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I'm interested in litigation/regulatory work. Would love to hear about differences in cultures between the two.

Seconding this! (interested in litigation, though not so much regulatory, and have offers from both.)

I summered at one of these firms and strongly considered summering at the other. My sense after talking with a classmate who summered at the other is that Gibson is definitely a more formal environment. Nothing like DC mind you, but I think it still has a bit more of a buttoned-up feel than many other SF offices, including Covington. Buttoned-up here doesn't mean inconsiderate or bad culture -- I think the culture is actually pretty good at Gibson -- but I think it's just a bit more formal of a place. In many other ways I think the offices are fairly similar though. That said, if someone were interested in trying to do some appellate work I would tell them to definitely pick Gibson. If you're interested in regulatory work though, then Covington might be a no brainer.

I’m a former Covington DC associate who worked a decent amount with people in SF and SV. What kind of regulatory work are you interested in? In truth, I think you’ll have a tough time focusing on regulatory out of Cov SF, unless your interest is privacy, in which case at least one of the big partners works out of there. Cov is pretty good about working cross office, but I just don’t know how you’d really get on the radar of the DC-based regulatory groups.

I left about a year ago, but at least at the time the SF white collar team was very overworked. I know they were actively hiring, so perhaps that has been addressed. Consistent with the other comment, I agree the culture there is much less formal than the rest of Covington, and seemed very standard SF.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 01, 2021 5:19 pm

I’m a former Covington DC associate who worked a decent amount with people in SF and SV. What kind of regulatory work are you interested in? In truth, I think you’ll have a tough time focusing on regulatory out of Cov SF, unless your interest is privacy, in which case at least one of the big partners works out of there. Cov is pretty good about working cross office, but I just don’t know how you’d really get on the radar of the DC-based regulatory groups.

I left about a year ago, but at least at the time the SF white collar team was very overworked. I know they were actively hiring, so perhaps that has been addressed. Consistent with the other comment, I agree the culture there is much less formal than the rest of Covington, and seemed very standard SF.

Not OP but incoming associate at a different CA firm with a DC office. Is the difficulty doing regulatory just about finding enough work, and if so is that at all due to Cov's assignment system? Or is the issue more fundamentally about working for DC partners on DC-based projects?