Top Law Schools

I always heard that WLRK is the most prestigious law firm to work for. How do WLRK select their summers? What are the typical students that they make offer to? Do you have to have connections?

Let's put it this way, unless you're top 10% at HYS or top 5% at CCN, you're wasting your time / bid interviewing with Wachtell. Any school lower than CCN will require you to be the top of the class or near it. Look through the associate profiles on their website to get a sense of the type of people that get hired

H doesn't have grades. How do you know if you're top 10%?

Kimchi_smile wrote:H doesn't have grades. How do you know if you're top 10%?

Neither does Yale or Stanford, but you better be ready with a long list of H's. Straight P's at HYS doesn't cut it for Wachtell

bhan87 wrote:Let's put it this way, unless you're top 10% at HYS or top 5% at CCN, you're wasting your time / bid interviewing with Wachtell. Any school lower than CCN will require you to be the top of the class or near it. Look through the associate profiles on their website to get a sense of the type of people that get hired

This is a common misconception. Yes, Wachtell is very selective, and yes it is grades-conscious, but it's not nearly this grades-conscious.

There are always a couple of people each year outside the top 10%/not on LR at CLS that get WLRK. I have to imagine it's similar at HYS and CN.

But, yes, you probably need to have top 20% grades to have a shot at these schools, higher is better.

They recruit pretty heavily from Penn too.

Does WLRK focus on your prior work experience, then? I imagine a lot of people gun for WLRK during OCI, and those people probably have a zillion work experience or equivalently amazing experience relevant to their prospective field. Any advice?

sanetruth wrote:They recruit pretty heavily from Penn too.

Why is this?

You should probably worry about (a) getting into one of the schools WLRK recruits from [HYSCCNP] (b) ROCKING your first year. If you can do that, you have a shot. Don't worry about anything else. Until you've got (a) and (b), you're getting a bit ahead of yourself thinking about this - just getting a biglaw job is insanely competitive.

Kimchi_smile wrote:Does WLRK focus on your prior work experience, then? I imagine a lot of people gun for WLRK during OCI, and those people probably have a zillion work experience or equivalently amazing experience relevant to their prospective field. Any advice?

I wouldn't necessarily assume that an inordinate amount of people are necessarily going for WLRK. For one, their work is pretty streamlined. Secondly, it's known for having the most crushing hours of all of biglaw. So you have to be a very specific type of person to even want to work there.

Veyron wrote:You should probably worry about (a) getting into one of the schools WLRK recruits from [HYSCCNP] (b) ROCKING your first year. If you can do that, you have a shot. Don't worry about anything else. Until you've got (a) and (b), you're getting a bit ahead of yourself thinking about this - just getting a biglaw job is insanely competitive.

They were at B this year too.

Kimchi_smile wrote:

sanetruth wrote:They recruit pretty heavily from Penn too.

Why is this?

IIRC it's all Warton JD/MBAs.

sanetruth wrote:

Kimchi_smile wrote:Does WLRK focus on your prior work experience, then? I imagine a lot of people gun for WLRK during OCI, and those people probably have a zillion work experience or equivalently amazing experience relevant to their prospective field. Any advice?

I wouldn't necessarily assume that an inordinate amount of people are necessarily going for WLRK. For one, their work is pretty streamlined. Secondly, it's known for having the most crushing hours of all of biglaw. So you have to be a very specific type of person to even want to work there.

Yah, one of the secrets about Penn OCI is that its pretty easy to get an interview with WLRK. If you don't have tip-top grades, you don't waste a bid on them.

IIRC it's all Warton JD/MBAs.

LOL at JD/MBAs having the grades for WLRK, check out the firm bios bro, this is simply not the case.

--LinkRemoved--

sanetruth wrote:

Kimchi_smile wrote:Does WLRK focus on your prior work experience, then? I imagine a lot of people gun for WLRK during OCI, and those people probably have a zillion work experience or equivalently amazing experience relevant to their prospective field. Any advice?

I wouldn't necessarily assume that an inordinate amount of people are necessarily going for WLRK. For one, their work is pretty streamlined. Secondly, it's known for having the most crushing hours of all of biglaw. So you have to be a very specific type of person to even want to work there.

Not to mention it's basically all corporate work and 1L's tend to lean litigation.
Still, you pretty much have to be at the top of some of the best schools to even have a chance (and I'm guessing a lot of the people not at the very tip top at those schools who get WLRK have some type of corporate background; ETA: or what DF said - Wharton JD/MBA's).

keg411 wrote:

sanetruth wrote:

Kimchi_smile wrote:Does WLRK focus on your prior work experience, then? I imagine a lot of people gun for WLRK during OCI, and those people probably have a zillion work experience or equivalently amazing experience relevant to their prospective field. Any advice?

I wouldn't necessarily assume that an inordinate amount of people are necessarily going for WLRK. For one, their work is pretty streamlined. Secondly, it's known for having the most crushing hours of all of biglaw. So you have to be a very specific type of person to even want to work there.

Not to mention it's basically all corporate work and 1L's tend to lean litigation.
Still, you pretty much have to be at the top of some of the best schools to even have a chance (and I'm guessing a lot of the people not at the very tip top at those schools who get WLRK have some type of corporate background; ETA: or what DF said - Wharton JD/MBA's).

Not a single associate at WLRK has a JD/MBA from Penn (although there are some Wharton certificates and one or two Lauder MAs), it never fails to surprise me how people can get evidence like the link above and still spout off patently inaccurate information.

