Skadden Lit - Overwhelmed by its Corp? Forum

[NoLongerALurker]

Is Skadden NY's lit likely to feel like its playing second-fiddle to its corp? I mean you hear Skadden and, if their marketing had its way, you'd just think "M&A Powerhouse." I sort of liked the feel there, though, and I like that they seem to be open to letting you transfer between offices relatively easily (I want to work in NY for a couple years, but I have fam in Chicago and LA).

Is it crazy to take Skadden over Cravath or DPW, assuming you want lit?

[Cobretti]

Is Skadden NY's lit likely to feel like its playing second-fiddle to its corp? I mean you hear Skadden and, if their marketing had its way, you'd just think "M&A Powerhouse." I sort of liked the feel there, though, and I like that they seem to be open to letting you transfer between offices relatively easily (I want to work in NY for a couple years, but I have fam in Chicago and LA).

Is it crazy to take Skadden over Cravath or DPW, assuming you want lit?

No

[arklaw13]

Is Skadden NY's lit likely to feel like its playing second-fiddle to its corp? I mean you hear Skadden and, if their marketing had its way, you'd just think "M&A Powerhouse." I sort of liked the feel there, though, and I like that they seem to be open to letting you transfer between offices relatively easily (I want to work in NY for a couple years, but I have fam in Chicago and LA).

Is it crazy to take Skadden over Cravath or DPW, assuming you want lit?

No

[jkpolk]

Is Skadden NY's lit likely to feel like its playing second-fiddle to its corp? I mean you hear Skadden and, if their marketing had its way, you'd just think "M&A Powerhouse." I sort of liked the feel there, though, and I like that they seem to be open to letting you transfer between offices relatively easily (I want to work in NY for a couple years, but I have fam in Chicago and LA).

Is it crazy to take Skadden over Cravath or DPW, assuming you want lit?

Peers. Not crazy.

[Anonymous User]

I mean just because Skadden's M&A group is particularly well-known doesn't mean its litigation is second-string. It's a very strong across the board. I don't think that you can go wrong with choosing one of Skadden, Cravath or DPW for litigation. Your choice should come down to the assignment system (e.g. rotation or not) and the people at the firm. Or even location. My impressions at each firm were very different. For example I thought DPW folks were overall nicer and Skadden people more outgoing. Congratulations on your great options either way.

[NoLongerALurker]

Thanks all. Whenever I heard TLS talking about lit, it seemed like DP/PH/Cravath were the only names being thrown around in NY. My impression before seeing all this was that Skadden was certainly a peer, but the DP/PH/Cravath talk gave me pause ("Do they all know something I don't?").

The responses here have put me at ease. Cheers.

That said -- about the transfer thing that I've been "No"'ed on: Their recruiting person told me straight up this was an advantage of Skadden's. Safe to say that was just crazy Recruitment Speak and not actually true, then?

[Anonymous User]

Thanks all. Whenever I heard TLS talking about lit, it seemed like DP/PH/Cravath were the only names being thrown around in NY. My impression before seeing all this was that Skadden was certainly a peer, but the DP/PH/Cravath talk gave me pause ("Do they all know something I don't?").

The responses here have put me at ease. Cheers.

That said -- about the transfer thing that I've been "No"'ed on: Their recruiting person told me straight up this was an advantage of Skadden's. Safe to say that was just crazy Recruitment Speak and not actually true, then?

When you say "PH," I'm assuming you mean PW - Paul Weiss? I don't think Paul Hastings is in the mix here at all.
I think it's fair to say Paul Weiss, Davis Polk and Cravath are top places to litigate in NY, but not particularly more prominent than Skadden, Gibson, and a couple others.

I personally chose davis between the options you are debating but they are all fair game.

[911 crisis actor]

You guys are all forgetting about Schulte

[Anonymous User]

Thanks all. Whenever I heard TLS talking about lit, it seemed like DP/PH/Cravath were the only names being thrown around in NY. My impression before seeing all this was that Skadden was certainly a peer, but the DP/PH/Cravath talk gave me pause ("Do they all know something I don't?").

The responses here have put me at ease. Cheers.

That said -- about the transfer thing that I've been "No"'ed on: Their recruiting person told me straight up this was an advantage of Skadden's. Safe to say that was just crazy Recruitment Speak and not actually true, then?

