DPW/Cleary/Debevoise financial regulatory Forum

[Anonymous User]

Looking for feedback on these firms' financial institutions groups for start date in 2023. All for the New York offices of each. Slight cultural preference for DPW and Debevoise based on what I've experienced. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

[Anonymous User]

I'm an ex-Davis Polk associate, though I wasn't in FIG.

The group is known within the firm as being extremely hard-working. They had like 5 of the 6 living will banks when I was there and it resulted in a lot of extremely long hours (true all-nighters, not just really late nights like the rest of the firm). This was the case at all levels.

But also I think the perception within the firm is that they were the best. The general sense at the firm was that S&C and DPW were the tied for the best banking firms, with Cleary next best, but definitely below. On an internal call about a banking issue with a few people from FIG and a few people from my group, the head of the group (I won't use his name so it doesn't show up in google, but you can find it) joked that the only time clients went to Cleary for banking advice is when they'd already gone to S&C and Davis Polk and hadn't liked the answer. For what it's worth, Debevoise wasn't even mentioned in this conversation, nor in similar ones.

You've probably heard this before, but keep an open mind about which practice group you want to join. FIG may seem cool now, but it could be that you find you like something else better. I thought I wanted to do FIG before my summer based on my general sense that banks seem neat, but the day-to-day is not really the same. Each of Davis Polk, Cleary and Debevoise is really good at some things, and less good (though acceptable) at others. Unless you've got a lot of experience in a particular area already, I'd just choose a firm with people you like, then focus on finding a good practice group after your summer. It's been a long time since I was a summer but I recall all of them being pretty free about what groups you take work from over the summer, so you should have no problem getting experience in multiple groups.

[Anonymous User]

Cleary got rid of FIG as a separate group either last year or the year before. Current Cleary associate.

[Anonymous User]

Cleary got rid of FIG as a separate group either last year or the year before. Current Cleary associate.

Do you know which group it got absorbed into?

[Anonymous User]

Cleary got rid of FIG as a separate group either last year or the year before. Current Cleary associate.

Do you know which group it got absorbed into?

At Cleary and the above user is definitely wrong. On phone with a fig friend at this moment who has also confirmed. Cleary got rid of fig/fpmg as a combined group. Fig is now a standalone group (nothing has really changed for them) and those that did fpmg/collateral/derivatives have been put into capital markets or lev fin as aplicable, but still do the fpmg-esq work they did before.

[Elston Gunn]

DPW is by a decent margin the most respected of these groups, and will set you up the best for future opportunities. Also, the two people I’ve known who were in that group were truly miserable, even for BigLaw.