Jones Day Culture? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Probably would have been more appropriate to ask this months ago. Heading to JD Cleveland over the summer.

Any past SAs or current/former associates care to share what the firm's culture is like? Trying to get an idea before I start.

Did a search, there are few threads about the culture and many are dated.

[downinDtown]

Not sure about Cleveland, but other offices of JD have the reputation of being "sweatshop-lite." Hence, Jones Day Night & Weekends.

Know present and past associates at other JD offices (not NYC/LA) and they've all said that it's different between groups and partners (and who the upper-level associates are too), but several of them left before 5 years to hop to boutiques or in-house because the workload was too much (so at least you have good exit options). For example, one person who was in securities/M&A said filing season was hellish, but then on top of that you'd be dealing with deal flow which you can't predict. During those busy times, they wouldn't leave the office till ~2 AM. Another told me that they asked for time off several in advance for a family trip, but when the time for the trip came, the partner asked them to work that entire weekend and was unrelenting. So again, some partners just have different expectations of associates.

TL;DR The consensus is that a lot of it depends on the group, the partner(s) you work for, as well as which upper-level associates you work for.

[Anonymous User]

I can speak to JD Cleveland specifically:

Cleveland is a small legal market, so much so that Jones Day probably makes up about 80% of the SA jobs. This creates a bit of a big fish/little pond feel, which I've always viewed as a positive. On the other hand, Jones Day as a whole is quite integrated between offices, so it's not unusual for Cleveland associates to work with NY/DC partners (or any other office really). This can create the opposite effect, but I cannot imagine anyone at JD Cleveland feeling like they're out of their league because Cravath is on the other side of the table.

There is also a bit of a split dynamic on the "days, nights and weekends" nonsense. Sure, compared to local firms, Jones Day will work you more, but the attorneys who transferred from a major NY firm probably view it as a step down in intensity. Hours expected is going to be correlated with quality of work (in terms of prestige/fanciness/whatever), and I think JD Cleveland does pretty well on both fronts. The quality of work is going to be closer to NY than it is to other Ohio firms, and the atmosphere, at least in my experience, is nothing like the nonsense I hear about from friends at V-whatever firms in NY. As mentioned, this depends on partner/group anywhere you go, but the chances of being in the office at 2am are relatively low.

As a summer you're going to do more eating than legal research. This is true anywhere, and the only opinion I would base of this summer is whether you like the people.

[Anonymous User]

Was in a different JD office last summer, so some of this may not apply. I hadn't heard the JD nights & weekends bit until after my summer, but I think it's way overblown. I have 2 kids so I tried to find out as much as I could about lifestyle issues at the firm. It's not really a facetime place. In the summer most partners leave by 5, most associates shortly thereafter. People tend to vary on whether they crank hard during the week so as to keep their weekends free or if they prefer to spread out their hours into the weekend more. In general, so long as you're getting your work done I think no one cares about these kinds of things.

As to culture. JD prides itself on treating it's people better than most big firms. The kool-aid line is that people rarely lateral from JD to other big firms. If you haven't heard it yet, someone will probably tell you about how, in the downturn, the partners all took cuts to avoid cutting associates. The firm tends to be more conservative (not politically, but socially) than other firms. I wore a suit and tie nearly everyday and felt under dressed the day or two that I didn't. The people tend to be well-rounded with real lives away from work. Several partners in my office are in a band together, many were season ticket holders at local pro-teams, etc.

I had a great summer, hopefully you will too.

[Anonymous User]

Suit and tie everyday for JD Houston/Dallas?

[Anonymous User]

Suit and tie everyday for JD Houston/Dallas?

Pretty sure the Texas offices are business casual.

As the other anons have said, workload and culture will depend largely on which people/practice groups you're working for. Most of the people at my office seemed pretty normal, and it didn't seem like people were generally working sweatshop hours. It's biglaw, and people work crazy hours sometimes, but I didn't get the impression that it was any worse than other biglaw firms.

[Anonymous User]

I think its a really great place to be. The atmosphere and environment is all very team-focused. Because of this, it tends to self-select a certain type of personality that obviously works well with others, is very friendly, etc. Visit any JD office, and you would get what I mean. The firm, though its policies, actively tries to facilitate that team-focused environment. For example, bonuses/raises are not tied to billable hour targets, and there is no "origination credit" when a new client is brought in. Rather, the focus is all just about helping the client, and not worrying about who "owns" the client.

