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I'm looking for additional information on the firm's New York office, specifically the corporate / M&A department. If you work (or have worked there) or know anyone that does, I'd appreciate insight into the following: (i) culture, (ii) average hours in M&A (and if there is a pressure to hit a certain target), (iii) informal training, (iv) ability to take vacation and have it respected, etc.

Thanks!

Bump, also interested - going there this summer. Anyone know which groups are busiest?

You will probably be glad that you are not at Davis Poke

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 26, 2021 3:29 pm

You will probably be glad that you are not at Davis Poke

LMAO i actually agree with this post despite the fact that they spelled Davis Polk wrong

midlevel in cleary corporate, never had pressure to hit a target, never had people not respect vacation time.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 02, 2021 2:49 pm

midlevel in cleary corporate, never had pressure to hit a target, never had people not respect vacation time.

Thanks! What are associates in your group usually annualizing? Are you happy with the culture there / relations with partners?

Midlevel, corporate subgroup (don't want to out myself).

Culture: 1980s downtown art scene (think Studio 54, Warhol, etc.).

Hours: Would say 1750-2000 is normal. Have heard that average is somewhere around 1800 but you should hit 2000 billable if you want the partners to nod approvingly as they do your reviews. That being said, if you're in m&a (or any corporate group) then you will be pulling some very long days (and sometimes weeks) when a deal is chugging along. Something to keep in mind with all the stuff you hear about Cleary people being "nice" and even "chill" is that you're still probably going to be working comparable hours to your peers at sharper-elbowed shops (though you do hear some horror stories about those tippy top NYC places). That being said, it is very nice to not worry that you're going to miss a bonus target.

Training: Have found there to be lots of folks who are happy to get on the phone and walk through the basics (intellectual, quirky, should have been a Medieval history prof, etc.). You're ultimately going to learn by doing, so it's at least nice to have seniors who are (mostly) not going to treat you like the village idiot when you mess up.

Vacation: When you take a week + vacation that's planned far out, you should be able to have people fully covering for you, and you should be pretty unbothered. There's a partner who supposedly used to always take vacations to remote locations so that he never had to check his phone and seemed to work out okay for him.

For busiest groups, I think the corporate groups are comparably busy from a junior associate's POV, though cap markets and debt finance were especially slammed during early COVID. Even the tax/IP folks seem to stay super busy in their lifestyle practices (again, all probably comparable to similar firms).