Covington (DC) or Hogan (DC) Forum

[Anonymous User]

Interested in litigation, would like to explore appellate & regulator work, possibly white collar. I like the culture at Hogan more (heard that Cov has a more buttoned up personality), but it seems that Cov is more "prestigious." Any thoughts?

[Anonymous User]

Covington by a mile.

[Anonymous User]

Hogan is much, much stronger for appellate, but unless you're a superstar it will be hard to get appellate work if it's like most appellate practices. Covington is stronger for regulatory. Both are good firms. Strongly disagree that Covington leads "by a mile." A lot of the DC firms are rough peers, no major DC shop is bad.

[Elston Gunn]

Covington is definitely more respected in DC, and I also wouldn’t put any stock in your desire to explore appellate work (if you are truly competitive for DC appellate work, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to swap firms after your clerkship(s)). But I don’t think it’s too crazy to pick Hogan if you clicked better with the people you met there.

The big caveat though is Hogan didn’t pay full Covid bonuses. Covington has historically groused/dug in its heels about matching market, but always ends up paying market. That’s a pretty significant differentiator imo.

[Anonymous User]

You can't go wrong here, both are DC institutions, but Covington will have better exit potential/"prestige." It's reasonable to pick Hogan if you feel more comfortable there, but if it's a tie (or close to it) go to Covington.

[Anonymous User]

Covington is definitely more respected in DC, and I also wouldn’t put any stock in your desire to explore appellate work (if you are truly competitive for DC appellate work, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to swap firms after your clerkship(s)). But I don’t think it’s too crazy to pick Hogan if you clicked better with the people you met there.

The big caveat though is Hogan didn’t pay full Covid bonuses. Covington has historically groused/dug in its heels about matching market, but always ends up paying market. That’s a pretty significant differentiator imo.

Thank you, OP here. Wouldn't it help at all to be at a firm where I can at least have access to appellate work?

[Anonymous User]

Thank you, OP here. Wouldn't it help at all to be at a firm where I can at least have access to appellate work?

You will probably not get robust appellate work as a summer. And you will definitely not get meaningful appellate work down the road without a clerkship (preferably SCOTUS if we are talking about having a majority of appellate work at the usual DC suspects). And if you do have a clerkship, you have the option of (re)applying to wherever you want coming off the clerkship anyway.