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With OCI around the corner, and all the recent instructive bashing of private sector work, I'd love to know TLS thinks the "best" firms are (among 100+ firms, since we won't all know the super regional ones) - suppose you could choose - or do it all over again - where would you work? Consider QoL, salary, career advancement, ect. (Obviously many of us will be fortunate to have *a* job, but humor us incoming 2L's).

Also feel free to mention where you definitely would not work/firms to steer clear of (the worst).

Or if you just want to talk about the plus/minus of your own firm, that's great too. Just please come up with something more creative than Vault when justifying choices!

This thread will be a bunch of people posting about how Firm A is a sweat shop and then a bunch of others posting about how Firm A is an amazing place and everyone is happy.

OP just focus on getting an offer and then you can start thinking about which place has the nicer people.

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brotherdarkness wrote:A lot of this is going to be subjective, too. What suits one person may not suit another; you can't really say that any one firm is "great."

/end thread

Some people actually don't want to work Wachtell even if they get the offer there. Surprise surprise, it depends.

How about sharing random tidbits about firms that you wouldn't otherwise get from Vault/Chambers-Associate (e.g. Jenner is liberal!)?

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brotherdarkness wrote:A lot of this is going to be subjective, too. What suits one person may not suit another; you can't really say that any one firm is "great."

I mean, this is totally fair and naturally it's a subjective exercise, but people could still lend their impressions. A lot of the practicing attorneys on this site complain about their work, and sure it's for good reason, but if they could have done something differently or gone to a different firm that advice could be valuable.

cookiejar1 wrote:How about sharing random tidbits about firms that you wouldn't otherwise get from Vault/Chambers-Associate (e.g. Jenner is liberal!)?

I'm completely on board with this (although I just finished 1L, too).

I keep hearing about the need to choose a firm based on culture and fit, but the problem's that I have no way of gauging that before I summer there, at which point I've already locked myself into the firm (no way of repeating OCI, etc.).

I know impressions are subjective, but surely there are a few things that can be passed on. If you're a more subdued person who goes out occasionally but not often and X firm works great for you, I'd love to know that, etc.

Anything at all helps!

brotherdarkness wrote:If you can't bench two plates, you won't get a CB from Latham.

That's why I didn't get a CB.

Anonymous User wrote:

brotherdarkness wrote:If you can't bench two plates, you won't get a CB from Latham.

That's why I didn't get a CB.

Whoops, that wasn't supposed to be an anon.

Just curious, how many offers are you planning to get? Which firms are you expecting will give you an offer?

NYSprague wrote:Just curious, how many offers are you planning to get? Which firms are you expecting will give you an offer?

Me? Would be happy with one offer but the bid list stage over the next month or so both determines and precedes what firms we could even net offers from. Moreover, why so serious?

jbagelboy wrote:

NYSprague wrote:Just curious, how many offers are you planning to get? Which firms are you expecting will give you an offer?

Me? Would be happy with one offer but the bid list stage over the next month or so both determines and precedes what firms we could even net offers from. Moreover, why so serious?

I was asking generally. I think if you want answers you need to specify firms and perhaps even practice groups. And, really, are you going to use anonymous anecdotes to make your bid list?

NYSprague wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:

NYSprague wrote:Just curious, how many offers are you planning to get? Which firms are you expecting will give you an offer?

Me? Would be happy with one offer but the bid list stage over the next month or so both determines and precedes what firms we could even net offers from. Moreover, why so serious?

I was asking generally. I think if you want answers you need to specify firms and perhaps even practice groups. And, really, are you going to use anonymous anecdotes to make your bid list?

It's not an end-all, but information helps. Nobody can plan on having a spectrum of choices but small, candid bits about a firm and what a person did in a practice group there aren't useless information, either.

There are things way more off-topic on this forum than someone's personal experience at their law firm. I don't think this is worth discouraging.

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NYSprague wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:

NYSprague wrote:Just curious, how many offers are you planning to get? Which firms are you expecting will give you an offer?

