Biglaw transactional practices in Washington, D.C. Forum

[Anonymous User]

TL;DR: are there any biglaw firms in D.C. that have at least some presence in corporate (public or private equity) transactional practices?

I'm a junior associate at a biglaw firm in a major market. My spouse works in the legal field as well and is considering a transfer to Washington, D.C. Spouse works in public policy so it would be a good move.

I am a first-year junior transactional attorney. I like it. I like the firm. But I wouldn't mind exploring other options, too, at least as far as practices go. My firm has a DC office but it is almost exclusively antitrust and appellate litigation (not surprising).

There is a chance that the firm could let me have an office in D.C. but keep me in the directory at my current office, but that might not be possible. Given the economic climate I'm not ready to have that conversation with them, yet.

If I were to start looking around at other firms--and granted this is preliminary and I realize I'm writing this in a very unique situation with the industry slugging along and nearly everyone working from home due to the pandemic--what other firms would you recommend I look into that has at least some traditional public and private transactional work? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

[WhiteCollarBlueShirt]

Plenty... Akin and Kirkland come to mind immediately, but plenty...

Recruiters will reach out to you once things pick up again and you can check laterally or other postings to get an idea of the market.

[2013]

Most firms have some corporate attorneys (a lot seem to have at least a partner or two) in their DC offices. They have smaller practices, so they’re usually more selective than NY practices. A lot of where you can go will depend on your current firm and your school/grades. Some firms I can think of are Goodwin, Cooley, Gibson Dunn, and Hogan Lovells.

I wouldn’t wait until recruiters reach out to you. You should reach out to a reputable dc recruiter and start looking around now.

[Joachim2017]

Davis Polk and Gibson Dunn are two of the top choices in this context, I think.

[Anonymous User]

replying to a deleted post...

[LBJ's Hair]

Davis Polk and Gibson Dunn are two of the top choices in this context, I think.

Maybe DPW's website isn't up to date, but I count like, 10 non-litigation attorneys in their DC office. Out of ~35 total.

Gibson obviously has a large footprint though

[Anonymous User]

Kirkland has been intentionally seeking to expand non-lit practices in DC over the last couple of years. Still a lit heavy office (what isn’t in DC?) but certainly more than 10 transactional attorneys. No clue if they have the flavor of transactional that you’re looking for though.

[Anonymous User]

Kirkland has been expanding its transactional practices in DC. Around 20 now from almost 0 a few years back. You should know that offices in DC are more selective than NY's because of their small size.

[baskan1234]

Latham and if I am not mistaken Hogan also have large transactional practices in DC.

[parkslope]

This is probably useful for you: https://chambers.com/guide/usa?publicat ... onId=12246

[Anonymous User]

OP Here. Thank you for the recommendations.

@parkslope, interesting that Covington is mentioned in the Chambers article, I thought the firm had virtually no corporate practice, certainly not in D.C. I was having trouble finding much of a corporate practice on their D.C. webpage.

Looks like K&E and Gibson might be a good start. I have law school friends at both firms but none in D.C. who also work in corporate.

The economic climate makes me a little nervous. I'm only a first year, just a junior, I don't have that two-year threshold yet. I did go to a CCN and graduated cum laude with journal so I think I am probably okay with the school cred, but the experience might still be a debilitating factor (partnered up with the current economic climate).

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know how Covington is faring during the crisis?

[Anonymous User]

@parkslope, interesting that Covington is mentioned in the Chambers article, I thought the firm had virtually no corporate practice, certainly not in D.C. I was having trouble finding much of a corporate practice on their D.C. webpage.

Anyone know how Covington is faring during the crisis?

Covington junior at the DC office. *knock on wood* Things generally seem to be going well, at least compared to some of the stories we're hearing from other firms.

No layoffs or cuts for associates or staff. Last I heard, we were still paying contract staff at the office (e.g. the workers for our cafeteria vendor, maintenance, etc.). And we're taking people back from clerkships. No word on bonuses one way or the other.

In terms of corporate practice, we do have it in DC. And they seem like nice people. I have very limited interactions with them in my practice areas. My understanding (again, limited) is that a lot of our corporate work in DC is related to our regulatory practices, such as cross-border M&As that require trade controls experts, etc.

[UVA2028]

Reviving this thread in light of the hot legal market--just wondering if folks have a view as to which DC firms currently might be good for corporate midlevels with a focus on M&A and PE (3-4th year). Understand that its a bit more competitive than NYC, but was wondering if folks had a view to whether now might be a good time to break in if aiming to end up in DC long term and have a relatively competitive background (V10, strong dealsheet/academics).

[Lawdup]

Reviving this thread in light of the hot legal market--just wondering if folks have a view as to which DC firms currently might be good for corporate midlevels with a focus on M&A and PE (3-4th year). Understand that its a bit more competitive than NYC, but was wondering if folks had a view to whether now might be a good time to break in if aiming to end up in DC long term and have a relatively competitive background (V10, strong dealsheet/academics).

