Daily life of FIG/Banking Associate at V5 firm In NYC Forum

[Anonymous User]

What is a typical day like for a FIG/Banking Associate like at a V5 firm in NYC?( DPW. Cravath. S&C) what are hours like?

[Anonymous User]

I can only speak to Cravath, but with the caveat that the Banking work there is not FIG work.

It's working with loans of various types (rather than notes), but primarily syndicated credit facilities. When you finance an acquisition, there are a lot of bridge loans and the like. You also have a lot of secured and unsecured loans, asset-backed securities, and other things that may make certain deals more complicated.

It's not FIG, though. Look to Davis and S&C for more of that.

[Humbert Humbert]

I can only speak to Cravath, but with the caveat that the Banking work there is not FIG work.

It's working with loans of various types (rather than notes), but primarily syndicated credit facilities. When you finance an acquisition, there are a lot of bridge loans and the like. You also have a lot of secured and unsecured loans, asset-backed securities, and other things that may make certain deals more complicated.

It's not FIG, though. Look to Davis and S&C for more of that.

What are your hours like? What does a typical day look like?

[Anonymous User]

I can only speak to Cravath, but with the caveat that the Banking work there is not FIG work.

It's working with loans of various types (rather than notes), but primarily syndicated credit facilities. When you finance an acquisition, there are a lot of bridge loans and the like. You also have a lot of secured and unsecured loans, asset-backed securities, and other things that may make certain deals more complicated.

It's not FIG, though. Look to Davis and S&C for more of that.

What are your hours like? What does a typical day look like?

Hours are the most consistent out of the three primary Corporate practice groups at Cravath (M&A, Securities and Banking). Consistently leave around 8 or so, fire drills are rarer than the other two groups.

One of the groups does more unsecured work on average and the other does more secured work. I like it. It's a nicer group and I think the partners in this particular group are a little more bent on mentorship.

[Anonymous User]

What kind of work does a banking associate do?

[Anonymous User]

What is a typical day like for a FIG/Banking Associate like at a V5 firm in NYC?( DPW. Cravath. S&C) what are hours like?

Reviving this thread because I am also interested in finding out what FIG/Bank Regulatory associates do. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Anonymous User]

What is a typical day like for a FIG/Banking Associate like at a V5 firm in NYC?( DPW. Cravath. S&C) what are hours like?

Reviving this thread because I am also interested in finding out what FIG/Bank Regulatory associates do. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I didn't work at S&C or DPW, which are indisputably the top dogs in what I think of as "hard" bank reg work, but I did work at a Chambers-ranked bank reg shop. Unlike S&C and DPW, my group was a hybrid between hard bank reg and consumer financial services reg, so YMMW.

Here are examples of the types of matters I worked on as a finreg associate:
-- Regulatory applications or other submissions, such as applications for a de novo bank charter from the OCC/FDIC, a conversion of a charter from state to federal, merger approval application, a substantial change of business plan (especially for smaller banks), etc. With these applications, the lawyers' jobs are pretty similar to a corporate lawyer, though a fair amount of the value add is relationships with and being persuasive with the relevant regulators.
-- Regulatory investigations by one of banking regulators. Here you are essentially acting as a white collar associate, except for on much smaller matters, and you are probably the only associate on the matter or maybe one of two.
-- Advisory work. A client comes to you and asks for guidance on either how a new law or regulation will affect them, or how they can structure a new product/service launch to be compliant with applicable regulations. Sometimes this is just a 30 minute call where the associate is basically pointless except to maybe take notes, but often the associate does all the research and analysis for written work product.
-- Advocacy work. A client asks for help writing a comment letter on a proposed regulation, or an analysis of how they should try to change a proposed regulation.

I personally had a great experience in this type of work. I enjoyed becoming an expert in a substantive area of law, while the work manifested in a variety of types of matters. That said, I know people at other firms have had worse times. FWIW, I've known two people in DPW's FIG group, and they were two of the most miserable biglaw associates I've encountered. They both left in under 2 years (to other quality jobs, tbf). Just an anecdote, and it definitely sets you up very well for the future, but it seems like a very rough group.

