White & Case (NY) or Sidley (NY) Forum

[Hiruu99]

Interested in cross border transactional work. I’m leaning towards W&C for their international presence and general vibes I got from my interviewers. But I know Sidley is more prestigious and may open up more doors down the line.

[Anonymous User]

Sidley NY is having major hemorrhaging issues, and for good reason. Avoid unless you really think you're immune to whatever it is most associates there dislike about that firm in particular (hint: you're not).

Some extra reading on the topic:

https://joinfishbowl.com/post_t9ewzw5sxe

https://joinfishbowl.com/post_v224e2sn2d

[Anonymous User]

Interested in cross border transactional work. I’m leaning towards W&C for their international presence and general vibes I got from my interviewers. But I know Sidley is more prestigious and may open up more doors down the line.

Maybe in CHI Sidley is more prestigious, but in NY, W&C is definitely a tick above. Also W&C does more cross-border transactional work. Be careful what you wish for tho, bc cross-border transactional work is brutal due to the time differences, various regulatory schemes, etc. Every buddy who's mentioned to me they wanted to do cross-border work has ended up eating their words lol

[Anonymous User]

Sidley NY is having major hemorrhaging issues, and for good reason. Avoid unless you really think you're immune to whatever it is most associates there dislike about that firm in particular (hint: you're not).

Some extra reading on the topic:

https://joinfishbowl.com/post_t9ewzw5sxe

https://joinfishbowl.com/post_v224e2sn2d

I think most NY V20 corporate firms are having the same exact issue of losing associates. PW, Latham, Skadden, Kirkland, etc. are just churning through people.

[Anonymous User]

Sidley NY is having major hemorrhaging issues, and for good reason. Avoid unless you really think you're immune to whatever it is most associates there dislike about that firm in particular (hint: you're not).

Some extra reading on the topic:

https://joinfishbowl.com/post_t9ewzw5sxe

https://joinfishbowl.com/post_v224e2sn2d

I think most NY V20 corporate firms are having the same exact issue of losing associates. PW, Latham, Skadden, Kirkland, etc. are just churning through people.

I don't think this is true for all the firms you mentioned, summered at one of the firms you mentioned, and partner said the NY office is expanding faster than planned bc attrition rate has been surprising low this year

[Anonymous User]

Sidley NY is having major hemorrhaging issues, and for good reason. Avoid unless you really think you're immune to whatever it is most associates there dislike about that firm in particular (hint: you're not).

Some extra reading on the topic:

https://joinfishbowl.com/post_t9ewzw5sxe

https://joinfishbowl.com/post_v224e2sn2d

I think most NY V20 corporate firms are having the same exact issue of losing associates. PW, Latham, Skadden, Kirkland, etc. are just churning through people.

I don't think this is true for all the firms you mentioned, summered at one of the firms you mentioned, and partner said the NY office is expanding faster than planned bc attrition rate has been surprising low this year

Partners will tell all sorts of BS to summers to hide the ball, especially with the virtual environment where it's harder to gauge the morale at the firm.

[Anonymous User]

First responding Anon here. I know every firm is having higher attrition (due to low attrition in 2020 for obvious reasons), but don't mistake normal biglaw attrition with "this firm is terrible and not prestigious/compensating enough to forgive it" attrition.

[Anonymous User]

Split my summer with Sidley and another V20 and attrition didn't really seem any worse than the other firm or from similar firms that my friends summered at. Both firms also had a lot of laterals coming in. I don't think Sidley is doing any worse than other similar firms

[moxcoal]

Sidley NY is having major hemorrhaging issues, and for good reason. Avoid unless you really think you're immune to whatever it is most associates there dislike about that firm in particular (hint: you're not).

Some extra reading on the topic:

https://joinfishbowl.com/post_t9ewzw5sxe

https://joinfishbowl.com/post_v224e2sn2d

I think most NY V20 corporate firms are having the same exact issue of losing associates. PW, Latham, Skadden, Kirkland, etc. are just churning through people.

I don't think this is true for all the firms you mentioned, summered at one of the firms you mentioned, and partner said the NY office is expanding faster than planned bc attrition rate has been surprising low this year

Partners will tell all sorts of BS to summers to hide the ball, especially with the virtual environment where it's harder to gauge the morale at the firm.

+1, attrition is higher this past year at all the firms mentioned. Sad to say summers don’t exactly have the full picture, especially where firms want to keep them..

My sense is that associates are universally bouncing around NY with comp + bonus being the only distinguisher

[ChickenSalad]

Summering at a firm for 2 months (even if it was actually at the office) tells you basically nothing about attrition, associate morale, etc. The summer program is a song and dance act

[Anonymous User]

At one of the firms mentioned in the thread title, associates were getting too honest with the summers and management attempted to ban certain associates from going on summer lunches for just telling the truth.

[Anonymous User]

W&C > Sidley in NY

[Anonymous User]

If you want to do cross-border transactional work, this is not even close. W&C is the obvious choice here. W&C is the better firm in NY, especially for cross-border transactional work.

I also have no idea where you heard that Sidley is more prestigious than W&C unless you are from Chicago or go to law school in Chicago.

[Anonymous User]

If you want to do cross-border transactional work, this is not even close. W&C is the obvious choice here. W&C is the better firm in NY, especially for cross-border transactional work.

I also have no idea where you heard that Sidley is more prestigious than W&C unless you are from Chicago or go to law school in Chicago.

Sidley has better practices in CHI, DC, CA, and TX. That's a ton of markets where it does better than W&C. Nevertheless, W&C NY is better than Sidley NY in regards to traditional corp practices, particularly cross-border work.