If you are looking for NYC-style M&A/PE in DC, check out Simpson Thacher. Rapidly growing corporate group, with two partners in Private Equity Funds (incl. a UVA grad), home base for the firm's Registered Funds practice (which includes asset management M&A work), and a partner in general M&A. DC teams work with other teams in other cities.

[kierkegaardaddy]

MoFo has a pretty sizable corporate group. Mostly Hogan defectors.

[Anonymous User]

I know the Skadden DC corporate group is pretty busy these days, and their M&A/PE team is well regarded. I've worked with attorneys in that group and they all seemed pretty nice + competent. In DC, they're def in the running for like top 3 corporate shop.

[Anonymous User]

Latham M&A/PE is one of the other top shops along with Skadden et al and I know it's busy.

[Anonymous User]

Simpson has one of the few (only?) biglaw offices in DC with a larger corporate headcount than litigation. Office is just 15 years old so fairly new in DC but has been growing at a decent pace.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a 3L, but am corporate-focused and interviewed with several firms with corporate practices in DC. The two that stood out to me as having a major corporate presence were Latham and Fried Frank.

Latham has a big private equity practice in DC - they do a lot of work for Carlyle and that relationship is handled out of the DC office. They have a big transactional practice in general, and a pretty large headcount of corporate attorneys in DC.

Fried Frank also told me that they "are just another floor of the NY office," cross-staff between NY/DC all the time, and generally have a NY-style corporate practice in DC. I have a friend who started at FF DC and lateraled to another firm, and he agreed with this.

[Anonymous User]

Simpson has one of the few (only?) biglaw offices in DC with a larger corporate headcount than litigation. Office is just 15 years old so fairly new in DC but has been growing at a decent pace.

josh bonnie's always looking for fresh meat to do another up-c

[Anonymous User]

Simpson has one of the few (only?) biglaw offices in DC with a larger corporate headcount than litigation. Office is just 15 years old so fairly new in DC but has been growing at a decent pace.

josh bonnie's always looking for fresh meat to do another up-c

Is Josh's practice big in DC? I haven't done much public company M&A.

I'm considering a lateral move to DC myself, currently in a different major market and focus almost solely on PE M&A. My current firm's DC office is only L&E and regulatory (plus litigation). I have some law school friends working at STB in New York, but none in DC.

I'm talking to associate friends at STB, Gibson and Latham about a possible lateral to their DC offices. Any advice from the boards on these three firms in DC?

[Lawdup]

Simpson has one of the few (only?) biglaw offices in DC with a larger corporate headcount than litigation. Office is just 15 years old so fairly new in DC but has been growing at a decent pace.

josh bonnie's always looking for fresh meat to do another up-c

Is Josh's practice big in DC? I haven't done much public company M&A.

I'm considering a lateral move to DC myself, currently in a different major market and focus almost solely on PE M&A. My current firm's DC office is only L&E and regulatory (plus litigation). I have some law school friends working at STB in New York, but none in DC.

I'm talking to associate friends at STB, Gibson and Latham about a possible lateral to their DC offices. Any advice from the boards on these three firms in DC?

Josh Bonnie does capital markets, primarily issuer-side work. A lot of taking Blackstone's portfolio investments public.

M&A in the Simpson DC office is a different partner (formerly GDC). So you might want to ask people what it's like to work for him. Also, former SEC Corp Fin Director Bill Hinman is now a DC partner. He was primarily capital markets (see, e.g., Alibaba) before going into the SEC; TBD if he will also be bringing in business for M&A. In contrast, GDC and Latham have more M&A partners in DC.

My advice would be to talk to associates in the DC offices, specifically, as they all have different vibes and facetime requirements. I know one former senior associate who did Latham DC M&A, and was consistently working late in the office (pre-COVID). GDC has that "free assignment system" or whatever you want to call it. I know it's not unheard of senior associates in the DC office to, for example, work on deal teams in other parts of the country. But you probably gotta initiate those contacts. I wouldn't just rely on your conversations with NY classmates; they might be doing similar types of work as their DC counterparts, but the partners and office climates might be very different.

[Anonymous User]

Has anybody ever heard of/think it's possible for a NYC V10 finance/restructuring associate in year 3-4 to jump down to Latham DC for finance/PF?

[Anonymous User]

Has anybody ever heard of/think it's possible for a NYC V10 finance/restructuring associate in year 3-4 to jump down to Latham DC for finance/PF?

You're probably not at Latham now, are you? Do you have any contacts/law school colleagues who are working at Latham either in NY or DC?

It's likely possible depending on the needs of the firm, but suppose the primary question is whether Latham is looking for (1) public finance associates generally, and (2) whether they need a footprint for that practice in DC specifically. Even if (2) isn't a need at this time, I wonder if Latham would allow you to "sit" there even though you'd be primarily working with PF partners and teams in NY (and elsewhere)? Looks to me at this time in the market that midlevel/3-4 years are what are most needed at biglaw firms right now.

I don't work at Latham, but I'm in a satellite of a vault-teen firm and work a ton with NY and California partners.