PW v. Quinn: NY litigation Forum

[Anonymous User]

Slightly preferred Quinn's culture (flatness, informal relationships up and down) but have heard culture/hours/benefits/general cheapness horror stories. Have also heard that Quinn has a terrible reputation as opposing counsel for doing petty and annoying shit that goes beyond zealous advocacy, but not sure if my source just had an axe to grind or it was an abberation. Liked PW a great deal too.

Looking for early responsibility, partner mentorship + feedback, developing motions practice and negotiation skills (less interested in depositions, trial work, or appellate law). Interested in deals litigation (think anything done in DE) but definitely open to anything, would be cool to be able to try it. Quinn's "casual" culture / non-facetime requirement don't matter to me, I'm fine with wearing a suit and can't be productive except in the office. Not interested in exiting to public service.

Not interested in clerking (probably lack grades for EDNY/SDNY and no interest in moving for a year); want to avoid a firm where that would be a problem for my advancement. (Though if the firm had great connections and would be able to put a good word in for me as a 3rd year, that'd be a major plus.)

Would love to hear people's opinions on both shops.

[Anonymous User]

FWIW I am about to make a similar choice and most likely will choose Quinn.

[Anonymous User]

FWIW I am about to make a similar choice and most likely will choose Quinn.

Why?

[Anonymous User]

Slightly preferred Quinn's culture (flatness, informal relationships up and down) but have heard culture/hours/benefits/general cheapness horror stories. Have also heard that Quinn has a terrible reputation as opposing counsel for doing petty and annoying shit that goes beyond zealous advocacy, but not sure if my source just had an axe to grind or it was an abberation. Liked PW a great deal too.

Looking for early responsibility, partner mentorship. Interested in deals litigation (think anything done in DE) but definitely open to anything, would be cool to be able to try it. Quinn's "casual" culture / non-facetime requirement don't matter to me, I'm fine with wearing a suit and can't be productive except in the office.

Not interested in clerking (probably lack grades for EDNY/SDNY and no interest in moving for a year); want to avoid a firm where that would be a problem for my advancement. (Though if the firm had great connections and would be able to put a good word in for me as a 3rd year, that'd be a major plus.)

Would love to hear people's opinions on both shops.

As someone with knowledge working at QE - take it's "terrible reputation" with a grain of salt. You will work on leaner teams, have a wider array of litigation to work on, more interesting work, but that will come at the expense of working more hours. Also, completely free market, so you pretty much get to choose which partners you work with. The 'petty' opposing counsel thing - I will say that people here really like to win but I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

If you're really gung ho about litigation go QE.

[Anonymous User]

As someone with knowledge working at QE - take it's "terrible reputation" with a grain of salt. You will work on leaner teams, have a wider array of litigation to work on, more interesting work, but that will come at the expense of working more hours. Also, completely free market, so you pretty much get to choose which partners you work with. The 'petty' opposing counsel thing - I will say that people here really like to win but I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

If you're really gung ho about litigation go QE.

What does "more hours" actually mean? 2200? 2500? WLRK?

The example I got of pettiness was a lot of 1am motions. My person wouldn't care about vigorous advocacy -- they said that Quinn did lots of shit that didn't help them win the case but did make the lives of those going up against them substantially worse. My source said this behavior was basically unique to Quinn. They don't feel that way about any other major lit shop, and they've been across from almost all of them. (They specifically compared Quinn negatively to BSF and Gibson.)

[Anonymous User]

Why?

Not the same reason OP would: The culture is the big draw for me. During CBs, I was very put off by the more formal offices I visited; those just aren't spaces I feel comfortable in. And being 100% committed to litigation, to me there's just something more viscerally exciting about the opportunity to do lit at Quinn.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a PW associate. Not litigation but work with that group often as my practice often spins off a lot of disputes. You'll probably get substantive experience much sooner at Quinn. Progression will lag by 2-3 years here but what you lose in pace you'll gain uniform training/predictable trajectory. Assuming easier to pivot into prosecution work from here but those exit options are competitive so not sure how much that should factor into your decision.