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I was rejected from RB a couple of weeks ago via US Mail. Not sure about WC.Anonymous User wrote:Has anyone heard of movement in Charlotte? Specifically Womble Carlyle and Robinson Bradshaw.
Didnt even know WC did OCI - I thought they are moving toward keeping all their 1L SAs..... Or did you get an interview through resume collect?Anonymous User wrote:Has anyone heard of movement in Charlotte? Specifically Womble Carlyle and Robinson Bradshaw.
Pretty much +1.Anonymous User wrote:Heard great things about MVA, Robinson Bradshaw and Parker Poe.
Not so much with Womble Carlyle, Hedrick, and Nelson Mullins.
That's not the impression I got from RB at all. Of course an associate from another firm is going to characterize RB in that light.Anonymous User wrote:Pretty much +1.Anonymous User wrote:Heard great things about MVA, Robinson Bradshaw and Parker Poe.
Not so much with Womble Carlyle, Hedrick, and Nelson Mullins.
MVA is king of Charlotte and they know it. RB does the same type of work as MVA, but is smaller and from what I was told by a MVA associate, more elitist and dickish. PP is a cool firm, but doesnt do as much of the high level work as MVA or RB.
I probably should have prefaced my statement that I personally never had interaction with anyone from RB, but was just relaying the only knowledge I had of the firm outside of public information. I have nothing against RB as they seem to do excellent work and attract top law students. Maybe the MVA associate was a little jealous?Anonymous User wrote:Would agree that RBH and MVA are the best firms in Charlotte. I'm don't think I would characterize RBH as elitist except in the sense that they do tend to get more people from elite schools (tons of T14 and even T14 LR types, much more so than any other NC firm). I don't think that necessarily makes them "elitist" in a bad way though.
As an overall firm, WCSR is on par with those two, but its Charlotte office isn't quite as strong. A lot of WCSR's strength is unfortunately in its larger Winston-Salem office.
Depends on what you're interested in I suppose. Womble is probably not as good as the other two for corporate/transactional work, but it's at least as good (and probably better than MVA) for lit.Anonymous User wrote:I probably should have prefaced my statement that I personally never had interaction with anyone from RB, but was just relaying the only knowledge I had of the firm outside of public information. I have nothing against RB as they seem to do excellent work and attract top law students. Maybe the MVA associate was a little jealous?Anonymous User wrote:Would agree that RBH and MVA are the best firms in Charlotte. I'm don't think I would characterize RBH as elitist except in the sense that they do tend to get more people from elite schools (tons of T14 and even T14 LR types, much more so than any other NC firm). I don't think that necessarily makes them "elitist" in a bad way though.
As an overall firm, WCSR is on par with those two, but its Charlotte office isn't quite as strong. A lot of WCSR's strength is unfortunately in its larger Winston-Salem office.
As for WCSR being on par with RB and MVA - I think that might be a little of a stretch. Funny you mention W-S....at a CB with them for their diversity scholarship I expressed my desire to live somewhere more interesting/exciting than W-S. My fate was sealed after that comment. Haha. They are very protective of the mothership.
Where do Parker and Hedrick fall on this map?Anonymous User wrote:Depends on what you're interested in I suppose. Womble is probably not as good as the other two for corporate/transactional work, but it's at least as good (and probably better than MVA) for lit.Anonymous User wrote:I probably should have prefaced my statement that I personally never had interaction with anyone from RB, but was just relaying the only knowledge I had of the firm outside of public information. I have nothing against RB as they seem to do excellent work and attract top law students. Maybe the MVA associate was a little jealous?Anonymous User wrote:Would agree that RBH and MVA are the best firms in Charlotte. I'm don't think I would characterize RBH as elitist except in the sense that they do tend to get more people from elite schools (tons of T14 and even T14 LR types, much more so than any other NC firm). I don't think that necessarily makes them "elitist" in a bad way though.
As an overall firm, WCSR is on par with those two, but its Charlotte office isn't quite as strong. A lot of WCSR's strength is unfortunately in its larger Winston-Salem office.
As for WCSR being on par with RB and MVA - I think that might be a little of a stretch. Funny you mention W-S....at a CB with them for their diversity scholarship I expressed my desire to live somewhere more interesting/exciting than W-S. My fate was sealed after that comment. Haha. They are very protective of the mothership.
+1 I never heard one bad thing said about other firms while I was at a Robinson Bradshaw call back. However, other firms I had call backs with tend to talk down their competitors.Anonymous User wrote:Accepted RBH offer for second half, got the offer about 3 weeks ago.
