Kirkland Houston v. Sullivan New York Forum

[Anonymous User]

I know I seem all over the place having this comparison, but this is actually what I have been trying to figure out. I have no family tie to either office. I am interested in transactional work, mainly M&A. Liked the people in both interviews so no clear preference based on that.

I liked the low COL, no facetime culture in Kirkland Houston. Dress code seems very informal which I do like. I am a bit worried, however, that the deal work in Houston would be too focused on oil & gas thus may be a problem if I do decide to lateral away to another firm or another city. New York is comparatively more expensive, but many people I talk to seem to believe top-level work is only available in New York. Also it seems easier to lateral from New York then to New York. Also on this forum I have seen some horror stories about Kirkland Houston which concerns me (even though the people I talked to in the interviews seem fine, then again they probably won't show the office is messed up to a law student).

Any advice is appreciated.

[BrainsyK]

1. Doing O&G won't really restrict you geographically unless you're specifically doing O&G-asset related M&A.

2. IMO, there is some level of work that is only available in NY. There's a reason why Wachtell is principal sell-side counsel on the biggest energy deal of the year so far with PW and Cravath representing the buyers. Even big energy companies tend to go to NY firms for their biggest deals. Whether doing those deals are worth the NYC COL is up to you. You better be really into doing mega deals to give up $190k in Houston, which is a stupid, stupid amount of money compared to $190k in NY.

3. Lateralling is about on need, personality, and experience, not location.

Congrats on your choices though. I used to stan S&C pretty hard so this decision would've been hard for me. Thank God my grades that would've gotten me laughed out of an S&C screener.

[Anonymous User]

Hi OP, I'm making a nearly identical decision but with Cravath and a similar Houston firm. Having a really tough time quantifying the prestige hit, but the ~30k in take home pay increase in Houston is pushing me that direction. Would really appreciate anyone's thoughts on the situation.

[Ultramar vistas]

Hi OP, I'm making a nearly identical decision but with Cravath and a similar Houston firm. Having a really tough time quantifying the prestige hit, but the ~30k in take home pay increase in Houston is pushing me that direction. Would really appreciate anyone's thoughts on the situation.

To you and OP - if you have offers from firms, they have almost certainly set you up with some associate contacts.

As one of those people that volunteers my time to be a contact for recruiters, I am always genuinely happy when people reach out to discuss options, and am way more invested in making sure y’all end up at a firm that is going to make you happy than selling you exclusively on our firm. I think that’s true of most of us who offer to do recruiting work.

It’s also a lot easier to discuss individual decisions on the phone or over coffee than trying to give anonymous voices insight on a forum, so to the extent you aren’t already taking advantage of us, please do reach out. I’d hate for anyone to make a lifelong decision based on some of what passes for advice on these forums.

[Anonymous User]

If you are trying to maximize exit options, gain broad experience and aren’t sure where you want to wind up, go to New York. You can always lateral to Houston later from a firm like S&C.

If you want to maximize savings, have a slightly better lifestyle and are comfortable with spending your career in the oil and gas industry, go to Houston. You can still lateral to NY later, but you will not be as well rounded as your peers in NY after a few years. It’s a smaller market with fewer players, meaning that even on the M&A side you see the same forms of documents over and over again. This is even more prevalent in finance and capital markets.

I lateraled from NY to Houston and couldn’t be happier. There are amazing lawyers in both cities and you can have a fine career either way. Just need to make sure you are 100% committed to Houston if you take that route early in your career because being in the O&G world is different from just being in a NY firm’s office in other locations (like Chicago, San Francisco, etc.).

[ConfusedNYer]

How familiar are you with the two cities and if you're not very familiar with one or either city do you have the time to visit a little more (perhaps scheduling a follow up walk through and spending an extra night or two on your own dime.)

I've spent time both socially and professionally in both cities and they're very different. Its hard to imagine being completely 100% agnostic when it comes to preference (though that may be personal bias.) If you like Houston more and you're able to stay sane a little longer and pump out an extra year or three doing firm life then I think that outweighs any potential professional development NY offers. Likewise, if you enjoy your free time and lifestyle in NY more, then the extra money in TX doesn't really add much. There are plenty of threads where people bicker over which city is better, so no need to expend any more energy on that topic in this thread, I just strongly recommend getting a bit more of a feel for the cities if possible. Its also worth considering that one of those cities likely has a larger built in professional and social network of fellow students depending on where you went to school.

[Anonymous User]

I made a similar decision and ended up going to Houston while most my friends from law school ended up at CSW and S&C in NY. People on here who say you won't have as well rounded of an experience have no idea what they are talking about. Having done M&A and Securities work for a number of years in biglaw, and having worked on both O&G, telecom and M&A activity between PE funds, M&A is M&A. You won't have "better" or more "well rounded" experience doing more "varied" deals. You will do as many high level deals at K&E in Houston as you will at any NY firm (maybe except WLRK), if you want to bill 3,000+ hours a year there you can (I have multiple friends who did last year). That place is exploding for some reason (I am not there but was recruited to lateral). If you go to K&E in Houston and decide you want to move to another city you will have no problem lateraling barring the economy crashing. People from my Firm have lateraled to K&E in Chicago, Latham LA, S&C in NY, etc. People over-emphasize how hard it is to lateral to NY. As a 4-6th year associate, you are incredibly profitable to firms, they will want you to come over.

You should decide where you could see yourself staying longer, which city you like more, etc. Chances are you will hate biglawmuch more than you expect you will and you wont want to do it forever. Will it be more likely you end up in TX if you start there? Yeah, because a lot of your clients will be there, but that is more true if you decide to leave the firm setting. Opportunities will come and in-house in Houston tends to pay really well and if you hate the lifestyle it will tempt you.

You will be fine either choice you make. So long as you are at one of those two firms, your ability to move and lateral will not be limited.