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I've been fortunate enough this interview season to get Cravath, Davis Polk, Cleary, Sullivan & Cromwell, Simpson, and Skadden, all in New York.

I've been thinking I want to put in a few years here before moving out to Silicon Valley or San Francisco, to hopefully do public company or venture capital work over there. I'd be more open to starting directly out west but the girl I want to marry is stuck out here for a couple more years, so so will I.

How would you choose among the above firms, if the goal was to exit them?

• Cravath seems great because the rotation system guarantees certain experience up front, at least as far as I understand it. I could do two rotations than leave and have at least pretty good Securities/M&A experience. The other firms are great, but I'd be going through the motions to a larger extent at the beginning, so by Year 3 I thought I'd have less experience (and more diligence, etc.). Am I off base there?
• Does anyone have their own personal stories of building good enough skills to transfer early on? I loved Cleary but this is the one time Cravath's rotation system is a major plus.
• Cleary doesn't have a NorCal office, SullCrom's is laughable, and Simpson's corporate group in Palo Alto has one superstar partner and then a bit of a void. Davis Polk's and Skadden's Silicon Valley offices look quite a bit better, but I'd still probably just transfer firms if I can (to Wilson, Cooley, Fenwick, etc.).
• Are firms out there receptive at all to NY transfers?
• Anything else I should be aware of?

Also interested in this.

i am an associate at wilson/fenwick/cooley/gunderson: these firms are all equally fine for potentially moving over to a west coast firm.

id maybe consider getting the CA bar out of the way early so you're more attractive to these firms. definitely easier to do it before u start than while working as an associate.

Anonymous User wrote:i am an associate at wilson/fenwick/cooley/gunderson: these firms are all equally fine for potentially moving over to a west coast firm.

id maybe consider getting the CA bar out of the way early so you're more attractive to these firms. definitely easier to do it before u start than while working as an associate.

OP here, thanks!

My current understanding's that if I took the NY Bar right away in August, I couldn't take the CA bar until a few months later, at which point I'd have already started working at the New York firm. Is it possible to do both very close?

Also, if I were fortunate enough to get hired by the W/F/C/G, would I be stuck doing whatever work I had been beforehand or could I try some other groups once landing at the firm, like tech trans or venture capital work?

I'd say go with Skadden. Their PA office is great and they do a ton of good work and it'd probably be easier to leverage your way into a lateral if you know the lawyers there already. If you asked you could probably split a summer between NYC and PA and from there move to PA full time, if you'd like to end up doing that.