Tell me about Paul Hastings LA Forum

[Anonymous User]

Pros and Cons please (interested in transactional work + entertainment & media). Associates I talk to say it's great but I searched PH on here and I am not sure what to think. How is their summer program? What is it actually like to be an associate there?

[Anonymous User]

I'm a 3L and summered in the LA office this past summer. I also felt a huge disconnect between my actual interactions with attorneys in the office and what I've read on TLS about the firm's culture. Honestly, I've really enjoyed all the people I've met at the firm, and so I'm not sure if the rumors about toxicity are overblown/isolated opinions of only some individuals/practice groups or what. I will say that all the people I've met (probably about 30-40 attorneys in the course of recruiting/the summer program) were very friendly, seemed to have a good collaborative/collegial relationship with their coworkers, and frequently alluded to things they liked to do outside of work (e.g. trips, sports, etc.)

As far as the summer program goes, I'm not sure how helpful my experience will be, but since I feel there's a good chance this summer will be virtual as well, I'll let you know how my program went. We had a reduced 6-week program that was completely virtual. I felt like the firm was on par with its peers in terms of the quality of program for the summer - obviously, it was a far cry from the "normal" program that would have included lots of free meals, fun events, etc. but the firm did what it could under what were certainly unpredictable circumstances. We had weekly "big" social events hosted by different departments (e.g. ELD, Lit, Corp, Real Estate) and they seemed to be the same events my friends at other firms experienced: we did a trivia night, scavenger hunt, mixology class, painting night, etc. In addition to these events, we were encouraged to do 20-30 minute Zoom "coffee chats" with partners/associates we were interested in getting to know more. I do think the firm could have done more to facilitate these - it was basically on us as summers to email attorneys to set these up. We also had frequent meetings with both our partner and associate mentors, so that also helped integrate us into the firm socially and culturally. The assignments were probably pretty similar to what you would do during a "normal" summer - lots of memos, research/writing projects, etc. Overall, I was happy enough with the summer, obviously missed out on the fun events that would come with an in-person program, but felt that the firm did what it could. My biggest issue was that the firm was slow to communicate on pretty major issues related to the program - like length, start date, and most importantly, pay. We were eventually told we would be paid for 10 weeks despite only working for 6, but we're still waiting on those 4 weeks of pay (they're supposed to come by March). It would have been nice if this was communicated sooner, because for summers who, like me, wanted to use part of the SA pay for 3L tuition, it has made things a lot harder when it comes to budgeting/planning for 3L.

Sorry for the super long response! Feel free to ask more questions if you have any and I can respond to them here.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a 3L and summered in the LA office this past summer. I also felt a huge disconnect between my actual interactions with attorneys in the office and what I've read on TLS about the firm's culture. Honestly, I've really enjoyed all the people I've met at the firm, and so I'm not sure if the rumors about toxicity are overblown/isolated opinions of only some individuals/practice groups or what. I will say that all the people I've met (probably about 30-40 attorneys in the course of recruiting/the summer program) were very friendly, seemed to have a good collaborative/collegial relationship with their coworkers, and frequently alluded to things they liked to do outside of work (e.g. trips, sports, etc.)

As far as the summer program goes, I'm not sure how helpful my experience will be, but since I feel there's a good chance this summer will be virtual as well, I'll let you know how my program went. We had a reduced 6-week program that was completely virtual. I felt like the firm was on par with its peers in terms of the quality of program for the summer - obviously, it was a far cry from the "normal" program that would have included lots of free meals, fun events, etc. but the firm did what it could under what were certainly unpredictable circumstances. We had weekly "big" social events hosted by different departments (e.g. ELD, Lit, Corp, Real Estate) and they seemed to be the same events my friends at other firms experienced: we did a trivia night, scavenger hunt, mixology class, painting night, etc. In addition to these events, we were encouraged to do 20-30 minute Zoom "coffee chats" with partners/associates we were interested in getting to know more. I do think the firm could have done more to facilitate these - it was basically on us as summers to email attorneys to set these up. We also had frequent meetings with both our partner and associate mentors, so that also helped integrate us into the firm socially and culturally. The assignments were probably pretty similar to what you would do during a "normal" summer - lots of memos, research/writing projects, etc. Overall, I was happy enough with the summer, obviously missed out on the fun events that would come with an in-person program, but felt that the firm did what it could. My biggest issue was that the firm was slow to communicate on pretty major issues related to the program - like length, start date, and most importantly, pay. We were eventually told we would be paid for 10 weeks despite only working for 6, but we're still waiting on those 4 weeks of pay (they're supposed to come by March). It would have been nice if this was communicated sooner, because for summers who, like me, wanted to use part of the SA pay for 3L tuition, it has made things a lot harder when it comes to budgeting/planning for 3L.

Sorry for the super long response! Feel free to ask more questions if you have any and I can respond to them here.

Thank you this is very helpful! I appreciate your lengthy response. Will you be going back?

[Anonymous User]

Yes, and as far as I know all the SA’s in the LA office also accepted full-time offers.