Lateraling Cravath, Slate, and Moore LLP Forum

[Tenzen]

Worked in biglaw for 3 years, went to a non-profit, and now want to go back to biglaw because I miss the salary.

Was going through vault 100 and decided to take it from the top, starting with Cravath, but I'm a little lost. For those who applied, did you do it through their website?

https://www.cravath.com/

Is that their real website? If so, why does it look dated for a top law firm's website? Putting that aside, I welcome any tips for applying and insights about people who manage to lateral into the firm.

[unlicensedpotato]

You should also look at Davis Polk Wachtell

[spidey314]

I'm fairly certain that Cravath's policy is to never hire laterals (at least at the associate level, can think of a few exceptions at the partner level).

[2013]

I met an associate who previously lateraled to Cravath from Wachtell, I believe. But it was for a specialty group.

[Anonymous User]

I met an associate who previously lateraled to Cravath from Wachtell, I believe. But it was for a specialty group.

This. Lateral associates are extremely rare and are normally in specialty groups where it is hard to organically get enough bodies through the typical OCI/law student recruiting route. These laterals normally have experience at (1) other great shops generally or (2) fantastic shops in the specialty area (e.g. other V10, Chambers Band 1 practices). They sometimes come from less prestigious academic backgrounds but, if so, are normally Coif/law review students.

[RedGiant]

Yeah--genuinely not sure if this post is a flame, but CSM's policy was not to hire laterals until recent years, and then, they hired really only for counsel-type positions. I would not spend much time on CSM at all. Instead, I would contact a trusted headhunter to help you understand which firms are lateral-friendly and whether your background would be well-received in biglaw at all. If you have limited time to prep application materials, this is the most efficient way to test the waters. You don't have to use the HH--just pick the HH's brain to see if they have thoughts.