Help Me Pick My Firm Forum

[Anonymous User]

Thought it might be nice to get a little bit of a compilation going here. If people like the idea, feel free to follow suit.

Market(s): Chicago
Firms you are considering: Ropes & Gray, McDermott, Winston & Strawn
Practice group interest: Lit, not really set on any particular area within lit but do have an eye toward trial practices (to the extent they exist)
Other considerations: I'm not sure if it is more advantageous to stick with a more nationally reputable firm (Ropes) that has limited litigation practices in its Chicago office or to go with bigger Chicago litigation players (McDermott, Winston) that have less of a national rep.

[RaceJudicata]

Thought it might be nice to get a little bit of a compilation going here. If people like the idea, feel free to follow suit.

Market(s): Chicago
Firms you are considering: Ropes & Gray, McDermott, Winston & Strawn
Practice group interest: Lit, not really set on any particular area within lit but do have an eye toward trial practices (to the extent they exist)
Other considerations: Looking to end up in a good position to potentially lateral into my home secondary market within 2-5 years. I'm not sure if it is more advantageous to stick with a more nationally reputable firm (Ropes) that has limited litigation practices in its Chicago office or to go with bigger Chicago litigation players (McDermott, Winston) that have less of a national rep. Also children may be on the horizon so any info regarding maternity leave/ramp up policies is helpful too.

Winston and its not even close. Ropes has almost no (maybe a tiny bit?) of lit in Chicago. McDermott silos you off in your summer program, so no guarantee you'll be doing lit (and its not really what they are known for). Winston has a strong group and is one of the top names in Chicago.

Also, I'm assuming you have offers from all three?

[Anonymous User]

Thought it might be nice to get a little bit of a compilation going here. If people like the idea, feel free to follow suit.

Market(s): Chicago
Firms you are considering: Ropes & Gray, McDermott, Winston & Strawn
Practice group interest: Lit, not really set on any particular area within lit but do have an eye toward trial practices (to the extent they exist)
Other considerations: Looking to end up in a good position to potentially lateral into my home secondary market within 2-5 years. I'm not sure if it is more advantageous to stick with a more nationally reputable firm (Ropes) that has limited litigation practices in its Chicago office or to go with bigger Chicago litigation players (McDermott, Winston) that have less of a national rep. Also children may be on the horizon so any info regarding maternity leave/ramp up policies is helpful too.

Winston and its not even close. Ropes has almost no (maybe a tiny bit?) of lit in Chicago. McDermott silos you off in your summer program, so no guarantee you'll be doing lit (and its not really what they are known for). Winston has a strong group and is one of the top names in Chicago.

Also, I'm assuming you have offers from all three?

Thanks for the info - and yes, offers from all three.

[Sideshow Raheem]

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[RaceJudicata]

Fuck Winston.

I'd go with Ropes here. At least based on their website/NALP, they're about 50% lit in Chicago so I'm not sure where this idea that they don't have a litigation practice in their Chicago office came from. Obviously if OP has done a CB there recently and got that impression, that's fair. In which case I guess go with Winston but fuck Winston.

McDermott seems cool but I wouldn't really go there with a strong interest in doing lit.

First off... Winston probably has at least double, maybe triple, shit, maybe even quadruple the number of litigation folks in Chicago. Second, if memory serves me, Winston is Band 1 lit in Chicago.. pretty sure Ropes is not.

[Sideshow Raheem]

.

[Anonymous User]

I'll play as well

Market: NYC
Options: Chadbourne, Schulte, Kaye Scholer, Hogan & White and Case
Practice Group: Lit but open to exploring some transactional stuff

[favabeansoup]

ReChicago lit, I'd go Winston as well. Sure possible concerns about no offers/stealth, but those are (1) always rare and (2) still doesn't mean Winston has the far superior lit practice.

[cookiejar1]

Fuck Winston.

I'd go with Ropes here. At least based on their website/NALP, they're about 50% lit in Chicago so I'm not sure where this idea that they don't have a litigation practice in their Chicago office came from. Obviously if OP has done a CB there recently and got that impression, that's fair. In which case I guess go with Winston but fuck Winston.

