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I have some technical background but am choosing only from strong litigation (general practice) firms with an IP practice.

I care both about the strength of the litigation practice in general and the IP lit practice.

I'd appreciate the input, thanks!

OP here: Bump. Results are even. Does this mean it's largely irrelevant with these options?

Are you sure you want to do patent lit? If not then I might lean away from a firm that has a specific patent subgroup that is separate from the rest of the lit group where you'd essentially have to decide whether you want to do patent lit at the time you start as an associate (e.g. Kirkland). Of course you could figure out whether you're sure about patent lit during your summer, but 10 weeks isn't necessarily a lot of time to make that kind of decision. If you are sure, then never mind on that. How much this matters depends on how sure you are about patent lit.

Overall it also depends on which offices you are talking about, though IIRC Kirkland is fairly well regarded in patent lit and Boies really isn't known for patent lit. I don't know much about Paul Weiss/Skadden. The poll results are from only 4 votes so I wouldn't put any stock in that. Heck I probably wouldn't put much stock in a poll on this decision no matter how many people responded since I doubt enough people on TLS are knowledgeable enough to give you worthwhile poll results.

bk1 wrote:Are you sure you want to do patent lit? If not then I might lean away from a firm that has a specific patent subgroup that is separate from the rest of the lit group where you'd essentially have to decide whether you want to do patent lit at the time you start as an associate (e.g. Kirkland). Of course you could figure out whether you're sure about patent lit during your summer, but 10 weeks isn't necessarily a lot of time to make that kind of decision. If you are sure, then never mind on that. How much this matters depends on how sure you are about patent lit.

Overall it also depends on which offices you are talking about, though IIRC Kirkland is fairly well regarded in patent lit and Boies really isn't known for patent lit. I don't know much about Paul Weiss/Skadden. The poll results are from only 4 votes so I wouldn't put any stock in that. Heck I probably wouldn't put much stock in a poll on this decision no matter how many people responded since I doubt enough people on TLS are knowledgeable enough to give you worthwhile poll results.

Thanks for the input. Am I sure about patent lit? No. I've asked all these firms, though, and they all say I can switch and/or get assignments from other groups as well as patent. That's the draw of the general litigation firms vs. boutique.

Offices: NYC

Were you asking them irt the summer or as an associate? I know when I asked KE they said you could do both during the summer but once you finished the summer you had to choose between patent or general lit. 10 weeks may or may not be enough time for you to make up your mind if they ask you to decide once your summer is over.