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Hi there,

Looking to get thoughts on the corporate department at Paul, Weiss. Looking to hear about where they fit in the New York corporate legal hierarchy and learn a bit more about their financial success over the past couple of years (which they brought up during the CBs). Would also love to hear about how these things manifest themselves in day-to-day work at PW.

How are PW attorneys viewed by their colleagues across the industry?

Thanks in Advance

I summered there in 2014, working mostly in the corporate department. I'm actually not going back but would have been happy doing so.

I don't know much about how they fit into the NYC corporate legal hierarchy but what I can tell you is that people were very busy in 2014. I imagine it may have cooled a bit to a tolerable level because in 2014 they were taking on so much corporate work that midlevels were leaving in droves, or so it looked from my limited viewpoint.

The upside of that is that they were working on a number of big deals and also with a number of interesting clients. Maybe not quite as constantly interesting as you might find at Skadden or Cravath but I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of work. Another upside is that it appeared that after a year or so of doing mind numbing junior tasks, you *could* distinguish yourself and start taking more ownership of deals than you might be able to elsewhere (maybe not, only ever saw Paul, Weiss). The downside, obviously, is that people were very busy, sometimes downright miserable. I think a lot of people were looking for ways out that summer. Quite a few found decent exits. It may be a little different now, I don't know.

Most of the work seemed to be in M&A, with a decent amount of financing, and to a lesser extent funds work, as maybe half or so of the deals were private equity deals.

I don't know that I can really comment on "reputation" either. I don't think it's a bad option if you really want to work, are happy with M&A and PE, and you're not considering Skadden, SullCrom, Cravath, etc.

2015 PW corporate SA here. I really liked what I saw from the corporate group. Turned down v10 corporate offers in favor of PW because of culture and fit, absolutely no regrets here. Great firm, crushing it financially, and keep hiring more and more people for corporate.

OP here. Glad to hear you enjoyed your summer. You can't value financial performance enough and I'm glad to see that the firm is performing very well in this respect.

Speaking with lawyers in NYC the consensus is that PW has really killed it over the last 10 years. It seems like a great situation to step into and, as I enjoyed the people I met there as well, I am very strongly considering accepting my offer over a V10 (outside of CSM, Skadden and SullCrom). Thanks for the thoughts.

Is the V10 DPW, STB, or Cleary? I would not choose PW corporate over any of those for corporate. In fact, of the ones you listed, I might actually go to PW over Skadden (but not CSM or S&C).

Now if it's Weil or Latham or even K&E NYC, then sure, go to PW if you really liked it.

Anonymous User wrote:Is the V10 DPW, STB, or Cleary? I would not choose PW corporate over any of those for corporate. In fact, of the ones you listed, I might actually go to PW over Skadden (but not CSM or S&C).

Now if it's Weil or Latham or even K&E NYC, then sure, go to PW if you really liked it.

Thoughts on K&E?

Anonymous User wrote:Is the V10 DPW, STB, or Cleary? I would not choose PW corporate over any of those for corporate. In fact, of the ones you listed, I might actually go to PW over Skadden (but not CSM or S&C).

Now if it's Weil or Latham or even K&E NYC, then sure, go to PW if you really liked it.

I wouldn't go to PW for corporate over V5+STB (not sure why you make an exception for Skadden here, these are peer Band 1 corp firms) unless there was a really compelling reason. I would consider taking PW over the rest if I liked the firm. K&E NY is great but there are enough unique things about it where you would have enough reasons to turn it down.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Is the V10 DPW, STB, or Cleary? I would not choose PW corporate over any of those for corporate. In fact, of the ones you listed, I might actually go to PW over Skadden (but not CSM or S&C).

Now if it's Weil or Latham or even K&E NYC, then sure, go to PW if you really liked it.

I wouldn't go to PW for corporate over V5+STB (not sure why you make an exception for Skadden here, these are peer Band 1 corp firms) unless there was a really compelling reason. I would consider taking PW over the rest if I liked the firm. K&E NY is great but there are enough unique things about it where you would have enough reasons to turn it down.

Anything else making K&E NY unique beyond two-tiered partnership, free market assignment, and bonus comp?

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Is the V10 DPW, STB, or Cleary? I would not choose PW corporate over any of those for corporate. In fact, of the ones you listed, I might actually go to PW over Skadden (but not CSM or S&C).

Now if it's Weil or Latham or even K&E NYC, then sure, go to PW if you really liked it.

I wouldn't go to PW for corporate over V5+STB (not sure why you make an exception for Skadden here, these are peer Band 1 corp firms) unless there was a really compelling reason. I would consider taking PW over the rest if I liked the firm. K&E NY is great but there are enough unique things about it where you would have enough reasons to turn it down.

Anything else making K&E NY unique beyond two-tiered partnership, free market assignment, and bonus comp?

K&E corporate is growing a ton (laterals + new hires) and has been taking on a lot of work.

Also, interested as to why above poster would choose PW over Skadden but not CSM/S&C. I see these as very much peer firms.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Is the V10 DPW, STB, or Cleary? I would not choose PW corporate over any of those for corporate. In fact, of the ones you listed, I might actually go to PW over Skadden (but not CSM or S&C).

Now if it's Weil or Latham or even K&E NYC, then sure, go to PW if you really liked it.

I wouldn't go to PW for corporate over V5+STB (not sure why you make an exception for Skadden here, these are peer Band 1 corp firms) unless there was a really compelling reason. I would consider taking PW over the rest if I liked the firm. K&E NY is great but there are enough unique things about it where you would have enough reasons to turn it down.

Anything else making K&E NY unique beyond two-tiered partnership, free market assignment, and bonus comp?

Quoted anon here. I was thinkin along the lines of what you stated. Just a more unique personality/culture than peer firms.

Anonymous User wrote:
Also, interested as to why above poster would choose PW over Skadden but not CSM/S&C. I see these as very much peer firms.

If Skadden's marketing has convinced 2Ls of this, then they owe their recruiters a raise.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:
Also, interested as to why above poster would choose PW over Skadden but not CSM/S&C. I see these as very much peer firms.

If Skadden's marketing has convinced 2Ls of this, then they owe their recruiters a raise.

They are peer firms.

I was above anon indicating I might choose PW over Skadden. I think the other anons are responding the way they are because Skadden doesn't hold the same cachet among prestige-obsessed law students as CSM/S&C/DPW/STB. I was more referring to its unique culture, which is very polarizing. I personally wouldn't want to work at Skadden NYC unless it was my only choice or there was just a huge disparity in the offers I had. It's definitely a peer to all of those firms in terms of the high-quality work it does, it just isn't for everyone.

Some (extremely) difficult personalities in the PW NY corporate group.

It's a fine firm, but I would generally choose the V10 corporate groups above it. The corp department has been largely built off of hiring to serve one particular client with people who have jumped around quite a bit (and left bad blood in their wake).

There is strong evidence (from lawyers at both firms) that Skadden NY associates bill markedly less hours per year than CSM attorneys. Argue one way or another about perceived prestige based on law students' opinions, but Skadden is a top 3 NY firm across the board.