Ropes Boston v. Jones Day SF Forum

[Anonymous User]

These are my best offers and I'm leaning Ropes but am admittedly a novice in the legal employment world and want to seek advice. Going corporate-side. Would love partnership, very much in it for the long-haul, but also realistic and exit options are therefore very important to me as well. In favor of Ropes: Liked the people at both but was more impressed w/ Ropes. Ropes is HQ'd in Boston and they seem to be a pretty big deal there while JDSF is a satellite office, although has 70+ people so didn't feel too small to me or anything; hypothesizing (perhaps without basis?) that this will impact the quality of the work/clients and exit options, though. In favor of Jones: I like Boston but SF is my favorite city in the USA. I'm also in the extremely fortunate position to have been offered free rent in SF in a very nice place for a year through a relative. Jones is also moderately higher on the Vault rankings and I'm not sure how important that is if at all given that one firm is the HQ and the other is a satellite. Which would you choose and why? Any factors I'm failing to consider or placing too great/little weight on? Thanks in advance for your help!

[Stillblade]

Free housing in SF is a pretty big positive, but I'd still 100% choose Ropes. JD's black box comp is a pretty terrible system and you will get shortchanged, especially as you gain seniority. After the rent-free year, you'll be left making less money than your colleagues in the most expensive city in America. Ropes might be lower on Vault but I think this is an example of Vault's failings more than anything. Ropes' Boston office is miles ahead of any JD office in terms of prestige. They work on way better stuff and attract a lot of HYS grads.

Pretty easy decision I think, but if you're really hell-bent on SF I'd try to get an offer at another firm in the Bay.

[dvlthndr]

The people I know who work at Ropes tend to be happier than people working at Jones Day.

There are a couple reasons for this. The first is that there are always rumors and complaints about the Jones Day "black-box" compensation (i.e., accusations that it's an excuse to keep total compensation below market for most associates). The second might be firm culture. Ropes has a reputation for being "humane" to its associates. It tends to score well on random vault rankings for culture, formal training, hours, compensation, satisfaction, etc., and I've heard the internal culture is relatively relaxed (at least, by big law standards).

I wouldn't normally have strong opinions about the main v. satellite office debate. Being in an office of ~70 attorneys versus ~300 (or whatever) doesn't make much of a difference in my book. That said, Ropes actually is a big deal in Boston. Same thing about the "overall" vault rankings. I think they are currently ranked 16 and 20? Once you are out of the top 5-10 spots, the exact numbers get pretty meaningless. Jones Day edges out Ropes, but I don't think it's a difference that's going to have a discernible impact on your life or your exit options.

I think the biggest issue is location. The rent for a year is kinda meaningless, but if you really want to be out in SF long-term, that would be the one reason to do Jones Day. I think Ropes has some California offices (and if they do, you might be able to transfer out there at some point), but you may as well just start out where you want to be.

[jhett]

Ropes has a SF and SV office. Check the practice areas in those offices to make sure they are doing stuff you are interested in, but you can definitely move between offices. I know they also do office splits for SAs (assuming this is a SA offer), so ask if you can do half the summer in Boston and half in SF.