Me? Would be happy with one offer but the bid list stage over the next month or so both determines and precedes what firms we could even net offers from. Moreover, why so serious?

I was asking generally. I think if you want answers you need to specify firms and perhaps even practice groups. And, really, are you going to use anonymous anecdotes to make your bid list?

This, and then some. Law students tend to view firms as unitary, but they are not. You could work for the objectively most kind, nice, kumbaya singing firm, but if the partner you work with all the time is the one asshole there you'll still be miserable.

Guys just do a search for [firm name] + culture

There are also just general 'culture' threads where people have talked about this stuff before

HTH

But if you get an offer from Dickstein Shapiro I would advise accepting on the spot and cancelling all your other callbacks

HTH

Our bidding process started up today in early stages, so I understand your sentiment. Though I echo the fact that some people will say great things about a firm and others terrible things. From what I understand, it largely depends on practice group/ assigning partner. Someone could be on a big case for 9 months in a small team and love it. Others could hate it.

I still like to hear anecdotal tales, though.

Best: Munger, Tolles & Olson, hands down. I could pick pretty much any firm I wanted (top of the class at HYS) and I picked MTO and another firm that is higher ranked on Vault and split my summer. Summered there in the past 3 years and am clerking now but I will most likely return after my clerkship. Extremely high level work and good quality of life (relatively speaking, of course).

Only downsides are that it is difficult to get hired there and they are mostly litigation focused.

Anonymous User wrote:Best: Munger, Tolles & Olson, hands down. I could pick pretty much any firm I wanted (top of the class at HYS) and I picked MTO and another firm that is higher ranked on Vault and split my summer. Summered there in the past 3 years and am clerking now but I will most likely return after my clerkship. Extremely high level work and good quality of life (relatively speaking, of course).

What practice group were you in? Anything else you can share on MTO? I haven't heard about them before.

toothbrush wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Best: Munger, Tolles & Olson, hands down. I could pick pretty much any firm I wanted (top of the class at HYS) and I picked MTO and another firm that is higher ranked on Vault and split my summer. Summered there in the past 3 years and am clerking now but I will most likely return after my clerkship. Extremely high level work and good quality of life (relatively speaking, of course).

What practice group were you in? Anything else you can share on MTO? I haven't heard about them before.

I did various types of litigation (notably, a cool entertainment law case). They don't have rigid practice groups and I did a bunch of different types of litigation assignments. Yes, they aren't as well known as some other firms and fly under the radar a little bit (maybe because they only have offices in California and many people want to practice on the east coast). They have had 3 partners confirmed to the 9th Circuit in the past few years, too.

I'm happy to share more information/opinions. Do you have any specific questions?

Edit: To the degree that there is a correlation between being "family friendly" and having a higher quality of life, this link might be of interest: http://abovethelaw.com/2014/04/the-top- ... irms-2014/

Anon: thanks for your comments. We have one for MTO.

Do you recommend splitting? How did you facilitate that - directly after OCI, or when you had two offers in hand?

The short version of this thread: work life is much better pretty much anywhere outside of NYC. Problem is, outside of NYC means either lower offer rates and less $ (secondary market) or insanely competitive (DC, CA).

jbagelboy wrote:Anon: thanks for your comments. We have one for MTO.

Do you recommend splitting? How did you facilitate that - directly after OCI, or when you had two offers in hand?

Yes, I recommend splitting. First, off it hedges your bets. Though I'm sure I didn't really have to worry about it, I rested a little easier knowing that if I got no-offered from one firm I still had the other firm to receive an offer from (and I picked a firm that historically gives out 100% offers too). Also, if you dislike one of your firms unexpectedly you can still go to the other and not be stuck with either 3L OCI or lateraling as an associate. Second, it gives you a point of comparison. Though biglaw firms are probably more similar than different, there are still material differences between them in culture, practice areas, etc. It's useful to actually get experience in two different firms.

I facilitated that only when I had two offers in hand, though I'm pretty sure the topic of splitting came up organically during OCI and callbacks with both firms. MTO actually is pretty easy to split with and they encourage it (subject to some restrictions).