Would agree with above poster that RBH is not "dickish" at all, if they come off as elitist it's probably because most of their attorneys are from T14 or close to it, and like was said before they seem to get more students and laterals from theses schools. But everyone I met with (about 20 attorneys) during the CB were down to earth, cool people. I think this is also evident in that I never heard a bad word about any other firm in Charlotte while I was there.
Smith Anderson and RBH are the best firms in the state. Largest deals go through them, particularly SA. Check MVA's reaction to the last three years - 10% across the board cuts. MVA and Womble no longer the top of NC. RBH, Smith Anderson, mcguirewoods, K&L Gates (formerly Kennedy Covington) are top places in NC right now.Anonymous User wrote:Honestly, my impression of NC firms has Womble as the top firm in the state more or less. I have no dog in the fight, but Smith Anderson and MVA aren't all that far behind, nor is Kilpatrick Stockton.
Where's Smith Moore in this conversation?Anonymous User wrote:Honestly, my impression of NC firms has Womble as the top firm in the state more or less. I have no dog in the fight, but Smith Anderson and MVA aren't all that far behind, nor is Kilpatrick Stockton.
Best summary to date - though the anecdotal evidence I have is that PP is struggling to keep up.Anonymous User wrote:For Charlotte, my impression is that there are two different types of firms. MVA, RBH, Parker Poe are based in Charlotte, very strong reputations in the state, strong in both litigation and corporate (PP stronger in lit., MVA/RBH Corp.). RBH/MVA at top, depending on who you talk to, followed by Parker Poe and others. McGuireWoods is based in Richmond VA, but are also very strong in Charlotte, maybe the largest Charlotte firm, or MVA. Likewise Alston & Bird is based in Atlanta (I think) but strong in Charlotte as well. Most of these firms pay market, 130/135.
RBH is the most selective and has arguably the deepest roots in the region. Russell Robinson wrote the treatise on NC Corporate law.
You also have the national firms with smaller Charlotte offices, but these focus primarily on banking/finance/capital markets or real estate, and as such can be very cyclical. These include Mayer Brown, Cadwalader, Dechert, Katten Muchin, Winston Strawn. I think a couple of these firms pay above market, maybe even NY market at 160.
K&L Gates is a bit of both, national reputation, but since they merged with Kennedy Covington they have established a large presence in Charlotte & Raleigh, especially in Real Estate/finance.
Not as familiar with Raleigh, but my impression is Smith Anderson, Wyrick Robbins are the best for Corporate, beyond that no idea.
Womble Carlyle is hard to compare since they are based in Winston Salem, with a colorful history with RJ Reynolds, definitely one of the top names in the state, but not as established as the others in either Charlotte or Raleigh, I don't think (maybe not Raleigh, I here great things about this office).
Interested in getting your thoughts on this, especially since both firms have a very strong history and presence in the Carolinas.Anonymous User wrote:I feel like it is inevitable that MVA and PP get eaten up by some NYC giant trying to establish a SE presence.
I would have been inclined to think this three years ago, but if MVA and PP survived this long, I think you'll look to see them stick it out. First of all, NYC giants can establish a presence without acquiring these firms. Secondly, firms like MVA, WCSR, PPAB are probably trying to compete with each other on a much more regional basis than the national landscape they may have envisioned ten years ago. Opening up offices in places like Greenville, Charleston, etc. seems to signal that. They'll still get big engagements from national clients HQ in NC/SC, but the "merger" boat that mcguirewoods and K&L Gates came in with may be gone for now.Anonymous User wrote:Interested in getting your thoughts on this, especially since both firms have a very strong history and presence in the Carolinas.Anonymous User wrote:I feel like it is inevitable that MVA and PP get eaten up by some NYC giant trying to establish a SE presence.
That makes sense. I think MVA and PP (and probably WC) are going for the regional powerhouse aspect, especially since both have a strong presence in both NC and SC. And not to say that it couldn't happen, but both MVA and PP have pretty extensive histories in NC and it would take a pretty sweet deal for a potential merger.Anonymous User wrote:I would have been inclined to think this three years ago, but if MVA and PP survived this long, I think you'll look to see them stick it out. First of all, NYC giants can establish a presence without acquiring these firms. Secondly, firms like MVA, WCSR, PPAB are probably trying to compete with each other on a much more regional basis than the national landscape they may have envisioned ten years ago. Opening up offices in places like Greenville, Charleston, etc. seems to signal that. They'll still get big engagements from national clients HQ in NC/SC, but the "merger" boat that McGuireWoods and K&L Gates came in with may be gone for now.Anonymous User wrote:Interested in getting your thoughts on this, especially since both firms have a very strong history and presence in the Carolinas.Anonymous User wrote:I feel like it is inevitable that MVA and PP get eaten up by some NYC giant trying to establish a SE presence.