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Trying to decide between Willkie and Ropes for New York. Mostly interested in litigation. I would prefer to stay in New York for my career.

Disclaimer: I’m a WFG associate, but just on the basis of rankings, Willkie’s much higher ranked in Chambers NY in General Commercial (HR Band 1 vs. HR Band 4) and Securities Litigation (Band 3 vs unranked). The firms are ranked similarly for White Collar. Willkie’s also more highly ranked in Bankruptcy, Antitrust, and Corporate (these are practice groups that tend to generate a lot of litigation for their associated litigators in the New York market).

My experience has been generally positive and I’d say we have a better reputation than Ropes in the NY market (not a knock towards Ropes as a firm generally, but Willkie’s base is in New York so it’s naturally going to be more entrenched here.)

No one should choose Ropes outside of Boston if they have an offer from a good/great firm that is HQ’d in that city.

Anonymous User wrote:No one should choose Ropes outside of Boston if they have an offer from a good/great firm that is HQ’d in that city.

Why not?

Is the litigation group shrinking / are associates being excluded from the lit practice group?

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:No one should choose Ropes outside of Boston if they have an offer from a good/great firm that is HQ’d in that city.

Why not?

Giving this thread from last year a bump because these are the two firms in NY I am deciding between. Unlike OP I am only interested in corporate/transactional.

Ropes' NALP only shows firmwide stats but based on the info I got during OCI the Boston and New York offices are roughly the same size now, do you think that at that rate not being HQ would really matter that much?

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:No one should choose Ropes outside of Boston if they have an offer from a good/great firm that is HQ’d in that city.

Why not?

Giving this thread from last year a bump because these are the two firms in NY I am deciding between. Unlike OP I am only interested in corporate/transactional.

Ropes' NALP only shows firmwide stats but based on the info I got during OCI the Boston and New York offices are roughly the same size now, do you think that at that rate not being HQ would really matter that much?

If you have an interest in PE related M&A work, Ropes New York is one of the top shops now. That group is as big as many other NY HQ firms now with over 55 associates. As a lateral, I chose it over Willkie in past 3 years.

What is the difference between the culture in these two offices?