Sidley (NY) v. Willkie (NY) Forum

[Anonymous User]

Interested primarily in litigation, about 75% positive, so I definitely want a firm that's strong in both corporate and lit. I'm from the south, and being around relatively friendly people is important to me. My primary concern is starting off with a solid foundation for my career, and maximizing my opportunities.

Concerns:
Does the gap in Vault ranking makes that much of a difference here, considering its Sidley NY, not Chicago?
I've heard Willkie is very "work hard play hard" - to what extent is this true?
Are exit opportunities from these firms substantially different?

Any input would be greatly appreciated -especially from people who could speak from personal experience! Thanks TLS!

[thesealocust]

The vault rankings are meaningless(er) in this context. Look up their chambers & partners practice area rankings in New York to get a sense for their relative reputations.

[Anonymous User]

Willkie and it's not even close. Best people you'll ever meet and they're fun to boot. Both are strong in lit.

[Anonymous User]

The vault rankings are meaningless(er) in this context. Look up their chambers & partners practice area rankings in New York to get a sense for their relative reputations.

Sidley
Securities lit band 3
Corporate M&A (highly regarded) band 1

Willkie
Securities lit band 2
General commercial lit (elite) band 4
Corporate M&A (elite) band 4

[Anonymous User]

Willkie and it's not even close. Best people you'll ever meet and they're fun to boot. Both are strong in lit.

So much this. Everyone at Willkie is super nice. It is a work hard, play hard kind of firm (although if you don't drink or aren't into going out that much no one will care). The work is also topnotch and there's lots of it.

[Anonymous User]

Willkie and it's not even close. Best people you'll ever meet and they're fun to boot. Both are strong in lit.

So much this. Everyone at Willkie is super nice. It is a work hard, play hard kind of firm (although if you don't drink or aren't into going out that much no one will care). The work is also topnotch and there's lots of it.

OP here - Great to know, thank you! Does the amount of work you're referring to apply to the lit department? Also, for both of you who've responded about Willkie, is the anything negative you could point out about the firm? Things you might prefer to be done differently, or that a potential SA should be aware of?

[Anonymous User]

Not OP but also interested. I'm not set on any practice in particular, but I think M&A and Cap Markets both seem interesting.

Aside from people at Willkie loving Willkie, are there any reasons why Willkie > Sidley (or the other way around)? I was under the impression that people at Sidley also seemed to love Sidley.

[Anonymous User]

When I turned down Willkie, they made me talk to the hiring partner, who bashed my choice of firm and implied it was a bad choice. Not super professional.

[Anonymous User]

When I turned down Willkie, they made me talk to the hiring partner, who bashed my choice of firm and implied it was a bad choice. Not super professional.

Their CB system also seems chaotic.

[Anonymous User]

Any Sidley opinions out there?

[Anonymous User]

Anyone speak to their corporate departments?

[Anonymous User]

When I turned down Willkie, they made me talk to the hiring partner, who bashed my choice of firm and implied it was a bad choice. Not super professional.

Their CB system also seems chaotic.

Yeah, didn't get a particularly positive/polite response after turning them down.

[Anonymous User]

Interested primarily in litigation, about 75% positive, so I definitely want a firm that's strong in both corporate and lit. I'm from the south, and being around relatively friendly people is important to me. My primary concern is starting off with a solid foundation for my career, and maximizing my opportunities.

Concerns:
Does the gap in Vault ranking makes that much of a difference here, considering its Sidley NY, not Chicago?
I've heard Willkie is very "work hard play hard" - to what extent is this true?
Are exit opportunities from these firms substantially different?

Any input would be greatly appreciated -especially from people who could speak from personal experience! Thanks TLS!

I think they are peers in NY, so go where you think you can do the work you want, or where you really think you'd fit.

[Anonymous User]

Interested primarily in litigation, about 75% positive, so I definitely want a firm that's strong in both corporate and lit. I'm from the south, and being around relatively friendly people is important to me. My primary concern is starting off with a solid foundation for my career, and maximizing my opportunities.

Concerns:
Does the gap in Vault ranking makes that much of a difference here, considering its Sidley NY, not Chicago?
I've heard Willkie is very "work hard play hard" - to what extent is this true?
Are exit opportunities from these firms substantially different?