McDermott seems cool but I wouldn't really go there with a strong interest in doing lit.

First off... Winston probably has at least double, maybe triple, shit, maybe even quadruple the number of litigation folks in Chicago. Second, if memory serves me, Winston is Band 1 lit in Chicago.. pretty sure Ropes is not.

Winston also has a track record of no-offering/stealthing associates when times get tough while Ropes and MWE (to my knowledge) don't.

Every firm did this. Winston and Latham are egregious examples of horrible PR management but we've had this discussion before on TLS - when the going got bad every firm did what they could to remain extremely profitable for its partners.

[Anonymous User]

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[Anonymous User]

I would love some help.

NYC
Want to do litigation (interested now in a variety of things, including copyright/trademark, white collar, and general commercial--primary interest is just in being able to do a variety of litigation matters at the outset)

Options: Covington, Kirkland, Debevoise, Latham, Weil, Paul Weiss, Akin Gump, Cleary

While I know Kirkland is a good place for lit, I'm generally put off by the free market system/aggressive culture. I'm leaning toward Paul Weiss/Debevoise/Latham as my top options, atm.

[Anonymous User]

I would love some help.

NYC
Want to do litigation (interested now in a variety of things, including copyright/trademark, white collar, and general commercial--primary interest is just in being able to do a variety of litigation matters at the outset)

Options: Covington, Kirkland, Debevoise, Latham, Weil, Paul Weiss, Akin Gump, Cleary

While I know Kirkland is a good place for lit, I'm generally put off by the free market system/aggressive culture. I'm leaning toward Paul Weiss/Debevoise/Latham as my top options, atm.

PW.

[Anonymous User]

I would love some help.

NYC
Want to do litigation (interested now in a variety of things, including copyright/trademark, white collar, and general commercial--primary interest is just in being able to do a variety of litigation matters at the outset)

Options: Covington, Kirkland, Debevoise, Latham, Weil, Paul Weiss, Akin Gump, Cleary

While I know Kirkland is a good place for lit, I'm generally put off by the free market system/aggressive culture. I'm leaning toward Paul Weiss/Debevoise/Latham as my top options, atm.

PW.

Same poster here. Reasons? I'm leaning toward that, too, because of what I want to do, but I don't have the best sense of the culture there. I've heard some conflicting things.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have any thoughts on:

DC lit: Hogan, A&P, Covington, Kirkland, Cleary?

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have any thoughts on:

DC lit: Hogan, A&P, Covington, Kirkland, Cleary?

This + Jenner, OMM, Gibson, W&C, Wilmer??

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have any thoughts on:

DC lit: Hogan, A&P, Covington, Kirkland, Cleary?

Probably A&P followed by Covington if you have more of a reg interest

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have any thoughts on:

DC lit: Hogan, A&P, Covington, Kirkland, Cleary?

Probably A&P followed by Covington if you have more of a reg interest

Maybe split?

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have any thoughts on:

DC lit: Hogan, A&P, Covington, Kirkland, Cleary?

I like Covington here.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have any thoughts on:

DC lit: Hogan, A&P, Covington, Kirkland, Cleary?

I like Covington here.

Me too. I'd go Covington.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have any thoughts on:

DC lit: Hogan, A&P, Covington, Kirkland, Cleary?

Probably A&P followed by Covington if you have more of a reg interest

Maybe split?

OP here. Not interested in splitting. Want to be a generalist at first if that makes a difference. Would love to dabble in anything but patents (preliminary interest in antitrust and maybe white collar but not sure).

[RaceJudicata]

I would love some help.

NYC
Want to do litigation (interested now in a variety of things, including copyright/trademark, white collar, and general commercial--primary interest is just in being able to do a variety of litigation matters at the outset)

Options: Covington, Kirkland, Debevoise, Latham, Weil, Paul Weiss, Akin Gump, Cleary

While I know Kirkland is a good place for lit, I'm generally put off by the free market system/aggressive culture. I'm leaning toward Paul Weiss/Debevoise/Latham as my top options, atm.

