Latham v. DPW v Gibson Dunn (NY) Forum

[Anonymous User]

Lucky enough to get a pre-oci offer from all 3 firms and have difficulty deciding between the 3. I'm leaning towards corporate work, but I am still undecided as there are some aspects of litigation work that I like. I really liked the people I met at Latham, while the responses and interest I got from the other two firms were lukewarm.

I hear people on here say that Latham is not as highly regarded in NY as the other two firms and I'm worried that it could affect my exit options and the quality of work I receive if I choose to go to Latham. Which firm should I choose?

[Anonymous User]

Latham might be half a step below DPW in NYC right now considering they are smaller (~600 at LW NYC vs >700 at DPW NYC) and DPW is a more established traditional New York shop, but the two shops are definitely close enough in the sense that exit options won't be that different, this is esp true for corporate. Both shops have stellar Banking and Cap Markets team; for M&A, LW focuses more on private m&a (more private equity work) whereas DPW focuses more on public deals (more disclosure requirement, etc). LW has a larger emerging companies practice in New York, DPW is ahead in restructuring.

For corporate, GDC is not on the same tier with DPW or LW. So I think you should count GDC out and just focus on DPW and LW, both great options.

[Anonymous User]

Latham might be half a step below DPW in NYC right now considering they are smaller (~600 at LW NYC vs >700 at DPW NYC) and DPW is a more established traditional New York shop, but the two shops are definitely close enough in the sense that exit options won't be that different, this is esp true for corporate. Both shops have stellar Banking and Cap Markets team; for M&A, LW focuses more on private m&a (more private equity work) whereas DPW focuses more on public deals (more disclosure requirement, etc). LW has a larger emerging companies practice in New York, DPW is ahead in restructuring.

For corporate, GDC is not on the same tier with DPW or LW. So I think you should count GDC out and just focus on DPW and LW, both great options.

Does the NY office have emerging companies folks? Interested to know since I do ECVC work but prefer to move back east.

Outside of big law, nobody will even know that Latham is maybe half a step below DPW. They are both well regarded enough that you will have similar exit opps.

[Anonymous User]

Latham might be half a step below DPW in NYC right now considering they are smaller (~600 at LW NYC vs >700 at DPW NYC) and DPW is a more established traditional New York shop, but the two shops are definitely close enough in the sense that exit options won't be that different, this is esp true for corporate. Both shops have stellar Banking and Cap Markets team; for M&A, LW focuses more on private m&a (more private equity work) whereas DPW focuses more on public deals (more disclosure requirement, etc). LW has a larger emerging companies practice in New York, DPW is ahead in restructuring.

For corporate, GDC is not on the same tier with DPW or LW. So I think you should count GDC out and just focus on DPW and LW, both great options.

Does the NY office have emerging companies folks? Interested to know since I do ECVC work but prefer to move back east.

Outside of big law, nobody will even know that Latham is maybe half a step below DPW. They are both well regarded enough that you will have similar exit opps.

Latham NY does have emerging companies attorneys in the NY office. The firm also does a good job sharing work across offices to the point that you will regularly be working across offices, especially in more niche groups like emerging companies work.

[Anonymous User]

Latham might be half a step below DPW in NYC right now considering they are smaller (~600 at LW NYC vs >700 at DPW NYC) and DPW is a more established traditional New York shop, but the two shops are definitely close enough in the sense that exit options won't be that different, this is esp true for corporate. Both shops have stellar Banking and Cap Markets team; for M&A, LW focuses more on private m&a (more private equity work) whereas DPW focuses more on public deals (more disclosure requirement, etc). LW has a larger emerging companies practice in New York, DPW is ahead in restructuring.

For corporate, GDC is not on the same tier with DPW or LW. So I think you should count GDC out and just focus on DPW and LW, both great options.

Does the NY office have emerging companies folks? Interested to know since I do ECVC work but prefer to move back east.

Outside of big law, nobody will even know that Latham is maybe half a step below DPW. They are both well regarded enough that you will have similar exit opps.

Yes they have a decent sized ECVC team in New York, also heard they are expanding their ECVC team in in new york

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone know what the culture is like at all these firms? From my sense, it seems like they are pretty equal.

[Anonymous User]

This is a pleasant surprise for me, thanks for the heads up on the ECVC. Any chance you know what hours or culture is like in that group in NY? I think most people would agree that 2000 hours for ECVC is way shittier than 2000 hours in M&A so wondering if their ECVC people are in the high 2000s also or more reasonable.

Apologies to OP for hijacking your thread a bit.

[Anonymous User]

For corporate:

DPW > Latham > GDC

For litigation:

GDC > DPW > Latham

Most New York firms don't have substantial ECVC practices as far as I am aware, so if Latham's got a group and that's what you want, seems like a no-brainer.

[DiligentSage]

If you're looking to do EC/VC work, then it's easily Latham and the other two don't even factor into the equation here. The other firms you should be looking at here are Cooley, Gunderson, Fenwick, Goodwin, WSGR, Lowenstein and so forth.

[Anonymous User]

For corporate:

DPW > Latham > GDC

For litigation:

GDC > DPW > Latham

Most New York firms don't have substantial ECVC practices as far as I am aware, so if Latham's got a group and that's what you want, seems like a no-brainer.

depends on which type of corporate and which type of lit - PE work DPW is not as good as LW; Banking I think they are also tied; but for Cap Market DPW has the edge. Lit wise, general commercial lit GDC has the edge, patent lit wise I think LW has a solid group; securities lit DPW is the best

[Anonymous User]

I was between DPW and Latham and picked Latham. I wanted to do more ECVC work and really liked that the Unassigned program would allow me to explore more practices and work on a variety of matters. I had some personal reasons for my choice as well. Happy to discuss further if you respond to this post with your handle.