Any Skadden associates willing to take questions Forum

[Anonymous User]

It would be a great help. Since it's early in the overall process I'd rather not give out details about myself, but it would be great to have some insight into the firm from those who have been / are there.

Specifically interested in hearing about those in transactional, though of course any experiences would be great to hear about.

[Anonymous User]

Are you a rising 2L or did you just finish your summer or are you an incoming associate? Also, does it matter which office?

Also it'd probably just be easier to email someone. You can always reach out to almuni of your school -- that worked for me pre-OCI when I wanted some human insight.

[Anonymous User]

Are you a rising 2L or did you just finish your summer or are you an incoming associate? Also, does it matter which office?

Also it'd probably just be easier to email someone. You can always reach out to almuni of your school -- that worked for me pre-OCI when I wanted some human insight.

OP here - I'm a rising 2L looking into the NYC office. Thanks, definitely doing that as well, but this forum has been helpful as well so thought some anonymous feedback would be another good data point (it's sometimes hard to tell if the people I've spoken to in real life are being 100% forthright or if they can't be completely candid since they're not "off the record" like you can be here)

[Anonymous User]

Are you a rising 2L or did you just finish your summer or are you an incoming associate? Also, does it matter which office?

Also it'd probably just be easier to email someone. You can always reach out to almuni of your school -- that worked for me pre-OCI when I wanted some human insight.

OP here - I'm a rising 2L looking into the NYC office. Thanks, definitely doing that as well, but this forum has been helpful as well so thought some anonymous feedback would be another good data point (it's sometimes hard to tell if the people I've spoken to in real life are being 100% forthright or if they can't be completely candid since they're not "off the record" like you can be here)

Yeah, emails are a better bet, but I'll be joining the NYC office in about 6 weeks, so if you have questions that I can answer, I'll give it a shot.

[Anonymous User]

Are you a rising 2L or did you just finish your summer or are you an incoming associate? Also, does it matter which office?

Also it'd probably just be easier to email someone. You can always reach out to almuni of your school -- that worked for me pre-OCI when I wanted some human insight.

OP here - I'm a rising 2L looking into the NYC office. Thanks, definitely doing that as well, but this forum has been helpful as well so thought some anonymous feedback would be another good data point (it's sometimes hard to tell if the people I've spoken to in real life are being 100% forthright or if they can't be completely candid since they're not "off the record" like you can be here)

Yeah, emails are a better bet, but I'll be joining the NYC office in about 6 weeks, so if you have questions that I can answer, I'll give it a shot.

Thanks!

1) I know there's an initial rotation system for two years (optional third if you want it), and then you're placed with the group you want to work with. How much control do you have over what groups you get for the rotation and where you eventually end up? I'm very interested in the M&A group, which I'd imagine is more popular, so was wondering if I went in wanting that the chances I could get placed in say, project finance, instead.

2) One of the things that attracted me to Skadden is that the people seem genuinely nice for the most part, and say that they get along well with each other at / outside of work. Of course, I'm a little wary of this and wonder how much of it is recruiting-speak. Could you talk about your experience with the people there and how they seem to act towards each other?

Thanks again.

[Anonymous User]

Are you a rising 2L or did you just finish your summer or are you an incoming associate? Also, does it matter which office?

Also it'd probably just be easier to email someone. You can always reach out to almuni of your school -- that worked for me pre-OCI when I wanted some human insight.

OP here - I'm a rising 2L looking into the NYC office. Thanks, definitely doing that as well, but this forum has been helpful as well so thought some anonymous feedback would be another good data point (it's sometimes hard to tell if the people I've spoken to in real life are being 100% forthright or if they can't be completely candid since they're not "off the record" like you can be here)

Yeah, emails are a better bet, but I'll be joining the NYC office in about 6 weeks, so if you have questions that I can answer, I'll give it a shot.

Thanks!

1) I know there's an initial rotation system for two years (optional third if you want it), and then you're placed with the group you want to work with. How much control do you have over what groups you get for the rotation and where you eventually end up? I'm very interested in the M&A group, which I'd imagine is more popular, so was wondering if I went in wanting that the chances I could get placed in say, project finance, instead.

