STB v. Cooley v. Weil Forum

[Anonymous User]

Feeling very excited about my offers, but also at a total loss for how to decide. The goal is corporate work (maybe M&A, capital markets, venture capital), but I'd like to work somewhere with unique clients because I'm looking for a dynamic practice. Would love to work with tech/unicorn clients, which draws me to Cooley. But also thinking that STB can give me the best corporate training, and maybe I'd lateral to a firm like Cooley later in my career. Then thinking Weil is a happy medium?

Any insight would help! I'm a first gen student who was recently exposed to big law through OCI, so I don't know too much about reputations.

[wldecisions]

Feeling very excited about my offers, but also at a total loss for how to decide. The goal is corporate work (maybe M&A, capital markets, venture capital), but I'd like to work somewhere with unique clients because I'm looking for a dynamic practice. Would love to work with tech/unicorn clients, which draws me to Cooley. But also thinking that STB can give me the best corporate training, and maybe I'd lateral to a firm like Cooley later in my career. Then thinking Weil is a happy medium?

Any insight would help! I'm a first gen student who was recently exposed to big law through OCI, so I don't know too much about reputations.

I think the question is how much you're interested in tech/VC.

[AYJD]

Depends on the office. At this point Weil should be out of contention. If these are all NYC offices STB should be the pick. You can always lateral to Cooley later on. If West Coast offices, then a tighter race between STB and Cooley - pick based on culture you like more.

[Anonymous User]

Depends on the office. At this point Weil should be out of contention. If these are all NYC offices STB should be the pick. You can always lateral to Cooley later on. If West Coast offices, then a tighter race between STB and Cooley - pick based on culture you like more.

All are for the NY office. Do you say Weil is out of the picture because STB is that much better for corporate?

[Anonymous User]

Feeling very excited about my offers, but also at a total loss for how to decide. The goal is corporate work (maybe M&A, capital markets, venture capital), but I'd like to work somewhere with unique clients because I'm looking for a dynamic practice. Would love to work with tech/unicorn clients, which draws me to Cooley. But also thinking that STB can give me the best corporate training, and maybe I'd lateral to a firm like Cooley later in my career. Then thinking Weil is a happy medium?

Any insight would help! I'm a first gen student who was recently exposed to big law through OCI, so I don't know too much about reputations.

I think the question is how much you're interested in tech/VC.

This is the correct take. If you truly want to do tech/vc stuff, better to start off at Cooley. But if you're still unsure (like 99% of law school students) and not especially drawn to it, better to start off at STB.

[Anonymous User]

I would go with Cooley (sounds like better fit), unless your main concern is prestige (then go STB). Cooley seems like a great place to work and has the kind of work you're describing. lateraling to another firm later is not the best plan-- it's not the easiest and it's better to form those relationships w/ clients/co-workers at the firm you ultimately want to be at. i would see lateral as a sort of course-correcting to a better fit firm.

[Anonymous User]

Feeling very excited about my offers, but also at a total loss for how to decide. The goal is corporate work (maybe M&A, capital markets, venture capital), but I'd like to work somewhere with unique clients because I'm looking for a dynamic practice. Would love to work with tech/unicorn clients, which draws me to Cooley. But also thinking that STB can give me the best corporate training, and maybe I'd lateral to a firm like Cooley later in my career. Then thinking Weil is a happy medium?

Any insight would help! I'm a first gen student who was recently exposed to big law through OCI, so I don't know too much about reputations.

I think the question is how much you're interested in tech/VC.

This is the correct take. If you truly want to do tech/vc stuff, better to start off at Cooley. But if you're still unsure (like 99% of law school students) and not especially drawn to it, better to start off at STB.

agree with above posters. If you are committed to a specific area, pick the firm that excels the most in that area, it's better than going to a wrong firm first and then lateral to the right one, there's cost to it

[Anonymous User]

I would go with Cooley (sounds like better fit), unless your main concern is prestige (then go STB). Cooley seems like a great place to work and has the kind of work you're describing. lateraling to another firm later is not the best plan-- it's not the easiest and it's better to form those relationships w/ clients/co-workers at the firm you ultimately want to be at. i would see lateral as a sort of course-correcting to a better fit firm.

totally agree, especially all your options here don't vary substantially in terms of clients and prestige. Fit should be your priority concern.

[Anonymous User]

If you're already thinking you might want to lateral to Cooley in the future, just start off at Cooley. Any potential benefits from starting STB corporate training (basically zero btw) will be greatly outweighed by the transition costs for lateraling (e.g. adapting to work environment, building up social/political capital, etc)

Quick sidenote: what's with all the threads recently asking about Cooley vs dissimilar firms? People have asked recently questions like Cooley vs Proskauer or Cooley v DLA Piper... I would understand if people were starting threads and asking about Cooley vs WSGR vs Fenwick, but recent thread comparisons seem very odd to me. Maybe I'm missing something here.

[Anonymous User]

Agree with the others. It seems like the tech/VC interest is just something you like, but aren't 100% sure of. In that case it's probably best to just go with STB and get a general corporate experience.

[Anonymous User]

just saw this from the post "fit v prestige" and it struck a cord with me so sharing it here:

....lateraling to another firm comes at a huge cost of losing your network and goodwill at your prior firm. For example, a 4th year associate at a v30 who recently lateraled from a v10 will usually be behind the pecking order compared to a 4th year associate in the same group who started at that v30 firm. In other words, if a matter needs to be staffed, the homegrown 4th year is typically going to be requested before a 4th year who recently lateraled to the firm, despite the fact that (oo la la) the 4th year has a v10 on their resume. It's even harder now in today's environment to develop a rapport/working relationship with your colleagues, when everyone is remote.

[Anonymous User]

Depends on the office. At this point Weil should be out of contention. If these are all NYC offices STB should be the pick. You can always lateral to Cooley later on. If West Coast offices, then a tighter race between STB and Cooley - pick based on culture you like more.

All are for the NY office. Do you say Weil is out of the picture because STB is that much better for corporate?

Not the previous poster - but yes. I can’t see any advantage for Weil M&A over STB M&A. They’re both intense practices with mainly huge clients, but STB has a significant prestige edge in M&A (Weil is ahead in some other areas, such as bankruptcy), and STB also has what I would consider long-term a more relevant client base for VC, too, since their PE M&A work is often next-stage to VC M&A work (see, e.g., the Bumble deals - currently doing an IPO but STB also worked on the acquisition a couple of years ago).

Cooley is different. I wouldn’t go into a job with the presumption I would lateral: As others have said, lateralling does mean rebuilding your network. But you don’t seem fully committed to VC work, either, and going to Cooley now is a decision to limit yourself to that space, while from STB it will always be feasible to transition to a strong VC firm in the future if you conclude that is the direction you’d like your career to go. Still, I don’t think either STB or Cooley would be a wrong decision: Go with your gut.