As a whole, the firm is super integrated. From any office phone, you just punch in 5 digits, and you can get through to any lawyer in any office at any time. Lots of the work is cross-office, and the firm is far more grouped by areas of expertise than by geographic locale. Makes for some great experience, and really builds up your network in different areas.

Not sure if there is merit to the "Jones Day nights & weekends" thing. I am in a major market, and yeah, people work some pretty crazy hours sometimes. But I think it really depends on practice group. Plus, I'm not sure this is any different than any other major market firm office. Also, keep in mind that not all "work" is the same. When the experience is substantive and valuable, it is worthwhile to put in the time, and you don't feel that it is all sort of for nothing.

[OneMoreLawHopeful]

Pretty sure the Texas offices are business casual.

Is this true? I know that the Jones Day office in SV was notorious for requiring suits well after the other SV firms went casual (I don't know anyone there now, so this may have changed, but they were definitely suited up in the office ~2 years ago). It's hard to believe that the Texas office would be more casual than the SV office for any firm.

[Anonymous User]

Pretty sure the Texas offices are business casual.

Is this true? I know that the Jones Day office in SV was notorious for requiring suits well after the other SV firms went casual (I don't know anyone there now, so this may have changed, but they were definitely suited up in the office ~2 years ago). It's hard to believe that the Texas office would be more casual than the SV office for any firm.

I know for a fact this is true for Dallas. I don't know anyone at Houston, so I'm less sure about that.

[Anonymous User]

Pretty sure the Texas offices are business casual.

Is this true? I know that the Jones Day office in SV was notorious for requiring suits well after the other SV firms went casual (I don't know anyone there now, so this may have changed, but they were definitely suited up in the office ~2 years ago). It's hard to believe that the Texas office would be more casual than the SV office for any firm.

I know for a fact this is true for Dallas. I don't know anyone at Houston, so I'm less sure about that.

I almost certain that no Texas office has the folks wear suits. And in fact, even the few offices that are business formal are considering changing that policy (at least thats the rumor)

[Anonymous User]

I know the NYC recently changed the policy from suit to shirt+khakis from mid-may-august (applies to associates, not sure about partners).

[Anonymous User]

At callback to Columbus office last year, no one in a suit--slacks and collared shirts.

[Anonymous User]

Couldn't tell you about TX, but Cleveland suits up M-Th. There are still a few associates who decide they don't care and skip the tie; unsure about how much the fashion police reprimand these people, but I can't think of anyone who would care.

[Anonymous User]

The reality as an SA is this: you don't want to be remembered/noticed for dressing down. Plan on a suit every day and go from there. It's easy to lose the jacket/tie to look business casual. No one is going to say anything bad about you wearing suits, but they might about khakis.

Also, the firm usually assigns associate mentors to SAs before you start, so you might just ask them.

[Anonymous User]

Suit and tie everyday for JD Houston/Dallas?

know 100% that both are biz casual for the summer w/ regular charity jeans fridays (meaning you pay $ to wear jeans, $ goes to charity)

[Anonymous User]

Is it true (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... +jones+day+) that jones day is laying off attorneys?

[sundontshine]

Is it true (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... +jones+day+) that jones day is laying off attorneys?

From Googling "Jones Day layoffs" - http://abovethelaw.com/2014/02/nationwi ... -laid-low/

[cdelgado]

I never got the impression JD was having financial problems.

I wonder if this is only an issue in the NY office?

[Anonymous User]

Thoughts on JD's LA office?

[Anonymous User]

Thoughts on JD's LA office?

I only did a callback there, so, grain of salt, etc. etc. Seems like a mostly litigation-oriented office that's fairly leanly staffed. Felt like the culture trended towards the "just let me get my shit done in peace" type of personality: lots of unprompted talk about work-from-home options, there was a general vibe that attorneys were friendly towards their colleagues but they were not necessarily friends outside of work. I think they might be in the process of trying to make the in-office culture a little bit more collegial - they made a point of showing me this new lounge they'd had installed, which turned out to be a run-of-the-mill office lounge that almost all NYC offices have had for so long that nobody even thinks to mention it.

Also, they no-offered somebody in their most recent summer class, which was pretty small to begin with. Take that for what it's worth.

[Anonymous User]

Any insight on JD's SF office?

[Anonymous User]

I'm an associate at a different office, but a lot of the culture is going to be very similar. There's a lot of cross-office work. I've worked with associates in several other offices, and there are people at my office who do a plurality of their work for partners in other offices. So it's very hard to predict what life as an actual associate would be like. Just enjoy the summer. It'll be a lot more play than work anyway.