2) One of the things that attracted me to Skadden is that the people seem genuinely nice for the most part, and say that they get along well with each other at / outside of work. Of course, I'm a little wary of this and wonder how much of it is recruiting-speak. Could you talk about your experience with the people there and how they seem to act towards each other?

Thanks again.

I'm a different incoming Skadden NY associate. (2) seems pretty accurate. In the ten weeks I was there, I saw no yelling, and everybody did get along. That's not to say there aren't screamers (there are) or people who despise the job (there are, but the one that comes to mind is still there, two years after I first met him).

[Anonymous User]

Thanks!

1) I know there's an initial rotation system for two years (optional third if you want it), and then you're placed with the group you want to work with. How much control do you have over what groups you get for the rotation and where you eventually end up? I'm very interested in the M&A group, which I'd imagine is more popular, so was wondering if I went in wanting that the chances I could get placed in say, project finance, instead.

2) One of the things that attracted me to Skadden is that the people seem genuinely nice for the most part, and say that they get along well with each other at / outside of work. Of course, I'm a little wary of this and wonder how much of it is recruiting-speak. Could you talk about your experience with the people there and how they seem to act towards each other?

Thanks again.

1) The way the rotation currently works is 8 months in one subgroup; 8 months in the next, and you choose your permanent home before the end. Third rotations are pretty rare; I wouldn't count on being able to choose a third one.

You get to rank your top four subgroups, and folks do their best to match you with your top interests. For our year, M&A and investment management were super duper popular, but other years finance or real estate gets oversubscribed. Generally each group tries to take on as many associates as it can give actual work to. I'm not sure anyone didn't get their top spots though.

Oh, and this only goes for corporate. I'm pretty sure if you want another group there is no rotation. One of the big things that differentiates Skadden from peer firms is the depth v. breadth.

2) People are awesome. They're also super chill and friendly. I mean I can only speak to the folks I know, but the ones that I know are all very fun and friendly people. I do think Skadden places a bigger emphasis on personality than peer firms when it comes to the hiring process, so maybe that plays a part in it.

[Anonymous User]

Are you a rising 2L or did you just finish your summer or are you an incoming associate? Also, does it matter which office?

Also it'd probably just be easier to email someone. You can always reach out to almuni of your school -- that worked for me pre-OCI when I wanted some human insight.

OP here - I'm a rising 2L looking into the NYC office. Thanks, definitely doing that as well, but this forum has been helpful as well so thought some anonymous feedback would be another good data point (it's sometimes hard to tell if the people I've spoken to in real life are being 100% forthright or if they can't be completely candid since they're not "off the record" like you can be here)

Yeah, emails are a better bet, but I'll be joining the NYC office in about 6 weeks, so if you have questions that I can answer, I'll give it a shot.

Thanks!

1) I know there's an initial rotation system for two years (optional third if you want it), and then you're placed with the group you want to work with. How much control do you have over what groups you get for the rotation and where you eventually end up? I'm very interested in the M&A group, which I'd imagine is more popular, so was wondering if I went in wanting that the chances I could get placed in say, project finance, instead.

2) One of the things that attracted me to Skadden is that the people seem genuinely nice for the most part, and say that they get along well with each other at / outside of work. Of course, I'm a little wary of this and wonder how much of it is recruiting-speak. Could you talk about your experience with the people there and how they seem to act towards each other?

Thanks again.

Another different Skadden associate.

1) M&A is so big that if you rank it #1, you'll almost always get it

2) People are "nice" in the sense that they're outgoing and friendly. There are some pretty douchey types though, but you'll get that at every law firm. At times I've felt the vibe was a little locker room or mean girls.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks to everyone for great info.

- How intellectually stimulating has the work been for you all, and are you given a large amount of responsibility or is there sometimes a cog-in-the-wheel feeling?

- Associates there indicated there's regular e-mails with exit ops at clients that get sent around. Is the feeling generally positive in terms of what's out there post-skadden? And on the other side of the coin, is advancing / making partner seen as a somewhat realistic goal if you can tough out the hours?