Is Quinn a Sweatshop? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Quinn has been one of my top choices for a long time. I guess I just buy into their marketing, and I had a great time meeting their people. That said, talking with people at OTHER law firms with whom I'm interviewing, when I bring them up people give me a knowing look and say, "I've heard they're ... very aggressive." "Intense" is also often used.

I was okay with this - I'm both aggresive and intense - until looking at the comments in this ATL post:

http://abovethelaw.com/2010/12/associat ... s#comments

So Quinn gave out these bonuses that included scales for people billing 3000+ hours. People really do that? Are the hours that much higher at Quinn? I like the sound of Quinn, but don't want to work THAT much more than peer firms, especially when I could get paid more at, like, Irell or Boies.

Does this reputation refer to all offices, or just the NY office? I'm interested in the CA offices.

note: I realize there's another thread titled "Quinn Emanuel" on this page, but it's on a completely different topic.

[SleekFire]

Quinn has been one of my top choices for a long time. I guess I just buy into their marketing, and I had a great time meeting their people. That said, talking with people at OTHER law firms with whom I'm interviewing, when I bring them up people give me a knowing look and say, "I've heard they're ... very aggressive." "Intense" is also often used.

I was okay with this - I'm both aggresive and intense - until looking at the comments in this ATL post:

http://abovethelaw.com/2010/12/associat ... s#comments

So Quinn gave out these bonuses that included scales for people billing 3000+ hours. People really do that? Are the hours that much higher at Quinn? I like the sound of Quinn, but don't want to work THAT much more than peer firms, especially when I could get paid more at, like, Irell or Boies.

Does this reputation refer to all offices, or just the NY office? I'm interested in the CA offices.

note: I realize there's another thread titled "Quinn Emanuel" on this page, but it's on a completely different topic.

PM me.

[Anonymous User]

Quinn has been one of my top choices for a long time. I guess I just buy into their marketing, and I had a great time meeting their people. That said, talking with people at OTHER law firms with whom I'm interviewing, when I bring them up people give me a knowing look and say, "I've heard they're ... very aggressive." "Intense" is also often used.

I was okay with this - I'm both aggresive and intense - until looking at the comments in this ATL post:

http://abovethelaw.com/2010/12/associat ... s#comments

So Quinn gave out these bonuses that included scales for people billing 3000+ hours. People really do that? Are the hours that much higher at Quinn? I like the sound of Quinn, but don't want to work THAT much more than peer firms, especially when I could get paid more at, like, Irell or Boies.

Does this reputation refer to all offices, or just the NY office? I'm interested in the CA offices.

note: I realize there's another thread titled "Quinn Emanuel" on this page, but it's on a completely different topic.

PM me.

Any thoughts on Quinn's work/life balance these days? Thinking of the LA office in particular.

[Anonymous User]

I worked at one of the Quinn CA offices but frankly, I don't really know how to answer this question. During my time, there was plenty of work to go around and it was the lawyer's job to kind of accept or decline as much as they could handle and keep their hours up. Most of the associates I knew were in the 2100-2400 range. But I knew some who were a good deal higher than that, and some who were lower than that. If you're working 3000 it's because there's some kind of crazy thing happening; either you're a crazy person who wants that, or you got staffed on a series of trials.

It would be good if you could find a lawyer who worked at Quinn and at another firm, I guess. I think like most law firm, it SUPREMELY depends on which partner you tend to work with and what that partner is like. Probably on average at Quinn it's more likely you're going to work with a partner who works a shitload.

I recommend trying to identify senior associates and partners who you'd really like to work with, assessing whether they are cool or shitheads, and trying to connect directly with them. At the end of the day it's always a roll of the dice though.

One thing I liked about Quinn was that it seemed like you could have direct relationships with people without the kind of weird bureaucracy of firm committees and policies getting in the way. For better or worse, Quinn really does have few formalities. I was glad I went there and I was lucky to work with some great people, but I also knew people who had bad experiences on the whole, and I certainly worked with -- and was fortunate not to work with -- some partners who suck to work for.