[Anonymous User]

What is a typical day like for a FIG/Banking Associate like at a V5 firm in NYC?( DPW. Cravath. S&C) what are hours like?

Reviving this thread because I am also interested in finding out what FIG/Bank Regulatory associates do. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I didn't work at S&C or DPW, which are indisputably the top dogs in what I think of as "hard" bank reg work, but I did work at a Chambers-ranked bank reg shop. Unlike S&C and DPW, my group was a hybrid between hard bank reg and consumer financial services reg, so YMMW.

Here are examples of the types of matters I worked on as a finreg associate:
-- Regulatory applications or other submissions, such as applications for a de novo bank charter from the OCC/FDIC, a conversion of a charter from state to federal, merger approval application, a substantial change of business plan (especially for smaller banks), etc. With these applications, the lawyers' jobs are pretty similar to a corporate lawyer, though a fair amount of the value add is relationships with and being persuasive with the relevant regulators.
-- Regulatory investigations by one of banking regulators. Here you are essentially acting as a white collar associate, except for on much smaller matters, and you are probably the only associate on the matter or maybe one of two.
-- Advisory work. A client comes to you and asks for guidance on either how a new law or regulation will affect them, or how they can structure a new product/service launch to be compliant with applicable regulations. Sometimes this is just a 30 minute call where the associate is basically pointless except to maybe take notes, but often the associate does all the research and analysis for written work product.
-- Advocacy work. A client asks for help writing a comment letter on a proposed regulation, or an analysis of how they should try to change a proposed regulation.

I personally had a great experience in this type of work. I enjoyed becoming an expert in a substantive area of law, while the work manifested in a variety of types of matters. That said, I know people at other firms have had worse times. FWIW, I've known two people in DPW's FIG group, and they were two of the most miserable biglaw associates I've encountered. They both left in under 2 years (to other quality jobs, tbf). Just an anecdote, and it definitely sets you up very well for the future, but it seems like a very rough group.

Thanks for this. Would you mind ellaborating the difference btw “hard” bank reg and consumer financial services reg? Any insights on S&C or Cleary’s FIG group?

[Anonymous User]

What is a typical day like for a FIG/Banking Associate like at a V5 firm in NYC?( DPW. Cravath. S&C) what are hours like?

Reviving this thread because I am also interested in finding out what FIG/Bank Regulatory associates do. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I didn't work at S&C or DPW, which are indisputably the top dogs in what I think of as "hard" bank reg work, but I did work at a Chambers-ranked bank reg shop. Unlike S&C and DPW, my group was a hybrid between hard bank reg and consumer financial services reg, so YMMW.

Here are examples of the types of matters I worked on as a finreg associate:
-- Regulatory applications or other submissions, such as applications for a de novo bank charter from the OCC/FDIC, a conversion of a charter from state to federal, merger approval application, a substantial change of business plan (especially for smaller banks), etc. With these applications, the lawyers' jobs are pretty similar to a corporate lawyer, though a fair amount of the value add is relationships with and being persuasive with the relevant regulators.
-- Regulatory investigations by one of banking regulators. Here you are essentially acting as a white collar associate, except for on much smaller matters, and you are probably the only associate on the matter or maybe one of two.
-- Advisory work. A client comes to you and asks for guidance on either how a new law or regulation will affect them, or how they can structure a new product/service launch to be compliant with applicable regulations. Sometimes this is just a 30 minute call where the associate is basically pointless except to maybe take notes, but often the associate does all the research and analysis for written work product.
-- Advocacy work. A client asks for help writing a comment letter on a proposed regulation, or an analysis of how they should try to change a proposed regulation.

I personally had a great experience in this type of work. I enjoyed becoming an expert in a substantive area of law, while the work manifested in a variety of types of matters. That said, I know people at other firms have had worse times. FWIW, I've known two people in DPW's FIG group, and they were two of the most miserable biglaw associates I've encountered. They both left in under 2 years (to other quality jobs, tbf). Just an anecdote, and it definitely sets you up very well for the future, but it seems like a very rough group.

