Top Law Schools

Offers from all. Would appreciate feedback. Not sure if I want to practice corporate or litigation. No work experience. Not sure how much rankings should come into play when considering 15 or so rankings spots.

Cahill:
- By far my favorite during the callback process; felt like a good fit personality-wise
- I like the free-market system
- Also really like FiDi
- Great bonuses
- Appreciated the same-day offer
- Downside: ranked lowest on the overall Vault rankings of the three (though it's highest on the NY Vault rankings)

Proskauer:
- Ranked highest by Vault of the three
- Liked them during their reception this past summer; not the biggest fan during the callback phase
- Waited a few weeks before giving me an offer, which maybe means they weren't sure that I was the best fit for them?
- Has an Entertainment group, which I might be interested in (but they stressed that they might not have openings in that department so no guarantees; it's just a nice option if doable and no opportunity to explore it at the others)
- Downside: Times Square

Orrick:
- Ranked higher than Cahill and lower than Proskauer on overall Vault rankings
- Thought they were nice during the callback; one of my favorite screeners
- Lots of substantive expereince early-on (which is a plus)
- Lots of training opportunities
- Downsides: Small summer class doesn't seem ideal to me; questionable firm stability; would prefer a bigger office

Your decision between these three firms should not be affected at all by their vault rankings. Sounds like you liked Cahill, so do Cahill. It's an excellent firm.

Throw out the fucking vault rankings duder and just do Cahill since u like it so much

if you can stand to work at Cahill, go for it and claim that extra bonus. People will take other firms over Cahill due to whispers about the work environment, but hopefully never for a few spaces on the vault survey

jbagelboy wrote:if you can stand to work at Cahill, go for it and claim that extra bonus. People will take other firms over Cahill due to whispers about the work environment, but hopefully never for a few spaces on the vault survey

What are these whispers about the work environment?

And OP, based on what you stated, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't go to Cahill. And doesn't Orrick pay below market in NY? I don't think Orrick is in this race.

Fwiw, two close friends work at Cahill, and their hours are about the same as mine and they seem to be very satisfied with the experience, and they and I are all class of 2011 so that's a reasonably long time to draw a conclusion from. I wouldn't worry too much about the work climate.

You should go to Cahill based on what you said. It is a great firm and well respected, especially in NY. Plus you will make a bunch of extra money.

Proskauer is also great, but everyone wants to do entertainment/sports there and the odds you will get into the group are pretty low from what I have heard.

I can't comment on Orrick as I don't know much about them.

I didn't get a callback from Cahill but I was extremely impressed by them. Also, as mentioned above, V-rank doesn't matter nearly as much as practice strengths. For corporate, Cahill is the easy winner. For lit, it's a closer call but I'd still go there. The firm is insanely healthy right now, and I think that's worth a lot. FWIW, I've heard more negative things re: QOL about Proskauer than about Cahill. I've actually never heard anything toxic about Cahill, just taht there's a shit-ton of work to be done

How does Cahill have such a high PPP without having insane hours?

Anonymous User wrote:How does Cahill have such a high PPP without having insane hours?

Because associates work do work insane hours and probably because the work is more of a commodity/specialized so people are more efficient?

Anonymous User wrote:How does Cahill have such a high PPP without having insane hours?

There are three factors that go into PPP:

(1) billing rates /realization
(2) leverage
(3) volume

Cahill has high billing rates and gets paid at its rack rates, high leverage (<4), and they're busy. Et voila.

Insane hours generally don't correlate with high PPP, because the difference between "busy" and "AHHHHH" is only a few hundred hours out of ~2000; way smaller, as a percentage, than the variance in PPP. High PPP is generated primarily by high leverage and being able to charge more for your work.

To use a real life example, S&C and Cravath have RPL of about $1,500,000. S&C and Cravath associates do not work 50% more than Cleary or Sherman associates, where RPL is ~$1,000,000.

OP here. Thanks for all the input. Accepting at Cahill. Good luck to everyone!

Can I ask, when did you get your Orrick offer and when was your CB with them?

i had a callback with orrick this week and they said that they usually have their hiring committee meeting on tuesday or wed