Comparing DC Offices Forum

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have useful insight into the DC offices of Hogan Lovells, Cooley, Venable, Willkie Farr, or Wiley Rein? Trying to rank these particular choices on the off chance OCI doesn't go horribly.

Particular considerations: how much does office size affect day to day life? Reputation/preftige? Presence or lack of rooftop bocce courts? Or working at a firm headquartered in NY, SV, Baltimore, or in DC itself? Or just any experience with these offices in particular. Not concerned with prestige on its own, but if it means one place is less miserable or might have better work/clients, maybe it counts for something.

I can make educated guesses how each may play out, but if anyone can speak to one firm or the other that would be awesome. TYIA

[Anonymous User]

I only know Hogan of this group. A little more closed-door and formal in personal interaction than most (but by no means as much as as Covington). People are pleasant/nice but not fratty like Clifford Chance, Latham, or Skadden.

Their professional development for lawyers sets them a little apart in recent years: they really want to grow good lawyers. Overall it's a solid place: I did not end up going there myself but it was high on my list (and I have plenty of friends who are there and are fantastic/competent people).

[Anonymous User]

^^^Echoes my few interactions with Hogan. Everyone I met at the firm reception was genuinely enthusiastic about the firm in general, but particularly their colleagues. Wound up in contact with one litigation associate and another in privacy, both very friendly though somewhat buttoned up. Also met a younger partner who was very open to sharing advice and details of his practice, though he also seemed rather intense. Only good impressions thus far, but none that gave clear insight into life at the firm.

[TLSModBot]

Honestly I think firm "culture" is a beast unto itself for some firms (maybe most/all?). It's not dependent on firm size, office size, or location, but those things can certainly affect it. There's no formula or set of metrics that will definitively get you to understand the firm beforehand.

Location: NY has a rep for being more formal and hardworking. DC is a slightly lower version of that. West-coast (at least LA) is seen as being a little more informal.

Size: Firm size itself I think affects little - but where it also correlates with 'prestige' it can affect the size/quality of your client base, which may have a subsequent effect on culture (speculating there)

Office size: smaller satellite offices will be different from big main offices, but exactly how varies from firm to firm.
Overall, if you want a more structured Summer and actual practice experience, then bigger offices will more likely provide this. Smaller offices will probably either force you into a particular practice area and/or require you to be more of a self-starter with your career because your just more removed from the main firm population center.

What I think matters more is:
- how does the firm assign work to Summers and new associates?
- what kind of transparency structures does the firm have in place to let associates know what's going on at the firm?
- what's the reputation for working life there, and what kimd of people do you jive best with?. I, for instance, actually could have dealt with the more buttoned up offices but am personally glad I ended up in a much more talkative, open collegial firm. I know people who would be driven insane by that, however.

[Anonymous User]

I'm at Covington... I have no idea why we have that reputation. It's not a party place, but people are social and friendly.

As you were.

[Glasseyes]

Checking in as another DC-OCI hopeful ready for the crush. Def curious about these or other DC-office specific details, if anyone has 'em. I guess the most telling would be tales of frequent over-nighters, horrible partners, unstable offices, cold offers, partner attrition, that kind of thing. Conversely, if there are firms known for being awesome all around in DC, that's even better.

I'll share what little gossip I've got: two people who didn't work there have now mentioned the brutal hours at Cooley DC, but who knows if that's practice group specific (they each had a friend in the comm practice; could be the same person complaining for all i know). Also heard about an associate at White & Case DC expected to pull all-nighters every handful of days, as in weekly. Sounds gross.

[Anonymous User]

I can speak to the Jones Day DC office. It's pretty sociable, but definitely not fratty. I didn't notice a lot of associates working late nights, but I was on a mostly litigation floor, so this probably just means that the firm doesn't care much about face time outside of normal business hours. I never noticed any partners that people said were horrible to work with, so either there aren't any super bad ones or the summers were kept away from them. The wining and dining was less than I expected (normal lunches with attorneys 2 days a week, generally a catered lunch 2 days a week, and Fridays are dive lunches), but not disappointing by any means. The place was pretty chill, and I never noticed anything weird about the people. Associate attrition didn't seem bad or anything, and the ones who left or had recently left mostly went to smaller firms back in their home market. Maybe some movement in-house, too. But I didn't see anyone move from JD to another DC firm or anything. The firm generally seems pretty tolerant of associates staying longer than might be typical than other firms even when they aren't "partner material."

One thing that might set JD apart from some other offices is that it has a noticeably conservative bent. There are liberals, and I wouldn't say it's not a great place to work if you're more liberal, but the firm itself leans pretty heavily to the right, more so than what you would normally expect from a biglaw firm.

[Anonymous User]

Monday bump. This thread should dovetail with the current Willkie v. Wiley DC thread that someone else posted. Would love to get some insight or stories about other DC offices. In particular, if anyone has actual experience with Cooley DC, I would love to hear it.