Bay Area Firm Culture Forum

[Anonymous User]

Any thoughts on Orrick SF?

Pretty chill by biglaw standards. Any specific questions?

[Anonymous User]

Any thoughts on Orrick SF?

Pretty chill by biglaw standards. Any specific questions?

Can I PM you? If no, I'll try to ask generic questions on here. I do have specific questions! Thank you for responding

[Anonymous User]

Any thoughts on Orrick SF?

Pretty chill by biglaw standards. Any specific questions?

Can I PM you? If no, I'll try to ask generic questions on here. I do have specific questions! Thank you for responding

Do you know if the firm has any hardline grade cut offs for HLS and SLS?

[Chouchou]

Is it the general practice to do thank you notes to all attorneys that you meet at CBs? The consensus seems to be that's annoying/unnecessary in NY, was hoping the same thing for Bay Area.

[Anonymous User]

KE SF, like all KE offices and other firms that focus on PE work, is a grind house. A specific type of person chooses/"thrives" in that environment.

The things that have been said about KE SF have been more than that, though. There are a ton of "grind houses" in BigLaw. I have never seen a firm treated with the "stay away" label the way KE SF is on here.

Doesn't this depend heavily on the practice group?

[Anonymous User]

Is it the general practice to do thank you notes to all attorneys that you meet at CBs? The consensus seems to be that's annoying/unnecessary in NY, was hoping the same thing for Bay Area.

Don't bother. Only thing you can do is screw up something in it. (Like write the wrong attorney's name.)

[Anonymous User]

Now that this thread is alive (?) again, curious to know if the culture at any of the firms has changed in downtown SF? e.g. Cooley, MoFo, K&E, Gibson, Latham. And curious about some of the newer players too (e.g. Sidley)

[spidey314]

Now that this thread is alive (?) again, curious to know if the culture at any of the firms has changed in downtown SF? e.g. Cooley, MoFo, K&E, Gibson, Latham. And curious about some of the newer players too (e.g. Sidley)

Would stay away from L&W SF. Feel free to PM me.

[sanfranciscobiglaw]

Now that this thread is alive (?) again, curious to know if the culture at any of the firms has changed in downtown SF? e.g. Cooley, MoFo, K&E, Gibson, Latham. And curious about some of the newer players too (e.g. Sidley)

Would stay away from L&W SF. Feel free to PM me.

Would you mind PM'ing me? I don't have enough posts to send PMs affirmatively, but I would like to hear what you have to say.

[yejeje]

Now that this thread is alive (?) again, curious to know if the culture at any of the firms has changed in downtown SF? e.g. Cooley, MoFo, K&E, Gibson, Latham. And curious about some of the newer players too (e.g. Sidley)

Would stay away from L&W SF. Feel free to PM me.

Would you mind PM'ing me? I don't have enough posts to send PMs affirmatively, but I would like to hear what you have to say.

Same here, if you don't mind. I've met a few people at Latham SF and they seemed to genuinely enjoy working there, so I would love to hear any different opinions.

[Anonymous User]

Now that this thread is alive (?) again, curious to know if the culture at any of the firms has changed in downtown SF? e.g. Cooley, MoFo, K&E, Gibson, Latham. And curious about some of the newer players too (e.g. Sidley)

Would stay away from L&W SF. Feel free to PM me.

Would you mind PM'ing me? I don't have enough posts to send PMs affirmatively, but I would like to hear what you have to say.

Same here, if you don't mind. I've met a few people at Latham SF and they seemed to genuinely enjoy working there, so I would love to hear any different opinions.

Same please (or better yet can you just say it here?)! I have heard/seen only good things.

[c19nerd]

Hoping to revive this thread for OCI 2021 since CBs start over the next few weeks. Would love any insight or thoughts on cultures at SF firms: WSGR, Cooley, Latham, KE, Gibson, Orrick, O'Melveny, Keker, etc.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have any insights into DPW SV?

[Anonymous User]

Can someone please tell me what's going on at Orrick and why they slashed the number of SA spots for the c/o 2022 OCI (or pulled out of some schools altogether)?

[Anonymous User]

Can someone please tell me what's going on at Orrick and why they slashed the number of SA spots for the c/o 2022 OCI (or pulled out of some schools altogether)?

I have a friend at Orrick and he seems to think it's doing well...? Was this common at all schools? It was same at mine (HYS) and would be surprised if they slashed at Berkeley.

[Anonymous User]

Can someone please tell me what's going on at Orrick and why they slashed the number of SA spots for the c/o 2022 OCI (or pulled out of some schools altogether)?

I have a friend at Orrick and he seems to think it's doing well...? Was this common at all schools? It was same at mine (HYS) and would be surprised if they slashed at Berkeley.

Quoted anon, this was in fact at Berkeley (40 for SF --> 20 for SF+SV). I saw on some other post on TLS that they pulled out of at least one Bay Area school too (maybe Hastings or Santa Clara?). They seem to be doing fine financially, I wonder if they're restructuring.

[Anonymous User]

Can someone please tell me what's going on at Orrick and why they slashed the number of SA spots for the c/o 2022 OCI (or pulled out of some schools altogether)?

I have a friend at Orrick and he seems to think it's doing well...? Was this common at all schools? It was same at mine (HYS) and would be surprised if they slashed at Berkeley.

Quoted anon, this was in fact at Berkeley (40 for SF --> 20 for SF+SV). I saw on some other post on TLS that they pulled out of at least one Bay Area school too (maybe Hastings or Santa Clara?). They seem to be doing fine financially, I wonder if they're restructuring.

This is a bit concerning bc its peers in the bay (Wsgr, Fenwick, Cooley, etc) are filling their ranks pretty aggressively.