Veyron wrote:

IIRC it's all Warton JD/MBAs.

LOL at JD/MBAs having the grades for WLRK, check out the firm bios bro, this is simply not the case.

--LinkRemoved--

DF must be thinking of the NU grads. WLRK has 3 associates from NU, 2 of which are JD/MBAs.

The third dude was a Wharton undergrad, who almost certainly had good corporate experience.

bdubs wrote:

Veyron wrote:

IIRC it's all Warton JD/MBAs.

LOL at JD/MBAs having the grades for WLRK, check out the firm bios bro, this is simply not the case.

--LinkRemoved--

DF must be thinking of the NU grads. WLRK has 3 associates from NU, 2 of which are JD/MBAs.

The third dude was a Wharton undergrad, who almost certainly had good corporate experience.

Yep, also I was confused by Wharton certificates. Which apparently many Penn grads get.

Kimchi_smile wrote:I always heard that WLRK is the most prestigious law firm to work for. How do WLRK select their summers? What are the typical students that they make offer to? Do you have to have connections?

There are plenty of more selective firms: Williams & Connolly, Covington, MTO, Irell, etc.

Unless you want to do M&A, there are plenty of other firms that do more prestigious work. Yes, WLRK pays high bonuses (a product of deal work), but they are very, very good at one thing (M&A). If you want to litigate, there are better firms; if you want to do Tax, there are better firms; if you want to do regulatory work, there are better firms; and if you want to do a general corporate practice, there are better firms.

Point being - unless you want to do M&A, you should probably be looking at other firms.

vamedic03 wrote:

Kimchi_smile wrote:I always heard that WLRK is the most prestigious law firm to work for. How do WLRK select their summers? What are the typical students that they make offer to? Do you have to have connections?

There are plenty of more selective firms: Williams & Connolly, Covington, MTO, Irell, etc.

Unless you want to do M&A, there are plenty of other firms that do more prestigious work. Yes, WLRK pays high bonuses (a product of deal work), but they are very, very good at one thing (M&A). If you want to litigate, there are better firms; if you want to do Tax, there are better firms; if you want to do regulatory work, there are better firms; and if you want to do a general corporate practice, there are better firms.

Point being - unless you want to do M&A, you should probably be looking at other firms.

I don't know if Irell is more selective, its more that they look for different things. Also, when I think of "more" selective forms than WLRK, I think of Susman and Bartlett Beck (and W&C, true). However, that is a level of prestige trolling that few 0Ls are aware of.

So, let this be a lesson for you OP, you should really be shooting for Susman and Bartlett Beck. Want to know how to get hired there. . . .

So who's the ideal fit?
"Someone who's clerked at the Supreme Court, is brilliant, and has theatrical presence."

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I'd suggest a crowbar and ski mask, but if they have professional security you might need pull off some Mission Impossible style shit.

vamedic03 wrote:
Unless you want to do M&A, there are plenty of other firms that do more prestigious work. Yes, WLRK pays high bonuses (a product of deal work), but they are very, very good at one thing (M&A). If you want to litigate, there are better firms; if you want to do Tax, there are better firms; if you want to do regulatory work, there are better firms; and if you want to do a general corporate practice, there are better firms.

Point being - unless you want to do M&A, you should probably be looking at other firms.

I'm a 0L. In doing research about a career in M&A law, I was led to WLRK more or less by their prestige in M&A. I'm also interested in general corporate practice -- what are those "better" firms? Please advise on some. Thanks!

The last I want to do is to become a litigator. Too much speaking.

Desert Fox wrote:

bdubs wrote:

Veyron wrote:

IIRC it's all Warton JD/MBAs.

LOL at JD/MBAs having the grades for WLRK, check out the firm bios bro, this is simply not the case.

--LinkRemoved--

DF must be thinking of the NU grads. WLRK has 3 associates from NU, 2 of which are JD/MBAs.

The third dude was a Wharton undergrad, who almost certainly had good corporate experience.

Yep, also I was confused by Wharton certificates. Which apparently many Penn grads get.

There is an oldish thread where people are talking about how useless the Penn/Wharton certificates are, but it seems like WLRK values them...

sanetruth wrote: There is an oldish thread where people are talking about how useless the Penn/Wharton certificates are, but it seems like WLRK values them...

Correlation doesn't equal causation. My guess is that most of the people who want to do M&A at Penn get the certificate. I'm sure it didn't hurt their chances, but it may have made zero difference in whether they got an offer or not.

Kimchi_smile wrote:

vamedic03 wrote:
Unless you want to do M&A, there are plenty of other firms that do more prestigious work. Yes, WLRK pays high bonuses (a product of deal work), but they are very, very good at one thing (M&A). If you want to litigate, there are better firms; if you want to do Tax, there are better firms; if you want to do regulatory work, there are better firms; and if you want to do a general corporate practice, there are better firms.

Point being - unless you want to do M&A, you should probably be looking at other firms.

I'm a 0L. In doing research about a career in M&A law, I was led to WLRK more or less by their prestige in M&A. I'm also interested in general corporate practice -- what are those "better" firms? Please advise on some. Thanks!

The last I want to do is to become a litigator. Too much speaking.

WLRK is great at M&A. But, Skadden is also great at M&A.

If you want a general corporate practice, you would be better off at: Cravath, SullCrom, or Davis Polk.

Kimchi_smile wrote:The last I want to do is to become a litigator. Too much speaking.

I love 0Ls.