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I'm a third year in M&A at a NYC V20 and looking to make a move down to Texas sometime soon (Ideally Dallas or Austin, but ok with Houston). SO and I are both originally from the area so have strong ties.

Can anyone here share their experiences working in TX? Thoughts on culture, hours, exit opps, partnership prospects etc? How does it differ between big TX firms (e.g. V&E/BB) or national satellites?

Obviously depends both on firm and actual city you end up in.

Hours: generally better than NYC. Will be 1900+, with certain firms like V&E being on the higher end.

Culture: Far less FaceTime requirements than NYC firms. I know of few places were people weren't comfortable leaving anytime after 5 and working from home after. I also think people generally are more relaxed, but that's just me.

Partnership Prospects: varies to much by firm to give you a concrete answer. Better chances at Bigtex vs. national satellites, but still difficult.

Exit ops: Depends on market + firm. Houston exit ops will generally lean more towards energy related, Dallas is a little more varied. Austin is just a much smaller legal market in general.

I would try to go more to Bigtex over a national satellite unless you are going to a Latham or KE Houston maybe.

Pay: most follow first year salary for NYC, but a decent amount don't follow lockstep after that, especially with bonus scaling. Still think you make more compared to NYC on a lifestyle level though.

favabeansoup wrote:Obviously depends both on firm and actual city you end up in.

Hours: generally better than NYC. Will be 1900+, with certain firms like V&E being on the higher end.

Culture: Far less FaceTime requirements than NYC firms. I know of few places were people weren't comfortable leaving anytime after 5 and working from home after. I also think people generally are more relaxed, but that's just me.

Partnership Prospects: varies to much by firm to give you a concrete answer. Better chances at Bigtex vs. national satellites, but still difficult.

Exit ops: Depends on market + firm. Houston exit ops will generally lean more towards energy related, Dallas is a little more varied. Austin is just a much smaller legal market in general.

I would try to go more to Bigtex over a national satellite unless you are going to a Latham or KE Houston maybe.

Pay: most follow first year salary for NYC, but a decent amount don't follow lockstep after that, especially with bonus scaling. Still think you make more compared to NYC on a lifestyle level though.

Generally agreed, though the facetime thing I think varies office to office, group to group quite a bit.

As for where to go, I think it totally depends on your goals - I think the exit ops from any large firm in Dallas (think anything from Weil to HayBoo to Akin to GDC to V&E to TK) will be pretty comparable. And in Houston I would think the exit ops from any of the large Houston-based firms (think Latham, BB, K&E, AK, VE, Bracewell) or premiere national satellites will be comparable - with the less prestigious national satellites and Dallas satellites being one step down (think Winston, Orrick, HayBoo, TK, Reed Smith, etc.). So, imo, it mostly comes down to do you want to make more money in the short term and then go in house or try to stick it out for partner. If the former, do whatever you can to go to a firm that pays Cravath - this means national satellites like Weil and GDC in Dallas or Latham and K&E in Houston first, then the BigTex firms that mostly pay Cravath but make you work much harder for matching bonuses (ie, VE, Bracewell, BB, TK, AK, HayBoo) and then firms that aren't on Cravath scale at all (Winstead, Gardere, Jackson Walker). But if you want to make partner, I would strongly suggest a BigTex firm in Houston (Bracewell/AK prob your best bets) or TK/HayBoo in Dallas.

I'm a M&A / PE Tax Associate in Dallas at a national satellite. I relocated from a big firm in the Northeast (don't want to say what city), where I was doing the same work. In my experience, the hours and quality of life are way better -- it's almost not even comparable. From what I have seen, the Corporate / M&A Associates have better hours and quality of life at my firm too -- it's not just Tax. I agree with favabean that you can definitely find certain firms (V&E, Weil) that will have more NYC-like hours.

I feel that my partnership prospects are very good. It's been easier to impress people here than it was at my prior firm (not sure why?? Just something I've noticed).

Not sure on my exit options. I imagine that they would have been better at my prior firm, but that's something I decided I didn't care about when I left.

Also, if you are at a big firm, pay scale should be similar to what you get in NYC. Bonuses would most likely be lower.

Personally, I'd focus on Dallas / Houston. The legal market is great in Dallas right now. I applied to all of the major Corporate players in Austin, with no hits. I had tons of interviews in Dallas.

Anonymous User wrote:I'm a M&A / PE Tax Associate in Dallas at a national satellite. I relocated from a big firm in the Northeast (don't want to say what city), where I was doing the same work. In my experience, the hours and quality of life are way better -- it's almost not even comparable. From what I have seen, the Corporate / M&A Associates have better hours and quality of life at my firm too -- it's not just Tax. I agree with favabean that you can definitely find certain firms (V&E, Weil) that will have more NYC-like hours.

I feel that my partnership prospects are very good. It's been easier to impress people here than it was at my prior firm (not sure why?? Just something I've noticed).

Not sure on my exit options. I imagine that they would have been better at my prior firm, but that's something I decided I didn't care about when I left.

Also, if you are at a big firm, pay scale should be similar to what you get in NYC. Bonuses would most likely be lower.

Personally, I'd focus on Dallas / Houston. The legal market is great in Dallas right now. I applied to all of the major Corporate players in Austin, with no hits. I had tons of interviews in Dallas.

Unrelated, but did you have the five years of practice (or whatever it is) to waive in? It seems like a tremendous hassle to study for and take the Texas bar either as you're transitioning out of your old firm or trying to situate yourself at your new one.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:
Unrelated, but did you have the five years of practice (or whatever it is) to waive in? It seems like a tremendous hassle to study for and take the Texas bar either as you're transitioning out of your old firm or trying to situate yourself at your new one.

Same anon as above -- funny you should ask, I just took july 2016 and passed. It was a huge pain in the ass, but for personal reasons I didn't want to wait 3 more years before moving to TX. My firm was pretty cool about my studying, especially toward the end