DC Firms Forum

[Anonymous User]

Can I get people's opinions on the relative awesomeness of some DC offices?

1. Jones Day
2. Gibson
3. Covington
4. O'Melveny
5. Sidley
6. Sullivan Cromwell
7. hogan lovells
8. Skadden

Any thoughts at all about this list is welcomed.

edit: This is anonymous for a number of reasons so please don't waste posts by asking why this is anonymous.

[Anonymous User]

Can I get people's opinions on the relative awesomeness of some DC offices?

1. Jones Day
2. Gibson
3. Covington
4. O'Melveny
5. Sidley
6. Sullivan Cromwell
7. Hogan Lovells
8. Skadden

Any thoughts at all about this list is welcomed.

edit: This is anonymous for a number of reasons so please don't waste posts by asking why this is anonymous.

What kinds of practices are you interested in? What sort of firm culture do you want? What are your medium- and long-term practice plans? It is basically impossible to answer your question without that info. "Awesomeness" is in the eye of the beholder, after all.

I am generally interested in litigation, but don't have any real preference beyond that. I plan on working hard but think work/life balance is important in the sense that I don't want a cut-throat culture where extremely long hours are constantly expected (relative in biglaw, I know long hours are part of the job, i hope my point is clear here). As far as practice plans I would like to stay at a firm long term.

[Anonymous User]

Can I get people's opinions on the relative awesomeness of some DC offices?

1. Jones Day
2. Gibson
3. Covington
4. O'Melveny
5. Sidley
6. Sullivan Cromwell
7. Hogan Lovells
8. Skadden

Any thoughts at all about this list is welcomed.

edit: This is anonymous for a number of reasons so please don't waste posts by asking why this is anonymous.

What kinds of practices are you interested in? What sort of firm culture do you want? What are your medium- and long-term practice plans? It is basically impossible to answer your question without that info. "Awesomeness" is in the eye of the beholder, after all.

I am generally interested in litigation, but don't have any real preference beyond that. I plan on working hard but think work/life balance is important in the sense that I don't want a cut-throat culture where extremely long hours are constantly expected (relative in biglaw, I know long hours are part of the job, i hope my point is clear here). As far as practice plans I would like to stay at a firm long term.

Are you interested in trying any non-litigation practices (i.e., regulatory)? The traditional DC firms, Covington and Hogan, are going to be much stronger in regulatory practices. SullCrom DC does an almost purely NYC practice (associates are required to take NY bar). Work life balance is going to be less ideal in Skadden and SullCrom. I've heard that OMM DC works long hours.

I've heard that Hogan and Covington have decent work life balance. I have heard some complaints out of prior Hogan summer classes (I'm thinking '10 or '09), but I'm not sure if those issues are still relevant (i.e., complaints about offer rates, lack of transparency, etc.)

Anonymous because of specific info about firms.

[lsplz]

No WilmerHale?

[Anonymous User]

Our opinions won't be nearly as valuable as what you can find online using Chambers, Vault, NALP, and searching the firm in Google News, TLS, Autoadmit, and Above the Law. Here are some things to look for:

- Practice area strengths (look at the DC office specifically, not the firm as a whole)
- Reputation/prestige (but remember that the Vault rankings are NY-centric, so they're not as relevant to DC)
- Economic health: has the firm laid a lot of people off recently? has it had to no-offer a significant amount of summers?
- Leverage: how many associates are there per partner? Fewer associates per partner means you prospects of making partner are higher, which is important if you want to be at a firm long term
- Work/life balance: you won't find a "lifestyle" law firm, but some firms may expect around 2000 hours, others 2500 hours (in spite of what they officially state)
- Assignment of work: does the firm use a free market system that requires you to find your own work, or do you work closely under a small group of senior associates and partners? There are advantages and disadvantages to both systems
- Recent news stories: what has the firm been in the news for? You can find troubling things about some firms by searching for it. For example, OMM has had a significant number of partner departures recently, and even though it's not likely to go the way of Howrey, you might still be reluctant to choose OMM over a different firm.

[Shaggier1]

No WilmerHale?

This. Also, Cleary? Arnold & Porter?