When you say "PH," I'm assuming you mean PW - Paul Weiss? I don't think Paul Hastings is in the mix here at all.
I think it's fair to say Paul Weiss, Davis Polk and Cravath are top places to litigate in NY, but not particularly more prominent than Skadden, Gibson, and a couple others.

I personally chose davis between the options you are debating but they are all fair game.

What do you mean those three places are the top places to litigate in NY but not more prominent than their peers? All of the firms in Band 1 Elite for general litigation do not have any meaningful differences in their quality of work in New York. I don't think anyone would seriously argue that there is a difference between DPW/Cravath and SullCrom/Skadden for litigation. If you are interested in a particular practice area, then maybe. Honestly the best decision would be to do some second-looks & talk to as many lawyers as you can. Even though I'm corporate, I had similar choices as you and that's how I went about choosing one.

[SLS_AMG]

Thanks all. Whenever I heard TLS talking about lit, it seemed like DP/PH/Cravath were the only names being thrown around in NY. My impression before seeing all this was that Skadden was certainly a peer, but the DP/PH/Cravath talk gave me pause ("Do they all know something I don't?").

The responses here have put me at ease. Cheers.

That said -- about the transfer thing that I've been "No"'ed on: Their recruiting person told me straight up this was an advantage of Skadden's. Safe to say that was just crazy Recruitment Speak and not actually true, then?

When you say "PH," I'm assuming you mean PW - Paul Weiss? I don't think Paul Hastings is in the mix here at all.
I think it's fair to say Paul Weiss, Davis Polk and Cravath are top places to litigate in NY, but not particularly more prominent than Skadden, Gibson, and a couple others.

I personally chose davis between the options you are debating but they are all fair game.

What do you mean those three places are the top places to litigate in NY but not more prominent than their peers? All of the firms in Band 1 Elite for general litigation do not have any meaningful differences in their quality of work in New York. I don't think anyone would seriously argue that there is a difference between DPW/Cravath and SullCrom/Skadden for litigation. If you are interested in a particular practice area, then maybe. Honestly the best decision would be to do some second-looks & talk to as many lawyers as you can. Even though I'm corporate, I had similar choices as you and that's how I went about choosing one.

First off, this shouldn't be anon.

Second, maybe you should work on reading a bit more carefully before getting all bent out of shape next time? The person you quoted said "Paul Weiss, Davis Polk and Cravath are top places to litigate in NY." Top places. Not THE top places.

[NoLongerALurker]

Thanks all. Whenever I heard TLS talking about lit, it seemed like DP/PH/Cravath were the only names being thrown around in NY. My impression before seeing all this was that Skadden was certainly a peer, but the DP/PH/Cravath talk gave me pause ("Do they all know something I don't?").

The responses here have put me at ease. Cheers.

That said -- about the transfer thing that I've been "No"'ed on: Their recruiting person told me straight up this was an advantage of Skadden's. Safe to say that was just crazy Recruitment Speak and not actually true, then?

When you say "PH," I'm assuming you mean PW - Paul Weiss? I don't think Paul Hastings is in the mix here at all.
I think it's fair to say Paul Weiss, Davis Polk and Cravath are top places to litigate in NY, but not particularly more prominent than Skadden, Gibson, and a couple others.

I personally chose davis between the options you are debating but they are all fair game.

Yes, apologies. No idea why I wrote PH isn't of PW.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks all. Whenever I heard TLS talking about lit, it seemed like DP/PH/Cravath were the only names being thrown around in NY. My impression before seeing all this was that Skadden was certainly a peer, but the DP/PH/Cravath talk gave me pause ("Do they all know something I don't?").

The responses here have put me at ease. Cheers.

That said -- about the transfer thing that I've been "No"'ed on: Their recruiting person told me straight up this was an advantage of Skadden's. Safe to say that was just crazy Recruitment Speak and not actually true, then?

I just accepted an offer at Skadden Chi and I got the impression that transferring really wasn't a problem. I wasn't looking to transfer at all but multiple people brought it up as an option if I ever wanted it during CBs. I've heard other people say similar things on this forum too so I think there is something there.

But its certainly going to be the risk averse move for you to take Skadden with a higher chance of "lateralling" to a peer firm in your target cities than it would be going from Cravath or DPW since you never know what the lateral market will be like in 4 years. It could be terrible and the only way you'd get any firm even close to a peer in those markets would be transferring within Skadden.