kirkland & ellis vs sullivan & cromwell Forum

[Anonymous User]

i am interested in corporate work.
offers from both.
1) which is more prestigious? is there a huge difference?
2) in terms of getting more responsibility early on, which firm is better?

[Nebby]

No

[BlendedUnicorn]

No

/thread

[unlicensedpotato]

Aren't the client bases and corporate groups at these two fairly different?

[FSK]

You'll be a worthless cog in an unloving machine at both places. Pop a bottle - you made it!

[Anonymous User]

K&E and S&C are super different culture-wise. You must've noticed when you did your CBs. If you like the K&E culture, definitely go to K&E. If you are ambivalent about (or dislike) the culture, go to S&C. K&E has such a distinctive culture the choice here is pretty straightforward.

Also: TLS tends to be overly critical at times. K&E and S&C are first-rate firms; you deserve congratulations on securing offers at both!

[SmokeytheBear]

i am interested in corporate work.
offers from both.
1) which is more prestigious? is there a huge difference?
2) in terms of getting more responsibility early on, which firm is better?

I'll try to offer some non-snark words.

S&C is more prestigious, though K&E has become a much more impressive name as of late. I would say the different in terms of prestige is minimal at this point, but with the edge given to S&C. I will also say that this shouldn't matter at all--don't be that guy.

Kirkland is known for giving its juniors tons of work early on.

In terms of work/life balance, you're screwed either way. Enjoy your full head of hair while you have it.

[Anonymous User]

Kirkland works with a lot of Private Equity sponsors so a lot of their deals are smaller and juniors work on several matters at once. S&C gets a lot of giant M&A deals and does a lot of work for Goldman. S&C is also big on face time while Kirkland isn't but you will be swamped at both firms.

These firms couldn't be more different though so you should pick the one that's a better fit for you which should be obvious from your interviews.

[Anonymous User]

Kirkland works with a lot of Private Equity sponsors so a lot of their deals are smaller and juniors work on several matters at once. S&C gets a lot of giant M&A deals and does a lot of work for Goldman. S&C is also big on face time while Kirkland isn't but you will be swamped at both firms.

These firms couldn't be more different though so you should pick the one that's a better fit for you which should be obvious from your interviews.

The bolded is not true. S&C has less than no facetime requirement. Can't speak to Kirkland but imagine facetime is actually more important there b/c I can see being in the office as very helpful in helping one land work in the firm's free-market system.

Agreed that S&C/Kirkland couldn't be more different and this should be an obvious choice. Doesn't really get easier than this.