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tell me everything you know, please -- about both work and culture. i'm thinking about jumping ship from my v20 sa firm, but only want to do corporate.

It's the world's tiniest corporate group, and if memory serves it's largely run by David Boies' son?

never knew they had one

Given the pay, might be worth it even if the practice group isn't spectacular

badaboom61 wrote:Given the pay, might be worth it even if the practice group isn't spectacular

Pay won't be the same as in lit because you won't bill nearly as many hours to participate in their profit sharing scheme.

Coming from somebody who knows a couple people who did Boies corporate, it's a joke.

Fresh Prince wrote:

badaboom61 wrote:Given the pay, might be worth it even if the practice group isn't spectacular

Pay won't be the same as in lit because you won't bill nearly as many hours to participate in their profit sharing scheme.

But they still start at $174k base, which is better than $160k plus bonus at a market firm.

OP here. i'm more interested in exit options over pay. figured it wouldn't be a good idea, but nice to have some confirmation.

Anonymous User wrote:OP here. i'm more interested in exit options over pay. figured it wouldn't be a good idea, but nice to have some confirmation.

I'm the anon above who knows people who worked in Boies Corp. Exit options are pretty bleak.

Are there actually less hours to bill? Does it seem like they are legitimately poised to grow successfully like they hope to?

Anonymous User wrote:Are there actually less hours to bill? Does it seem like they are legitimately poised to grow successfully like they hope to?

Yes. No.

There are a lot of misconceptions here. Here's a summary from an insider:

1. Boies Corporate is a small, but high quality New York corporate practice. Fit is extraordinarily important, and the firm as a whole has stringent recruiting standards. So while expansion is a goal, it will not come at a pace that would force the group to sacrifice the quality of its incoming associates or any potential lateral hires.
2. There are distinct pockets of expertise in various areas, but a good amount of the work is from M&A deals, where Boies represents both buyers and sellers including private equity firms and various corporations. Exit options might include going to those groups or moving laterally to other firms. Some former associates ended up at other V20 firms, and some in private equity or business. One kind of deal that the group does not yet do due to size is a mega M&A deal (the kind of deal a firm would need to staff 40 lawyers on). As a result of the size of the group, deals are leanly staffed and young associates are drafting and interacting with clients very early on. Finally, associates feel that there is a legitimate chance to make partner because of the desire of the group to grow.
3. Pay for corporate associates is the same as for litigation associates. The base is above market (174k for first-years) and bonuses are tied directly to the amount of hours billed. The bonuses are usually well above market as well. The one difference is that because corporate does not take the kind of contingency cases that litigation sometimes takes there is not really a chance for entering the profit-sharing scheme.
4. Anecdotally, as far as hours go, the junior associates are kept very, very busy.

I hope this is helpful. No firm is the right fit for everyone, but the corporate group at Boies has great opportunities for candidates who are qualified and willing to jump in and take early responsibility.

Anonymous User wrote:There are a lot of misconceptions here. Here's a summary from an insider:
...
4. Anecdotally, as far as hours go, the junior associates are kept very, very busy.

Can you give us a ballpark? Not sure how long you have been/were an "insider", but do you have a sense of how much this fluctuates? If corporate workflow at V10 firms has been volatile recently, it must impact a smaller corporate group even more. Isn't there a greater risk of going home at 5 every day feeling frustrated that you don't have the chance to earn the big bonus?

What do the junior associates do when there isn't enough work? How often does that happen?

Well, let's just say for at least the last 1-2 years the problem for junior associates lately has been less a lack of hours with which to rack up bonuses and more a lack of free time to spend those bonuses.

As far as fluctuations go, I think because of the lean staffing there may be more overall stability for associates. The partners will have greater and fewer deals depending on various factors, but because there are so few associates to go around and no one is pigeonholed into a particular practice group, associates are kept busy from different partners at different times. Anecdotally, things were certainly slower in the bad old times, but associates are very busy lately.

So are people billing closer to 2100 or 3100 hours per year?

Can't speak for everyone, but the average is probably near the middle of your range.

Anyone care to provide some more input on BSF corporate? Anything you've learned of them from the grapevine, sitting across them on a deal, from personal contacts who work there now, or from actually working there.

Culture, work experience, potential for growth/advancement, attrition, exit opportunities?

Appreciate all responses.