Holland & Hart Forum

[Anonymous User]

Can anyone share insights into firm culture, summer program, and hiring competitiveness (especially for people who do not attend school in the Mountain West)? Thank you.

[Anonymous User]

My contact with the firm hasn't been especially extensive, but I believe the firm is well-regarded. I've heard of some interior turmoil, though. I believe they had a dozen or so IP attorneys in their Salt Lake City office jump ship a couple years ago to Dorsey & Whitney, and I think there are some management-level conflicts in other departments as well. As far as culture and work go, I know little, though the one H&H partner that I know is a wonderful man.

For selectivity, I think with Mountain West regional schools they are quite selective; they generally hire out of the top 10% and each individual office only hires a handful of recent grads a year. If you're at a T-14 and have Mountain West connections, I think you would also be competitive.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know about Holland & Hart’s real estate group?

[Anonymous User]

Yes, I interviewed with the Real Estate group in SLC. You can only learn so much during the interview process but every attorney I met seemed great. It seems like they are really trying to grow the group judging by the amount of job postings on LinkedIn. I took an offer somewhere else but my experience was positive.

[unsightlysalt]

Interested as well. Do they hire often in their smaller offices (not Denver)?

[Anonymous User]

I attended one of Utah's two law schools and it seems like the SLC office hires 1-2 students per year. They interviewed about 10 students at OCI's and their grades varied from top half to top ten. To confirm the above post about SLC defections, yes they did have some partners leave from the IP and corporate groups but it seems like the office is picking itself back up. They are hiring in real estate and emerging companies.

Another anecdote about the SLC office is that the larger firms in the city (Dorsey, Snell, Ballard, Stoel, and Holland) just raised starting salaries to 135k.

I am the same poster as above about interviewing in the real estate department.

[Anonymous User]

Generally all folks in Utah legal market are easy going, nice people. Holland is a good firm, concur on the internal politics, especially with Denver treating other offices as satellite offices and nothing more. If you go there, just know that your pay will likely increase between $2,000 and $5,000 (if you are stellar) a year depending on billables and work product. They created an income partner level recently which sounds like a parking lot. I had two friends there, one was a 10th year and very sharp, but because of the partner economics and dynamics, he was held back for partnership until he was a 12th year despite being an expert, etc. They are working on turning it back around. Confirmed that pretty much the entire IP and corporate groups left a few years ago, my friend was in one of those groups. The firm is huge on business development and you can be assured that without having your own clients, you won't make it to partner before 12 years. This is what I gleaned from my friends and an old mentor over the past 3 years who work(ed) there.

[Anonymous User]

Generally all folks in Utah legal market are easy going, nice people. Holland is a good firm, concur on the internal politics, especially with Denver treating other offices as satellite offices and nothing more. If you go there, just know that your pay will likely increase between $2,000 and $5,000 (if you are stellar) a year depending on billables and work product. They created an income partner level recently which sounds like a parking lot. I had two friends there, one was a 10th year and very sharp, but because of the partner economics and dynamics, he was held back for partnership until he was a 12th year despite being an expert, etc. They are working on turning it back around. Confirmed that pretty much the entire IP and corporate groups left a few years ago, my friend was in one of those groups. The firm is huge on business development and you can be assured that without having your own clients, you won't make it to partner before 12 years. This is what I gleaned from my friends and an old mentor over the past 3 years who work(ed) there.

Any insight on the Boise office? Interested in moving to Idaho in the future. How is the work life balance? Heard there's a 1900 billable minimum which seems a little high for the pay. Interested in tech trans and Corp. Currently a v10 Corp associate.

[Anonymous User]

I think it's more like 1800 or 1850 not sure. Insights would be they are are nice people, but not a steady stream of solid corporate work so you'll end up doing a variety of things that one could consider corporate and lacking in sophistication (think lots of local mom and pop work, Idaho LLCs, and so on sprinkled with a few venture deals). The tech trans is probably more steady and gives much better exit opps. It is really important to find someone who will "sponsor" you and make sure you are getting good work and most importantly advocate for your salary. They do some weird net revenue stuff when it comes to compensation, so if your partner writes off a lot bc they're a pushover with clients or if they don't collect (or send bills) then you'll be penalized in a way. The sexier work is in other offices. You won't have a hard time getting work due to experience at top firm, but be weary of the inter/intra politics and who is giving you work bc some will find a good associate and monopolize them which is very bad for your progression and advancement in a firm like that which cares a lot about having broad support, etc. You will be at the mercy of your one partner if you do that. Also, disappointing raises and bonuses. Partnership will require significant biz dev and partners are very territorial and protective of clients bc of that. I've heard of partners who will only let associates work back office style on their matters, won't allow client interaction, etc. Boise is an awesome place though. I spent my summers there in high school.