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I am having a hard time choosing between these firms. Any insight would be much appreciated.

Anonymous User wrote:I am having a hard time choosing between these firms. Any insight would be much appreciated.

What practice area are you interested in?
Patent lit? Gen. Lit? White-collar lit? More info is needed for a meaningful reply.

Making a similar choice (didn't interview at Latham since I am close friends with someone who was treated pretty badly there during the layoffs). I'm really leaning Irell. Lower leverage, above market bonuses, litigation I'm really interested in, and Century City is so much nicer than downtown. People at Gibson seemed a little more outgoing/friendly though. Also still waiting on Munger did you CB there? Tough choice - good luck!

Original poster here-just to give a bit more information:
Am primarily interested in general litigation.
No aversion to patent lit, though no strong affinity for it either.
May be interested in doing a bit of transactional work.
Think the folks at Irell are among the smartest/most qualified at any firm that I have interviewed at, and think the firm is probably the most prestigious in LA (next to Munger).
Intrigued by the rotational program/unassigned system at Gibson and Latham respectively.

Anyone have any friends/personal experiences with any of these firms?

(bump - facing the same decision but have narrowed it to Gibson & Irell)

Irell has seen something of a mass exodus by associates not specializing in patent litigation, with the complaint being that they are treated as second class citizens by the firm. For that reason, I would advise against Irell over other "peer" firms unless you can see yourself being excited about patent and only patent.

Anonymous User wrote:Irell has seen something of a mass exodus by associates not specializing in patent litigation, with the complaint being that they are treated as second class citizens by the firm. For that reason, I would advise against Irell over other "peer" firms unless you can see yourself being excited about patent and only patent.

I've heard this too. I've also heard better things about Latham's LA office than Gibson's LA office, though both are obviously fine choices. Best of luck.

Though Irell does seem to have a heavy focus on patent work at this point, the firm is extremely busy. It seems that all of the associates are swamped there. I don't know if the same is true in terms of work flow at Gibson and Latham. I have heard some stories of junior associates at both Gibson and Latham going through stretches without much work at all.

Anonymous User wrote:Though Irell does seem to have a heavy focus on patent work at this point, the firm is extremely busy. It seems that all of the associates are swamped there. I don't know if the same is true in terms of work flow at Gibson and Latham. I have heard some stories of junior associates at both Gibson and Latham going through stretches without much work at all.

I spoke with attorneys at Irell who classified the firm as about half patent. Pretty sure I'd like patent, so I'm not too concerned, but does Gibson or Irell do more entertainment type lit?

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Though Irell does seem to have a heavy focus on patent work at this point, the firm is extremely busy. It seems that all of the associates are swamped there. I don't know if the same is true in terms of work flow at Gibson and Latham. I have heard some stories of junior associates at both Gibson and Latham going through stretches without much work at all.

I spoke with attorneys at Irell who classified the firm as about half patent. Pretty sure I'd like patent, so I'm not too concerned, but does Gibson or Irell do more entertainment type lit?

Irell does more entertainment lit. The entertainment lit Gibson does is done out of their Century City office, which does not seem to hire law students directly out of law school.

Which of these firms seems to provide the best exit options (both legal and in the business world)?

Anonymous User wrote:Which of these firms seems to provide the best exit options (both legal and in the business world)?

Bumping this. Very curious as to people's thoughts on these 3. I'm pretty flexible as to practice area (also interested in corporate). TYIA.

if any interest in corp, not Irell