[Anonymous User]

Can someone please tell me what's going on at Orrick and why they slashed the number of SA spots for the c/o 2022 OCI (or pulled out of some schools altogether)?

I have a friend at Orrick and he seems to think it's doing well...? Was this common at all schools? It was same at mine (HYS) and would be surprised if they slashed at Berkeley.

Quoted anon, this was in fact at Berkeley (40 for SF --> 20 for SF+SV). I saw on some other post on TLS that they pulled out of at least one Bay Area school too (maybe Hastings or Santa Clara?). They seem to be doing fine financially, I wonder if they're restructuring.

This is a bit concerning bc its peers in the bay (Wsgr, Fenwick, Cooley, etc) are filling their ranks pretty aggressively.

Yeah, I'm at Orrick in one of the bay area offices and I can tell you that revenue firm wide is virtually unchanged 2020 vs 2019 (which was a record year). I get the feeling that corporate is significantly busier this year, which helps offset litigation and IP being less busy year over year. In corporate at least, we are aggressively hiring laterals because there is literally too much work to go around. If I had to guess, WSGR/FW/Cooley may have had a stronger 2020 on a relative basis to us since they are more corporate-heavy (but that's just my guess).

[Anonymous User]

Can someone please tell me what's going on at Orrick and why they slashed the number of SA spots for the c/o 2022 OCI (or pulled out of some schools altogether)?

I have a friend at Orrick and he seems to think it's doing well...? Was this common at all schools? It was same at mine (HYS) and would be surprised if they slashed at Berkeley.

Quoted anon, this was in fact at Berkeley (40 for SF --> 20 for SF+SV). I saw on some other post on TLS that they pulled out of at least one Bay Area school too (maybe Hastings or Santa Clara?). They seem to be doing fine financially, I wonder if they're restructuring.

This is a bit concerning bc its peers in the bay (Wsgr, Fenwick, Cooley, etc) are filling their ranks pretty aggressively.

Yeah, I'm at Orrick in one of the bay area offices and I can tell you that revenue firm wide is virtually unchanged 2020 vs 2019 (which was a record year). I get the feeling that corporate is significantly busier this year, which helps offset litigation and IP being less busy year over year. In corporate at least, we are aggressively hiring laterals because there is literally too much work to go around. If I had to guess, WSGR/FW/Cooley may have had a stronger 2020 on a relative basis to us since they are more corporate-heavy (but that's just my guess).

“a bit concerning” anon - that’s great insight. If the firm is going heavier on laterals, that would certainly explain what’s going on. Sounds like there aren’t any big red flags, and I appreciate the comparative assessment with other firms.

[Anonymous User]

It IS a bit surprising that Orrick chose to reduce spots at Berkeley but not at east coast schools in similar tier. Wonder what it says about future recruiting opportunities at the school...

[Anonymous User]

It IS a bit surprising that Orrick chose to reduce spots at Berkeley but not at east coast schools in similar tier. Wonder what it says about future recruiting opportunities at the school...

Orrick massively reduced spots at CLS too.

[Anonymous User]

Can someone please tell me what's going on at Orrick and why they slashed the number of SA spots for the c/o 2022 OCI (or pulled out of some schools altogether)?

I have a friend at Orrick and he seems to think it's doing well...? Was this common at all schools? It was same at mine (HYS) and would be surprised if they slashed at Berkeley.

Quoted anon, this was in fact at Berkeley (40 for SF --> 20 for SF+SV). I saw on some other post on TLS that they pulled out of at least one Bay Area school too (maybe Hastings or Santa Clara?). They seem to be doing fine financially, I wonder if they're restructuring.

This is a bit concerning bc its peers in the bay (Wsgr, Fenwick, Cooley, etc) are filling their ranks pretty aggressively.

Yeah, I'm at Orrick in one of the bay area offices and I can tell you that revenue firm wide is virtually unchanged 2020 vs 2019 (which was a record year). I get the feeling that corporate is significantly busier this year, which helps offset litigation and IP being less busy year over year. In corporate at least, we are aggressively hiring laterals because there is literally too much work to go around. If I had to guess, WSGR/FW/Cooley may have had a stronger 2020 on a relative basis to us since they are more corporate-heavy (but that's just my guess).

“a bit concerning” anon - that’s great insight. If the firm is going heavier on laterals, that would certainly explain what’s going on. Sounds like there aren’t any big red flags, and I appreciate the comparative assessment with other firms.

Orrick bay area associate here again. Yeah, it could be that or, recently, the firm lost a few pretty high profile litigators in our SF office, so perhaps that also has something to do with it. But yeah, definitely no red flags I can see or have heard of. The firm took a more conservative approach with Covid (slashing salaries, other austerity measures) than its peers, which raised eyebrows internally, but they paid it all back and did not have attorney layoffs as a result. So maybe this is in the same vein as being conservative with hiring juniors. We are actually paying out slightly higher than market bonuses--see ATL article.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone have any insights into Simpson PA office for corporate work? Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous User]

Orrick bay area associate here again. Yeah, it could be that or, recently, the firm lost a few pretty high profile litigators in our SF office, so perhaps that also has something to do with it. But yeah, definitely no red flags I can see or have heard of. The firm took a more conservative approach with Covid (slashing salaries, other austerity measures) than its peers, which raised eyebrows internally, but they paid it all back and did not have attorney layoffs as a result. So maybe this is in the same vein as being conservative with hiring juniors. We are actually paying out slightly higher than market bonuses--see ATL article.

OP of the original comment. Thank you for your insight.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone have experience with Covington SF's corporate or life science practice? It seems small, but I know the firm's SF office has a good reputation overall.