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Currently deciding between skadden la, omm Newport, and Sheppard mullin sd/del mar. I want to to corporate work and ideally find a market I'd stay in long term, though portability might be nice. I'm having trouble deciding among these firms because they are all great in different ways.

Skadden la:
Pros: great name brand, strong corporate practice in la, gym and cafeteria, portability and good exit opps
Cons: la traffic, "sweatshop"(any credence to working in corporate elsewhere and not clocking 2400?), higher col

Omm Newport Beach (oc):
Pros: people seemed really great and the firm culture seems to be one that values the lives of associates relatively more than other firms, Newport is beautiful and oc has less traffic than la, decent name recognition and portability
Cons: oc is a little uptight/stuffy, my parents live here and want me to live with them(not happening), omm faced a revenue dip last year(unstable?), oc is somewhat boring and cookie cutter

Sheppard mullin sd/del mar:
Pros: San Diego is really nice and seems laid back, high transparency at Sheppard, better traffic than oc and la, sd seems more young fun and cultured than oc, cost of living is lowest(?) here as opposed to Oc and la, partnership prospects seem best here
Cons: less portable since Sheppard is a ca firm, might face a lot of traffic driving from downtown/north park/little Italy, not sure how strong corp work is in sd or oc for that matter, reliant on vc work


Any input would be greatly appreciated! Really having trouble deciding here.

If these were my options, I'd definitely go SM. SM Del Mar has ridiculously high, near perfect midlevel satisfaction ALM survey responses for multiple years. Not to say that's necessarily fact, but my experience with the office has been pretty great and they're structured to survive the supposedly cyclical nature of the life sciences field (which is pretty big in other SD transactional groups).

San Diego imo also beats LA and OC for quality of life unless you're more into a strictly urban lifestyle and want to have lots of bar/restaurant/cultural enclaves to choose from. San Diego does have some of that, but is much more about beach life and being laid back.

SD native and current LA biglaw associate here. I'd take SM in your shoes. They're well respected in SD (and in Southern California generally), it is definitely the best/most sustainable of your options as far as places to work, and you seem most excited about them . Also, SD is notoriously insular and it will help you a lot if you start your career there. Commuting from Downtown (or North Park) to Del Mar is a huge pain, though.

Anonymous User wrote:SD native and current LA biglaw associate here. I'd take SM in your shoes. They're well respected in SD (and in Southern California generally), it is definitely the best/most sustainable of your options as far as places to work, and you seem most excited about them . Also, SD is notoriously insular and it will help you a lot if you start your career there. Commuting from Downtown (or North Park) to Del Mar is a huge pain, though.

The commute is actually more about timing than anything else and is fairly predictable as opposed to what I understand about LA traffic (which I admittedly don't have regular experience with). If you leave before/after rush hours, driving from Del Mar to downtown can be 20 minutes or less.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:SD native and current LA biglaw associate here. I'd take SM in your shoes. They're well respected in SD (and in Southern California generally), it is definitely the best/most sustainable of your options as far as places to work, and you seem most excited about them . Also, SD is notoriously insular and it will help you a lot if you start your career there. Commuting from Downtown (or North Park) to Del Mar is a huge pain, though.

The commute is actually more about timing than anything else and is fairly predictable as opposed to what I understand about LA traffic (which I admittedly don't have regular experience with). If you leave before/after rush hours, driving from Del Mar to downtown can be 20 minutes or less.

This is definitely spot on regards to SD's commute. As a BigLaw associate you're likely never going to hit much traffic on your drive home from north county to downtown because it will simply be late enough for you to miss rush hour. The morning drive might be a little bit of a pain depending on what time you leave, though to be fair I've never had to deal with going from downtown to north county during rush hour so I'm not sure how long it takes.

i can only comment on the craft beer scene in San Diego, which is so unbelievably good that I would recommend choosing any firm in SD over any firm elsewhere.

source: I lived in LA for a decade and actually like it, but SD is beer mecca. if you don't like beer, feel free to disregard (but seriously, learn to like beer).

I think of those options, I'd take Skadden LA. If you want to do corporate work in OC and you can get Latham or GDC, I'd probably take either of those in a heartbeat, but I'd be less thrilled with OMM.

OMM Newport actually had the highest mid level satisfaction in the country per the most recent am law survey

Skadden LA

Long term, neither OMM nor SM may be around long term, especially in NB and SD, respectively. Especially for transactional work.

Anonymous User wrote:SD native and current LA biglaw associate here. I'd take SM in your shoes. They're well respected in SD (and in Southern California generally), it is definitely the best/most sustainable of your options as far as places to work, and you seem most excited about them . Also, SD is notoriously insular and it will help you a lot if you start your career there. Commuting from Downtown (or North Park) to Del Mar is a huge pain, though.

I'm definitely biased, but if you work in north county, why wouldn't you live there, too? I clerked for a judge in downtown SD, and I lived in Encinitas because it's by far my favorite community in the area. If I had stayed, I would have angled to work at one of the Del Mar offices just so I could stay in north county.

Bump. Gotta decide by tomorrow. Any insider input on these markets/firms? I'm leaning SM right now but I'm apprehensive because of their below market bonuses last year(sign of bad health?) and that they aren't as preftigious as the other two

Anonymous User wrote:Bump. Gotta decide by tomorrow. Any insider input on these markets/firms? I'm leaning SM right now but I'm apprehensive because of their below market bonuses last year(sign of bad health?) and that they aren't as preftigious as the other two

SM is prestigious enough for any SoCal market, and if you really like the people there and climate, just go there. I'd rather choice maybe slightly less compensation and a great work environment than a little higher compensation and working to death at a place like Skadden. Plus San Diego is a great place, you could drive up and visit OC/LA if you wanted to on weekends (albeit this is a bit of a drive)