really like and whether or not biglaw is going to be something you'll find fulfilling.

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NYAssociate wrote:Wait a minute... are people here actually complaining about working late as a summer associate? Ladies and gentlemen: The boom years are gone. Work your butt off and be thankful you have a job. It's probably good that you actually do this as a summer associate, so you have a realistic sense of how the demands will be as a regular associate.

Not complaining - just saying that out of all my friends who were at big firms, the ones at Deb were most miserable.

Anonymous User wrote:

NYAssociate wrote:Wait a minute... are people here actually complaining about working late as a summer associate? Ladies and gentlemen: The boom years are gone. Work your butt off and be thankful you have a job. It's probably good that you actually do this as a summer associate, so you have a realistic sense of how the demands will be as a regular associate.

Not complaining - just saying that out of all my friends who were at big firms, the ones at Deb were most miserable.

It's entirely possible that Deb is a more miserable place, but SA hours really shouldn't be a factor. I didn't do weekend work at my firm, but I pulled a few late nights (10 - 12pm) and that was totally fine for me--I wasn't thrilled to do diligence, but I was glad that I was given real work and had some sense of what corporate first years do. Indeed, this experience was really helpful in deciding which practice area to go into.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

NYAssociate wrote:Wait a minute... are people here actually complaining about working late as a summer associate? Ladies and gentlemen: The boom years are gone. Work your butt off and be thankful you have a job. It's probably good that you actually do this as a summer associate, so you have a realistic sense of how the demands will be as a regular associate.

Not complaining - just saying that out of all my friends who were at big firms, the ones at Deb were most miserable.

It's entirely possible that Deb is a more miserable place, but SA hours really shouldn't be a factor. I didn't do weekend work at my firm, but I pulled a few late nights (10 - 12pm) and that was totally fine for me--I wasn't thrilled to do diligence, but I was glad that I was given real work and had some sense of what corporate first years do. Indeed, this experience was really helpful in deciding which practice area to go into.

I agree. I had long hours like that at my 1L summer job and I wasn't so bothered by it b/c I was doing real work on active litigation. I guess it is better to have a taste of what it will really be like instead of the fantasy world created in years past.

I hear Deb is a pretty terrible place to work. One of my friends quit his summer associate position there a few years back - the only person I've ever heard of doing that.

Anonymous User wrote:I hear Deb is a pretty terrible place to work. One of my friends quit his summer associate position there a few years back - the only person I've ever heard of doing that.

Get out of here. Details?

Anonymous User wrote:I hear Deb is a pretty terrible place to work. One of my friends quit his summer associate position there a few years back - the only person I've ever heard of doing that.

This is pretty shocking to me. I'm not saying it's not true, but from everything I could gather(talking to both previous summers, current associates introduced through recruiting and previous associates introduced to me by third parties), Debevoise seemed like a great place as far as biglaw firms go - lots of people raving about relatively substantive work and good associate-partner relations.

Would love to hear what exactly made the people you talked to so miserable.