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Deciding between both firms. I know White and Case is known for horrible (even in the context of biglaw) hours, but I've heard similar things from Baker & McKenzie.... They're both global and do similar corporate work, though B&M is known for tax... I got along well with attorney's at both firms.

Any thoughts on where to go?

First, whoever told you that the hours at White & Case are worse than other biglaw firms has no idea what they’re talking about. I’d actually argue that White & Case is a little more relaxed than some of the larger New York firms, although “relaxed” in biglaw standards still means billing 2000+ hours. Both of these firms have a well-known international presence. As opposed to other global firms, these two actually have big offices in many foreign countries instead of just small satellite offices (although they have some of those too).

Also, the following is not directly related to your question but it is something to consider: Working on international deals sounds cool at first, but I think most rising 2Ls don’t understand what it actually entails. First of all, as an American lawyer at a biglaw firm, you will rarely be doing substantive legal research of foreign law; the main exceptions are pro bono work and client development projects where you might do the initial research (since your firm doesn’t want to have to pay someone to do non-profitable work from the ground up) and then have a qualified lawyer in that jurisdiction check your work. Most of the time, doing “international work” either means (i) doing legal work for a foreign client under U.S. law, or (ii) for multi-jurisdictional transactions, essentially becoming a project manager by delegating research to foreign offices within your firm’s global network (or local counsel if your firm doesn’t have offices in that jurisdiction) and making sure the entire deal goes smoothly and is on time. Even if you work at a biglaw firm that isn’t known for having a global presence, you will probably be working on large, complex, cross-border transactions. The differences come down to whether you will have to deal with outside counsel or attorneys from your firm who live in the relevant countries. The nice thing about working for a firm with a global network is – in theory – that local counsel are more understanding when you’re trying to keep the costs of something such as a client-development project low since you all work for the same company. However, biglaw lawyers are generally very busy, so it can be difficult getting people at other offices within your firm to cooperate if you do not provide some sort of incentive. Anyway, this is not really a difference between Baker & McKenzie and White & Case, or any biglaw firm for that matter since they all work on cross-border deals. It is just good to know that working on international deals means that you are on call at much stranger times of the day/night because you could be on a deal that is simultaneously going on in Asia, Europe and the United States. Just as a point of reference, the energy / infrastructure / project / asset finance groups seem to work on cross-border deals more than most other practice areas.