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Hey all. Can anyone share any insights about the Boston litigation market? Are the biggest players Ropes, Goodwin and the satellite biglaw offices?(Skadden/Wilmer/etc?) Any boutiques making a name for themselves? Anywhere known as more or less of a sweatshop?

Appreciate any thoughts or ideas, and thanks in advance.

legalmindedfellow wrote:Hey all. Can anyone share any insights about the Boston litigation market? Are the biggest players Ropes, Goodwin and the satellite biglaw offices?(Skadden/Wilmer/etc?) Any boutiques making a name for themselves? Anywhere known as more or less of a sweatshop?

Appreciate any thoughts or ideas, and thanks in advance.

Wilmer is a major player for IP lit (if not THE major player). Also a major player for Appellate work, if you are interested in that. At Wilmer, Appellate is done at DC (obviously), but Boston lit associates sometimes get that work. Not sure about Ropes and Goodwin for litigation. I do transactional work and only saw those firms on Corporate deals.

Note that Wilmer is not considered a satellite in Boston. The office is the same size as the DC office.

The Skadden Boston office is extremely small, at least as of 2014. It's possible it's grown since then.

Nutter and Choate are strong boutiques (if you can call 150+ attorneys a boutique). Wolf Greenfield is good for IP.

Just to confirm with people more familiar with the Boston market, are there no super elite boutique shops there? I'm thinking in the vein of Keker or Bartlit or even Hueston Hennigan. It seems like Boston is sorely missing that sort of option and surprising that it doesn't have one.

Lit at foley hoag has been very busy.

Anonymous User wrote:Wilmer is a major player for IP lit (if not THE major player). Also a major player for Appellate work, if you are interested in that. At Wilmer, Appellate is done at DC (obviously), but Boston lit associates sometimes get that work. Not sure about Ropes and Goodwin for litigation. I do transactional work and only saw those firms on Corporate deals.

IIRC there's a bit of appellate work that originates from the Boston office (basically a continuation / holdover of old Hale & Dorr).

Anonymous User wrote:Just to confirm with people more familiar with the Boston market, are there no super elite boutique shops there? I'm thinking in the vein of Keker or Bartlit or even Hueston Hennigan. It seems like Boston is sorely missing that sort of option and surprising that it doesn't have one.

It gets really cold, man.

To the question re: Boston boutiques -- Yes, that's accurate. The city has nothing in that vein. I did not canvas the city, but a close friend (now at a top lit boutique) scoured Boston and found nothing. You're right, it's weird.

Choate isn't the same animal, but it's definitely in the category of excellent, sustainable, one-office shops more intimate than BigLaw but equally reputable.

Hows nixon peabody's reputation?

20181989 wrote:
Choate isn't the same animal, but it's definitely in the category of excellent, sustainable, one-office shops more intimate than BigLaw but equally reputable.

It's true that Choate has an excellent reputation in Boston. IMO, it felt like a bit of a "boy's club" and super-fratty. That was my sense from interviewing. If anyone works there and wants to disagree about what it is actually like there day to day, I would be very interested to know.

Big thanks to everyone who has replied so far, especially in confirming that the dearth of top-tier litigation boutiques wasn't an illusion. Some really helpful information.

Would also be interested in thoughts on the culture at Choate / reputation of NIxon.