Any input would be greatly appreciated -especially from people who could speak from personal experience! Thanks TLS!

I think they are peers in NY, so go where you think you can do the work you want, or where you really think you'd fit.

OP. Thanks, I'm starting to feel the same way. It seems like they're so similar on paper, Im having difficulty trying to find meaningful distinctions between the two.

[Tiago Splitter]

OP. Thanks, I'm starting to feel the same way. It seems like they're so similar on paper, Im having difficulty trying to find meaningful distinctions between the two.

One thing to consider is that if you want to get out of NYC Sidley has some really strong offices around the country. Might be meaningless if you ultimately want to get back to the South, but worth mentioning.

[Anonymous User]

OP. Thanks, I'm starting to feel the same way. It seems like they're so similar on paper, Im having difficulty trying to find meaningful distinctions between the two.

They even share the same building, right?

[Anonymous User]

OP. Thanks, I'm starting to feel the same way. It seems like they're so similar on paper, Im having difficulty trying to find meaningful distinctions between the two.

They even share the same building, right?

Lol yep

[Anonymous User]

I showed up for my Willkie cb on the wrong day, they made me come back the next day after talking to HR, and still gave me an offer.

However, I continue to maintain it was initially their fuckup. I already had a cb scheduled the day they thought it was, and would not have scheduled another for that day. That real problem was they didn't send a confirmation email or whatever like other firms until a day or two before my cb, so when I got it a few weeks after the phone call I was already in NY and didn't look at the date. That's where it became my fault. Good times, good times.

The twist is that the other cb was Sidley, which was pretty good luck. I scheduled them together not knowing they were in the same building.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Thanks everyone for your help so far. Right now Sidleys ahead in the poll but nobody's really said why they voted that way. Any opinions pro Sidley (not just anti Willkie)?

[Anonymous User]

my gf just summered at sidley NY and said she loved it there -- people were nice and work was good. she's interested in fund formation work, though, which is their main corporate practice strength.

[Anonymous User]

I voted for Sidley NY. I normally lurk, but I will be starting full-time there this month, and you seem to want someone to talk about Sidley.

Caveat, and this is obvious, but is worth reminding you of: obviously no one here can REALLY compare working at the two, since everyone's experience with one or the other (short of lateraling) will be based on their EIP and CB experiences, plus likely an SA at one of the two. So take this all with a grain of salt.

My 2 cents:

Sidley stuck out among my CB firms as having people who were happier being there and having great recruiters who really wanted me to get to know the people at the firm (such as by providing a lot of contact info. and asking me about how my decision-making process was going). My SA experience also couldn't have been better. I rotated in three practice areas as I pleased, was quite sufficiently wined and dined, made it out of the office by 6:30 every day, and felt like my assigned mentors actually cared about how I was getting along (e.g., setting up weekly meetings to discuss what I had been doing the past week and helping me get more work).

People here have said Willkie is work-hard play-hard; I have somewhat of the opposite impression of Sidley. The people there definitely work hard when they have to, but everything feels more sane, more moderate. A first-year told me he billed just under 2000 for his first year and it was no problem at all. People seem to be able to get out at 8 at night more often than not (which is VERY good, in case you were wondering). The makeup of my SA class seemed to confirm this "everything in moderation" impression, if the SA class reflects the type of attorneys you'll find there. The group was a well-behaved bunch (no heavy drinking from anyone), without the pretension and stuffiness that might ordinarily come with that. Everyone just seemed well-rounded and well, normal. I don't know your personality at all, but at this point in my life, that's all I could ask for. And personality matters a lot working in this profession. I won't badmouth Willkie, but I have only good things to say about Sidley. I too had an offer from Willkie.

And as for Sidley NY not being the home-base of the firm, it hasn't made a difference at all. Sure, we have to go to Chicago for a 2 day firm-wide training in October, but there's 340 attorneys in NY and plenty of home-originated work to go around.

Of course, everything I'm saying right now could change when I actually start working, but you'll probably have made your decision by then. We can only say what we know.

[Anonymous User]

Turned down an offer with Willkie and didn't have the experience of the person who was forced to talk to the hiring partner. They just said OK and wished me good luck. Still think they're a great firm with amazing people.

