SullCrom v. Davis Polk v. Debevoise Forum

[Anonymous User]

Help?

Interested in transactional work (only), people/location (which makes me lean DPW or Debevoise), but also exit strategy 2-3 years down the line into finance or business (which makes me lean S&C). I expect to work hard at any of the firms, and the rotation/assignment/free market program doesn't really scare or excite me. Also, I'm not sure that sullcrom actually has better exit opportunities than DPW or Debevoise - can someone disabuse or confirm this assumption of mine?

Any advice would be helpful - thanks!

[quakeroats]

Help?

Interested in transactional work (only), people/location (which makes me lean DPW or Debevoise), but also exit strategy 2-3 years down the line into finance or business (which makes me lean S&C). I expect to work hard at any of the firms, and the rotation/assignment/free market program doesn't really scare or excite me. Also, I'm not sure that sullcrom actually has better exit opportunities than DPW or Debevoise - can someone disabuse or confirm this assumption of mine?

Any advice would be helpful - thanks!

SullCrom will do little that DPW won't.

[Anonymous User]

Help?

Interested in transactional work (only), people/location (which makes me lean DPW or Debevoise), but also exit strategy 2-3 years down the line into finance or business (which makes me lean S&C). I expect to work hard at any of the firms, and the rotation/assignment/free market program doesn't really scare or excite me. Also, I'm not sure that sullcrom actually has better exit opportunities than DPW or Debevoise - can someone disabuse or confirm this assumption of mine?

Any advice would be helpful - thanks!

SullCrom will do little that DPW won't.

arguably s&c has stronger M&A practice:
(mega-deals ($5bn+), Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is a second tier firm, while S&C is a first tier firm): http://www.legal500.com/firms/50971/offices/52795 and http://www.legal500.com/firms/50265/offices/52436

while dpw has a stronger capital markets practice. which is probably why s&c's profits per partner is muuuuuuuuch better than dpw's

[Anonymous User]

Bump for selfish relevance.

I'm deciding between SullCrom and Debevoise, but for litigation. I know Sullcrom has the prestige boost but I just felt the fit/people were better at Debe. Are my exit options really going to be that much more limited going to the 12th ranked instead of the 3rd ranked? Does SullCrom not deserve the reputation I've gathered from it as a work factory with morale worse than its peers? Note: I don't see myself in Biglaw for the longterm.

[quakeroats]

Bump for selfish relevance.

I'm deciding between SullCrom and Debevoise, but for litigation. I know Sullcrom has the prestige boost but I just felt the fit/people were better at Debe. Are my exit options really going to be that much more limited going to the 12th ranked instead of the 3rd ranked? Does SullCrom not deserve the reputation I've gathered from it as a work factory with morale worse than its peers? Note: I don't see myself in Biglaw for the longterm.

http://nymag.com/news/features/28515/

[imchuckbass58]

Bump for selfish relevance.

I'm deciding between SullCrom and Debevoise, but for litigation. I know Sullcrom has the prestige boost but I just felt the fit/people were better at Debe. Are my exit options really going to be that much more limited going to the 12th ranked instead of the 3rd ranked? Does SullCrom not deserve the reputation I've gathered from it as a work factory with morale worse than its peers? Note: I don't see myself in Biglaw for the longterm.

To your first question, no. Debevoise is right up there at the top (probably along with S&C) for white collar/investigations, which is a large portion of its practice (and S&C's). It also has some top notch niche groups like international arb and soft IP lit. The only thing where it's probably not as strong is securities litigation (decent, but not top notch) or hard IP (does not really exist).

To your second question, yes, it is that bad. In addition to the charney story, read here: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/01/24/sul ... te-morale/

[Anonymous User]

The difference in exit options among these three has nothing to do with "prestige" but a lot more to do with clientele and the specific practice area you go into. Sullivan and DPW represent the major banks and financial institutions, Deb has a big insurance and PE clients, but they all will give you equally great options down the road. If you're at all interested in financial regulatory/compliance/Dodd-Frank related work (and I imagine financials are probably looking for that in potential in house hires), DPW is the undisputed leader. Bottom line is you can't go wrong with any of these.

[Anonymous User]

Bump for selfish relevance.

I'm deciding between SullCrom and Debevoise, but for litigation. I know Sullcrom has the prestige boost but I just felt the fit/people were better at Debe. Are my exit options really going to be that much more limited going to the 12th ranked instead of the 3rd ranked? Does SullCrom not deserve the reputation I've gathered from it as a work factory with morale worse than its peers? Note: I don't see myself in Biglaw for the longterm.

To your first question, no. Debevoise is right up there at the top (probably along with S&C) for white collar/investigations, which is a large portion of its practice (and S&C's). It also has some top notch niche groups like international arb and soft IP lit. The only thing where it's probably not as strong is securities litigation (decent, but not top notch) or hard IP (does not really exist).

To your second question, yes, it is that bad. In addition to the charney story, read here: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/01/24/sul ... te-morale/

Extraordinarily helpful in confirming my decision to go with my gut. Thanks.

[Anonymous User]

Help?

Interested in transactional work (only), people/location (which makes me lean DPW or Debevoise), but also exit strategy 2-3 years down the line into finance or business (which makes me lean S&C). I expect to work hard at any of the firms, and the rotation/assignment/free market program doesn't really scare or excite me. Also, I'm not sure that sullcrom actually has better exit opportunities than DPW or Debevoise - can someone disabuse or confirm this assumption of mine?

Any advice would be helpful - thanks!

SullCrom will do little that DPW won't.

arguably s&c has stronger M&A practice:
(mega-deals ($5bn+), Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is a second tier firm, while S&C is a first tier firm): http://www.legal500.com/firms/50971/offices/52795 and http://www.legal500.com/firms/50265/offices/52436

while dpw has a stronger capital markets practice. which is probably why s&c's profits per partner is muuuuuuuuch better than dpw's

S&C has 80 partners firm-wide that do some M&A, while DPW has ~50. Clearly a big M&A group is good for a firm because it is premium work that boosts profits, having a bigger group that does more M&A deals isn't necessarily good (or bad) for any given associate in the group.

[Anonymous User]

Help?

Interested in transactional work (only), people/location (which makes me lean DPW or Debevoise), but also exit strategy 2-3 years down the line into finance or business (which makes me lean S&C). I expect to work hard at any of the firms, and the rotation/assignment/free market program doesn't really scare or excite me. Also, I'm not sure that sullcrom actually has better exit opportunities than DPW or Debevoise - can someone disabuse or confirm this assumption of mine?

Any advice would be helpful - thanks!

SullCrom will do little that DPW won't.

arguably s&c has stronger M&A practice:
(mega-deals ($5bn+), Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is a second tier firm, while S&C is a first tier firm): http://www.legal500.com/firms/50971/offices/52795 and http://www.legal500.com/firms/50265/offices/52436

while dpw has a stronger capital markets practice. which is probably why s&c's profits per partner is muuuuuuuuch better than dpw's

These rankings have DPW in Tier 2 for Financial Regulation.