Top Law Schools

I would stay away from satellite offices as much as possible, though there are exceptions. They are satellite offices for a reason - most satellite offices, if smaller than say 150 associates, will tend to have high attrition rates - meaning a lot of second/third years will be asked to let go. If a firm is slow, and if the main and satellite offices share work, associates in the satellite office will be the first ones to get let go. I worked at Cleary DC before an it was brutal in litigation and antitrust. They make money by having the junior associates do doc review and make the associates leave pretty early on. But by the time you leave, you don't have any marketable skills because you've been stuck doing doc review the whole time. So you'll be set up to fail. That said, I have heard that Covington's NY office is better than its DC office in terms of culture. So it can be firm-specific.