NYC Biglaw Real Estate Forum

[Anonymous User]

2L with NYC biglaw SA lined up. Very much considering Real Estate.

I was wondering if anyone could put in their .02 on the hours, intensity of a Real Estate group in nyc biglaw. I know the general consensus is that transactional practices such as M&A have horrendous hours and QOL, but I rarely see anyone speaking to Real Estate specifically on TLS. Is it similar horror? A bit easier? Worse?

Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous User]

2L with NYC biglaw SA lined up. Very much considering Real Estate.

I was wondering if anyone could put in their .02 on the hours, intensity of a Real Estate group in nyc biglaw. I know the general consensus is that transactional practices such as M&A have horrendous hours and QOL, but I rarely see anyone speaking to Real Estate specifically on TLS. Is it similar horror? A bit easier? Worse?

Thanks in advance.

During my 2L summer with the V25 firm I started with, I did some real estate work and absolutely hated it. Maybe it was just me, but literally everything about it rubbed me the wrong way. The summer seemed to be closing season, so the real estate folks were working insane hours in preparation for closing. No matter how efficient they were, they would invariably be there until early morning, with comments still going around and revisions being made right up to closing. Not sure what the hours are like outside of closing season.

The substance could not have been less interesting to me. I spent the better part of two weeks synchronizing documents, tabbing them with color-coded tabs, and a variety of other secretarial work for some purchase that I cared next to nothing about and barely even understood (everyone was so busy that they had no time to genuinely explain things to me).

But the thing that I really disliked were the people. The personalities were so brusque and cold, and everyone seemed so stressed and frenzied all the time. This was the case from the partners all the way down to the junior associates in the group. Just before working on this real estate project, I had come from a few weeks of labor & employment work, where the whole group was so warm, empathetic, kind, etc. So it made the comparison all the more stark. It was the only group that I tried during the summer that made me say to myself "I'd quit before being placed into that group". Maybe it was just an isolated experience, maybe the people in that particular real estate group are not representative of how the practice is at other firms, etc. But it all left a real bad taste in my mouth.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Thanks for the feedback. I guess all I can do is request work from them and see how it goes for myself.

[RaceJudicata]

Remember... don't take one's anecdotal experience as a summer associate from a single firm over the course of a few weeks as gospel. If you are interested, try it out this summer (if possible) and see what you think. Or at least get an array of opinions before taking the above post too seriously

[Anonymous User]

Please do not take the top comment as the rule to this question. Honestly, everything they said is true, but I see it as a positive instead of a negative. Real Estate in NYC is on fire. Deals are being done. NYC Real Estate associates (particularly experienced) are in demand from Philly to Boston. People don't have time for you because they are making money and are busy billing. But please, keep this in mind. You aren't special and no one cares about you. They are billing and just a smile in this situation is worth more than you will understand. They are aware they aren't being nice and are judging you on your response. Now is the time to man up.

[Anonymous User]

Real Estate at most firms with strong practices is the busiest or one of the busiest groups, consistently. Lifestyle is about like M&A in terms of tight deadlines, late nights and unpredictable schedules. (The one exception is "dirt" RE practices, i.e., those that are focused on zoning and land use, which have somewhat steadier hours compared to financing and acquisitions.)

[Anonymous User]

What about exit options? Where does a typical real estate finance associate end up and how soon? Do you get marketable drafting/negotiating skills for in-house?

[Anonymous User]

I summered in a NYC Biglaw firm's real estate department. Didn't really do jack shit all summer, but what I did do came in an even flow and never was urgent. Partner left the office around 6 every day and spent four weeks of the summer on vacation. Associates left between 6 and 8 every night. YMMV.

[2014]

This is going to be dependent in large part on your firm. Outside of general firm culture, it will matter whether your firm runs it's real estate group as an autonomous entity or as a support group to the other corporate groups or somewhere in between. If it's its own thing then you will see more parts of deals and probably get a broader experience but that may come with higher hours. If it's run as a support group you will mostly be reviewing leases or real estate contracts and providing a summary for the people doing the larger deal. Your hours are probably better in this environment but since the work product you are producing is more limited, it may be tougher to sell when you try and exit.

[Anonymous User]

One of my good friends is a 5th year RE associate at a biglaw firm and he has the best hours of anyone I know in biglaw. Very rarely has weekend work and never works late nights. One data point, but his lifestyle is amazing compared to every other transactional associate I know.