Thanks for this. Would you mind ellaborating the difference btw “hard” bank reg and consumer financial services reg? Any insights on S&C or Cleary’s FIG group?

On the one hand, the OCC, Fed, and FDIC have mandates that focus on things like the "safety and soundness" of the banks they supervise (i.e., making sure the individual banks don't go bust), and systemic risks to the financial system (think 2008).

On the other hand, the CFPB's mandate focuses on preventing harm to consumers (think overcharging consumers, discrimination on credit terms, providing inadequate disclosures with loans, etc). The OCC/Fed/FDIC also handle some consumer matters, but the CFPB definitely takes the lead.

No particular insight on Cleary or S&C except my impression is people work very hard at S&C too.

[Anonymous User]

What is a typical day like for a FIG/Banking Associate like at a V5 firm in NYC?( DPW. Cravath. S&C) what are hours like?

Reviving this thread because I am also interested in finding out what FIG/Bank Regulatory associates do. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I didn't work at S&C or DPW, which are indisputably the top dogs in what I think of as "hard" bank reg work, but I did work at a Chambers-ranked bank reg shop. Unlike S&C and DPW, my group was a hybrid between hard bank reg and consumer financial services reg, so YMMW.

Here are examples of the types of matters I worked on as a finreg associate:
-- Regulatory applications or other submissions, such as applications for a de novo bank charter from the OCC/FDIC, a conversion of a charter from state to federal, merger approval application, a substantial change of business plan (especially for smaller banks), etc. With these applications, the lawyers' jobs are pretty similar to a corporate lawyer, though a fair amount of the value add is relationships with and being persuasive with the relevant regulators.
-- Regulatory investigations by one of banking regulators. Here you are essentially acting as a white collar associate, except for on much smaller matters, and you are probably the only associate on the matter or maybe one of two.
-- Advisory work. A client comes to you and asks for guidance on either how a new law or regulation will affect them, or how they can structure a new product/service launch to be compliant with applicable regulations. Sometimes this is just a 30 minute call where the associate is basically pointless except to maybe take notes, but often the associate does all the research and analysis for written work product.
-- Advocacy work. A client asks for help writing a comment letter on a proposed regulation, or an analysis of how they should try to change a proposed regulation.

I personally had a great experience in this type of work. I enjoyed becoming an expert in a substantive area of law, while the work manifested in a variety of types of matters. That said, I know people at other firms have had worse times. FWIW, I've known two people in DPW's FIG group, and they were two of the most miserable biglaw associates I've encountered. They both left in under 2 years (to other quality jobs, tbf). Just an anecdote, and it definitely sets you up very well for the future, but it seems like a very rough group.

I’m at one of DPW/S&C and this is a good summary that pretty much lays out what we do everyday, too.

One potential difference though is that, as somewhat larger groups, in addition to the types of projects mentioned above, DPW and S&C also tend to work on projects that you need to throw more associates at, which in my experience are generally more unpleasant to work on.

[Anonymous User]

What do hours tend to look like in these "hard" FIG groups? I know that at least other regulatory work at DC shops tends to be attractive due to the predictability of the work and (maybe?) lower hours. Maybe it's different for the NYC-based practices?

[Anonymous User]

Reviving thread to get insight into typical exits out of top group like DPW/S&C

[LBJ's Hair]

Reviving thread to get insight into typical exits out of top group like DPW/S&C

going to a bank

[Anonymous User]

Reviving thread to get insight into typical exits out of top group like DPW/S&C

Banks (GSIBs and super regionals), fintech, regulators, general corporate in house

Source: senior associate in one of those groups

[Anonymous User]

Would you be limited to practicing and in house opportunities without a finance/Econ background

[Anonymous User]

Would you be limited to practicing and in house opportunities without a finance/Econ background

Sorry, I don't follow what you mean by this question.