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I am interested in bankruptcy/restructuring or finance work, liked the people I met most at Schulte but don't want to judge it strictly off of meeting 4-6 people.

Gotta a friend at one of these firms. None of them are banking/BK heavyweights, but are all good at certain specialties

Paul hastings is actually good for straight-up banking. Very strong credit facilities practice, and a growing LATAM/project finance practice. But other than that, they are not really well known in the larger world of corporate finance (i.e., not a big player in cap markets, levfin, or restructuring)


Dechert is good for CMBS/RMBS/real estate finance. Again, they have a lot of specialists but are not a big player in the wider world of corporate finance

Schulte has some big names in BK and also a pretty solid finance group (two partners from PH recently moved to Schulte). Dechert seems to be the place people go with no other options so I'd cross them off entirely.

Seconded on Dechert having very good specialty groups, but it's very much a specialist firm. Their corporate group is dependent on the bigger players being booked to capacity for them to get in the door. Their general corporate group has had major financial problems for a while, which are probably going to become major news by December.

do you want to be at a firm that's really really good at one thing and shitty to mediocre in other practice areas (schulte) OR do you want to be at a firm that is mostly mediocre with a smattering of decent practices (paul hastings)?

do you want to be at a firm with a committed 100% offer rate for its summers (schulte) OR a firm that as a matter of course no offers a handful of summers every now and then in its summer program (paul hastings)?

do you want to be at the HQ of the firm (schulte) OR a satellite office of a LA-based firm (paul hastings)?

do you want bankruptcy more (schulte) OR do you want banking/finance more (paul hastings)?

i would personally go schulte given their consistent offer rates. and id rather be at a firm that's top-tier in a handful of things (even if it's just one - hedge funds - like schulte) than just mediocre in a lot of things. but ultimately, no wrong choice here between the two.

can't speak to dechert b/c i don't know much about them aside from hearing that the culture in the NY office is horrible. but that's just something i heard from one person, so i cant confirm or deny that.

Anonymous User wrote:do you want to be at a firm that's really really good at one thing and shitty to mediocre in other practice areas (schulte) OR do you want to be at a firm that is mostly mediocre with a smattering of decent practices (paul hastings)?

do you want to be at a firm with a committed 100% offer rate for its summers (schulte) OR a firm that as a matter of course no offers a handful of summers every now and then in its summer program (paul hastings)?

do you want to be at the HQ of the firm (schulte) OR a satellite office of a LA-based firm (paul hastings)?

do you want bankruptcy more (schulte) OR do you want banking/finance more (paul hastings)?

i would personally go schulte given their consistent offer rates. and id rather be at a firm that's top-tier in a handful of things (even if it's just one - hedge funds - like schulte) than just mediocre in a lot of things. but ultimately, no wrong choice here between the two.

can't speak to dechert b/c i don't know much about them aside from hearing that the culture in the NY office is horrible. but that's just something i heard from one person, so i cant confirm or deny that.

PH hasn't no offered in years.

Anonymous User wrote: PH hasn't no offered in years.

maybe true. but i'd personally be wary of any firm that has no offered post-ITE, say, after 2010 or so. but i'm very risk averse so some ppl may not care that much.

see: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... p?t=215069

I'd go Schulte. Whether you want bk or finance, both would give you decent exit options. Everyone I know there loves it.

Seconded on the Dechert culture point. You're very guarded while interviewing, and don't necessarily notice the oddities. It's possible I caught them at a bad time, but the only minority was hidden behind a corridor and faces a wall so that nobody has to see them. I don't normally put much stock into diversity, but in extremes it can communicate a place is out of touch with the corporate world it's dependent on for business.

Anonymous User wrote:Seconded on the Dechert culture point. You're very guarded while interviewing, and don't necessarily notice the oddities. It's possible I caught them at a bad time, but the only minority was hidden behind a corridor and faces a wall so that nobody has to see them. I don't normally put much stock into diversity, but in extremes it can communicate a place is out of touch with the corporate world it's dependent on for business.

just to echo the Dechert NY culture point... the office has (or had) a partner that the associates call "hall monitor." he/she walks around the office at 8pm or so to see if the associates are still around. he/she could be gone since i heard this a few years ago.

