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I am interested in litigation. The two most important factors in my decision are quality of life and exit options in New York City. Which would you choose?

I'd say Cahill here, the rankings are BS. You will have similar QOL at both firms and the exit options are Definitely better from Cahill in NY.

This dude above is not informed. Definitely choose Jones Day for litigation in NY, you're exit options will be way better than from Cahill.

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Definitely Jones Day, especially for litigation.

ehhh this is a tough one. I think if you are committed to staying in NY for your career Cahill may be better, even for litigation.

OP here: could those that voted please inform me why you chose whichever firm you did? Thanks!

Cahill - smaller firm with smaller teams for litigation. Friend of mine was doing depositions, discovery, and even helped draft a scotus cert petition at the end of her 1st year (warning: also did doc review). However, bigger firms = more doc review and more time before meaningful work lands on your desk.

Cahill is very specialized and their best specialty is high-yield debt, which is transactional. Jones Day is a very well-regarded firm (Vault isn't everything, but it's significantly better than Cahill) with a high quality of life (one of the best in that sense) that is going to give you many different options and room to figure out what you want to do. Unless you are sure of what you want to do and know that Cahill has it I would go with Jones Day.

Also (same as above poster), Cahill's litigation reputation hinges on Floyd Abrams, who does their scotus work, and the guy is 74 years old. When he leaves all of their conlaw work, which is a huge prestige boost to their lit practice, is going to go away.

OP here: thank you for the insight. I am not interested in any specific type of litigation yet, and I appreciate the hit that the litigation will take at Cahill after Floyd Abrams leaves. As such, I am leaning Jones Day, but I have heard that exit options in New York City may be better from Cahill. Any truth to this?

Up Front Disclosure: I interviewed at both offices, but have not received offers.

I didn't vote in the poll, but I would have voted for Jones Day. I am interested to hear what sort of exit options you're thinking of (other firms, govt, PI...?) and what you've heard about the exit options coming out of Cahill's litigation departments. In other words, why would exit options for Cahill litigators be better than Jones Day litigators in NYC?

Yeah, I'd go with Jones Day. While there are places that lead to better placement in NYC, it's not Cahill. If you do decide to leave that hellhole (NYC), JD will help you a whole helluva lot more than Cahill. Good luck with your choice.

No brainer Jones Day here. Why are ppl choosing Cahill, the OP is interested in litigation?!

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bumperrss

Anonymous User wrote:No brainer Jones Day here. Why are ppl choosing Cahill, the OP is interested in litigation?!

I'd love to know this too. Where are the people voting for Cahill?

Cahill started out as a lit powerhouse and is strong in litigation to this day. The litigators from there have a reputation as being "litigators' litigators" - meaning tough and no-BS. They also have a lot of former AUSAs and USAs and are a pipeline for USAO gigs.

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Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:No brainer Jones Day here. Why are ppl choosing Cahill, the OP is interested in litigation?!

I'd love to know this too. Where are the people voting for Cahill?

IMO, Cahill is a sane/humane firm with a stronger litigation department in NY.

Care to expand? What is the feeling that Cahill is "better" based on? I'd love to know b/c I just interviewed at both places.

Anonymous User wrote:Care to expand? What is the feeling that Cahill is "better" based on? I'd love to know b/c I just interviewed at both places.

Well, what feeling did you get from each place?

(I'm not the OP, I'm the poster above). Well... I liked the people at both. Probably a slight edge to Jones Day, but hard to say since I only met a few people at both firms. I'm not 100% sure whether I want to do lit or corp, so I'm thinking slight edge to Jones Day there since I think of Cahill as being more narrowly focused. But I'd like to hear any good opinions on that.

While it is correct to say that Cahill does not have as broad of a focus as certain NYC megafirms, it does have very definite strengths in both corporate and litigation. In addition to being the uncontested leader in high yield debt financing (corporate) and first amendment litigation, it also has a very strong and well respected commercial litigation practice.

Turtledove wrote:While it is correct to say that Cahill does not have as broad of a focus as certain NYC megafirms, it does have very definite strengths in both corporate and litigation. In addition to being the uncontested leader in high yield debt financing (corporate) and first amendment litigation, it also has a very strong and well respected commercial litigation practice.

At the risk of sounding like an idiot, what exactly is commercial lit? I've always wanted to go corporate, so I don't know anything about litigation.