[Anonymous User]

I voted for Sidley NY. I normally lurk, but I will be starting full-time there this month, and you seem to want someone to talk about Sidley.

Caveat, and this is obvious, but is worth reminding you of: obviously no one here can REALLY compare working at the two, since everyone's experience with one or the other (short of lateraling) will be based on their EIP and CB experiences, plus likely an SA at one of the two. So take this all with a grain of salt.

My 2 cents:

Sidley stuck out among my CB firms as having people who were happier being there and having great recruiters who really wanted me to get to know the people at the firm (such as by providing a lot of contact info. and asking me about how my decision-making process was going). My SA experience also couldn't have been better. I rotated in three practice areas as I pleased, was quite sufficiently wined and dined, made it out of the office by 6:30 every day, and felt like my assigned mentors actually cared about how I was getting along (e.g., setting up weekly meetings to discuss what I had been doing the past week and helping me get more work).

People here have said Willkie is work-hard play-hard; I have somewhat of the opposite impression of Sidley. The people there definitely work hard when they have to, but everything feels more sane, more moderate. A first-year told me he billed just under 2000 for his first year and it was no problem at all. People seem to be able to get out at 8 at night more often than not (which is VERY good, in case you were wondering). The makeup of my SA class seemed to confirm this "everything in moderation" impression, if the SA class reflects the type of attorneys you'll find there. The group was a well-behaved bunch (no heavy drinking from anyone), without the pretension and stuffiness that might ordinarily come with that. Everyone just seemed well-rounded and well, normal. I don't know your personality at all, but at this point in my life, that's all I could ask for. And personality matters a lot working in this profession. I won't badmouth Willkie, but I have only good things to say about Sidley. I too had an offer from Willkie.

And as for Sidley NY not being the home-base of the firm, it hasn't made a difference at all. Sure, we have to go to Chicago for a 2 day firm-wide training in October, but there's 340 attorneys in NY and plenty of home-originated work to go around.

Of course, everything I'm saying right now could change when I actually start working, but you'll probably have made your decision by then. We can only say what we know.

Not OP, but thanks for that.

[Anonymous User]

I voted for Sidley NY. I normally lurk, but I will be starting full-time there this month, and you seem to want someone to talk about Sidley.

Caveat, and this is obvious, but is worth reminding you of: obviously no one here can REALLY compare working at the two, since everyone's experience with one or the other (short of lateraling) will be based on their EIP and CB experiences, plus likely an SA at one of the two. So take this all with a grain of salt.

My 2 cents:

Sidley stuck out among my CB firms as having people who were happier being there and having great recruiters who really wanted me to get to know the people at the firm (such as by providing a lot of contact info. and asking me about how my decision-making process was going). My SA experience also couldn't have been better. I rotated in three practice areas as I pleased, was quite sufficiently wined and dined, made it out of the office by 6:30 every day, and felt like my assigned mentors actually cared about how I was getting along (e.g., setting up weekly meetings to discuss what I had been doing the past week and helping me get more work).

People here have said Willkie is work-hard play-hard; I have somewhat of the opposite impression of Sidley. The people there definitely work hard when they have to, but everything feels more sane, more moderate. A first-year told me he billed just under 2000 for his first year and it was no problem at all. People seem to be able to get out at 8 at night more often than not (which is VERY good, in case you were wondering). The makeup of my SA class seemed to confirm this "everything in moderation" impression, if the SA class reflects the type of attorneys you'll find there. The group was a well-behaved bunch (no heavy drinking from anyone), without the pretension and stuffiness that might ordinarily come with that. Everyone just seemed well-rounded and well, normal. I don't know your personality at all, but at this point in my life, that's all I could ask for. And personality matters a lot working in this profession. I won't badmouth Willkie, but I have only good things to say about Sidley. I too had an offer from Willkie.

And as for Sidley NY not being the home-base of the firm, it hasn't made a difference at all. Sure, we have to go to Chicago for a 2 day firm-wide training in October, but there's 340 attorneys in NY and plenty of home-originated work to go around.

Of course, everything I'm saying right now could change when I actually start working, but you'll probably have made your decision by then. We can only say what we know.

OP. This was great information. More comprehensive than most of the Sidley NY info I've found on TLS so far. Thank you so much!