I too got a weird vibe at Dechert. One of the associates actually said there wasn't much of a social life within the firm compared with others, thought that was odd. Also just got a weird/anti social vibe walking through the halls but that could just the day. But at this point they have probably effectively been crossed off so this is probably moot.

SRZ is very social, but you will likely log the most in-office hours of any of the 3. Have heard of people going to Dechert and Paul Hastings to move out of NYC/London and in NYC to get better hours or at least less facetime/office time in general.

Let's not forget Schulte has the best summer program, and not just for summers. My friend is a second-year and said he had more fun this summer than when he was an actual summer.

maybe I'm just delicate, but I wouldn't want to sit in the ENDZONE

Also considering a Schulte offer. Given their specialty and the clients they serve, does working there limit one's exit options to NYC? And possibly to DC on the gov side of IM?

Having worked at Dechert and one other firm, there are 2 reasons for the social comment: (1) they have huge turnover, and (2) the partnership is predominately white male, but of the Mean Girls variety. Consequently, you get to hear all about seeing the Bee Gee lives in the Catskills, and know that anything you disclose about your personal life will be broadcast. If you need help picturing it, picture Mean Girls but with Lindsay Lohane and the gang replaced by the shuffleboard team at Del Boca Vista.

Anonymous User wrote:Also considering a Schulte offer. Given their specialty and the clients they serve, does working there limit one's exit options to NYC? And possibly to DC on the gov side of IM?

IM clients are from all over, and people frequently go to exotic places like CT (but realistically any financial center with a large number of private funds, be it NYC, HK, TX, London, SF, Boston, etc. will be hit or miss possibilities). Not sure about non-IM exits (I think they are frequently much worse). Also each state has investors and small funds, but obviously by and large NYC is the spot.

Warning most find IM painfully dull (I like it okay, but what the business parties are doing and see is far more interesting than the Advisers Act etc.). Private side seems to have worse hours than registered, but private on average has higher paying exits it appears (though with ETFs and some other newer products maybe that is not as true anymore).

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Sorry to hijack, but what do people think about Chadbourne vs Schulte? Really liked the people at both. Each is an industry leader in its respective specialty practice. Both 100% offer firms.

Open to both IM and project finance, but M&A is kind of the wild card for me. It's appealing because I'd like to go in-house later. Schulte has a surprisingly high Chambers rating for M&A, whereas Chadbourne seems lacking.

I like Chadbourne's more global reach and emphasis on emerging markets. I think working with energy clients (esp renewables) may be more interesting and gratifying than working with hedge funds.

But I can't ignore Schulte's PPP and RPL, where it punches way above its weight. I'm not aware of Chadbourne's financial health.

Any advice and insight is appreciated.

^i would take schulte. chadbourne might not even be around in 5 years. financially it's unstable and a former partner just left the firm to sue the firm for $100 million. http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2016/08/31/ano ... tion-suit/

and at least schulte has an m&a presence where chadbourne doesnt. it's definitely not the firm's premier practice, but besides IM schulte does have other things going for it (bankruptcy, structured finance, etc.)

But I can't ignore Schulte's PPP and RPL, where it punches way above its weight.

I think you answered your own question here. And as above poster said, Schulte has very respectable practices outside of IM (restructuring, finance..). I have a friend that does PE/M&A at Schulte and it very happy, so if you think that's what you may want to do I'd absolutely take Schulte over Chadbourne (even regardless of the gender discrimination lawsuit).

Schulte is the answer here and it isn't really close. They have good to great corporate practices across the board. Significantly more laid back culture too.

Oh, and two big finance partners at PH just made the jump over to Schulte..........which, considering OP's interest in finance, should make this a no brainer.

OPs list is exactly why you shouldn't listen to Vault. Schulte is the clear winner, especially given your interests. They are highly regarded in NY have strong corporate practices, to the above poster Schulte over Chadbourne as well.

You'll work long hours at any of them, but Schulte has a great culture/great people. Been to a few happy hours with them with a friend that works there and they're definitely a fun bunch (pretty attractive too).

Re: Schulte - any concerns for when the named partners retire?

Anonymous User wrote:Re: Schulte - any concerns for when the named partners retire?

the power in the firm has already largely shifted to the cohort of rainmakers in their mid fifties. I would be more concerned about how/if that group will transfer power to the next generation