This is an egregious NALP violation. Only allowed I think 5 open offers. Turn down firms you aren't going to. Don't let it come back and bite you in the ass.

[Anonymous User]

I would love some help.

NYC
Want to do litigation (interested now in a variety of things, including copyright/trademark, white collar, and general commercial--primary interest is just in being able to do a variety of litigation matters at the outset)

Options: Covington, Kirkland, Debevoise, Latham, Weil, Paul Weiss, Akin Gump, Cleary

While I know Kirkland is a good place for lit, I'm generally put off by the free market system/aggressive culture. I'm leaning toward Paul Weiss/Debevoise/Latham as my top options, atm.

This is an egregious NALP violation. Only allowed I think 5 open offers. Turn down firms you aren't going to. Don't let it come back and bite you in the ass.

No, it's not. I have a week from the receipt of my sixth offer to release one. With seven, I obviously have to release two.

[RaceJudicata]

I would love some help.

NYC
Want to do litigation (interested now in a variety of things, including copyright/trademark, white collar, and general commercial--primary interest is just in being able to do a variety of litigation matters at the outset)

Options: Covington, Kirkland, Debevoise, Latham, Weil, Paul Weiss, Akin Gump, Cleary

While I know Kirkland is a good place for lit, I'm generally put off by the free market system/aggressive culture. I'm leaning toward Paul Weiss/Debevoise/Latham as my top options, atm.

This is an egregious NALP violation. Only allowed I think 5 open offers. Turn down firms you aren't going to. Don't let it come back and bite you in the ass.

No, it's not. I have a week from the receipt of my sixth offer to release one. With seven, I obviously have to release two.

Your post shows 8, no? Also, you are missing a comma.

[Anonymous User]

I would love some help.

NYC
Want to do litigation (interested now in a variety of things, including copyright/trademark, white collar, and general commercial--primary interest is just in being able to do a variety of litigation matters at the outset)

Options: Covington, Kirkland, Debevoise, Latham, Weil, Paul Weiss, Akin Gump, Cleary

While I know Kirkland is a good place for lit, I'm generally put off by the free market system/aggressive culture. I'm leaning toward Paul Weiss/Debevoise/Latham as my top options, atm.

This is an egregious NALP violation. Only allowed I think 5 open offers. Turn down firms you aren't going to. Don't let it come back and bite you in the ass.

No, it's not. I have a week from the receipt of my sixth offer to release one. With seven, I obviously have to release two.

Your post shows 8, no? Also, you are missing a comma.

Oh right. I was counting Cleary though the offer hasn't come in yet; I just didn't want to come add it later. Well, whatever. Read the NALP guidelines. My last two came in the last couple days. I'm good.

[RaceJudicata]

I would love some help.

NYC
Want to do litigation (interested now in a variety of things, including copyright/trademark, white collar, and general commercial--primary interest is just in being able to do a variety of litigation matters at the outset)

Options: Covington, Kirkland, Debevoise, Latham, Weil, Paul Weiss, Akin Gump, Cleary

While I know Kirkland is a good place for lit, I'm generally put off by the free market system/aggressive culture. I'm leaning toward Paul Weiss/Debevoise/Latham as my top options, atm.

This is an egregious NALP violation. Only allowed I think 5 open offers. Turn down firms you aren't going to. Don't let it come back and bite you in the ass.

No, it's not. I have a week from the receipt of my sixth offer to release one. With seven, I obviously have to release two.

Your post shows 8, no? Also, you are missing a comma.

Oh right. I was counting Cleary though the offer hasn't come in yet; I just didn't want to come add it later. Well, whatever. Read the NALP guidelines. My last two came in the last couple days. I'm good.

Smh... I promise you, you will not win any awards for having 7-8 outstanding offers, regardless of NALP rules. I trust that you have narrowed it down from the current list? Go ahead a let those firms know so the firm can potentially extend another offer. Not saying you need to make a decision or even rush your decision, but be honest with yourself...you aren't choosing between eight god forsaken firms.