Sidley SF/SV Insights Forum
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Sidley SF/SV Insights
Any insights on Sidley's SF/SV offices? Transactional; interested in culture, reputation & exit opportunities.
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Re: Sidley SF/SV Insights
I worked in Sidley’s Palo Alto office for the past couple of years until fairly recently. The office is heavily transactional so even though it’s small overall there is a lot of deal work. Historically M&A has been their bread and butter but Capital Markets and EC/VC work have been growing over the past couple of years, including via some bigger lateral partner hires.
It’s a relatively small office so there’s not a lot of office-specific name recognition and if you’re talking to your tech friends they’re not going to have heard of your firm, but the firm is obviously well-known and well-regarded nationally. Exit options, including in the Bay Area, generally seem good. Transactional associates (both tech transactions and general corporate) who have left in recent years have gone to big tech companies like Facebook and Google, as well as other solid roles with more seniority at smaller companies. Junior and mid-level associates have not had issues lateraling to other desirable firms both West Coast (Cooley, WSGR, Gunderson, etc.) and national.
The culture is pretty laid back. Folks are friendly but not in your business. There generally wasn’t much out of office socialization if that’s your thing, but it was a collegial environment. None of the partners are assholes in my opinion. One or two of the M&A partners were a little intense but not bad people. Facetime (before COVID) was not a big issue. People generally didn’t care where you were as long as the work got done. As a very junior associate there was more of an expectation that you be in the office, but by the time you’re a mid-level there is more flexibility. Some people also lived in SF and worked in PA, or vice versa, and it wouldn’t be unusual for a PA associate in that situation to work out of the SF office a day or two a week, for example. I hope that’s helpful. If you have any specific questions let me know.
It’s a relatively small office so there’s not a lot of office-specific name recognition and if you’re talking to your tech friends they’re not going to have heard of your firm, but the firm is obviously well-known and well-regarded nationally. Exit options, including in the Bay Area, generally seem good. Transactional associates (both tech transactions and general corporate) who have left in recent years have gone to big tech companies like Facebook and Google, as well as other solid roles with more seniority at smaller companies. Junior and mid-level associates have not had issues lateraling to other desirable firms both West Coast (Cooley, WSGR, Gunderson, etc.) and national.
The culture is pretty laid back. Folks are friendly but not in your business. There generally wasn’t much out of office socialization if that’s your thing, but it was a collegial environment. None of the partners are assholes in my opinion. One or two of the M&A partners were a little intense but not bad people. Facetime (before COVID) was not a big issue. People generally didn’t care where you were as long as the work got done. As a very junior associate there was more of an expectation that you be in the office, but by the time you’re a mid-level there is more flexibility. Some people also lived in SF and worked in PA, or vice versa, and it wouldn’t be unusual for a PA associate in that situation to work out of the SF office a day or two a week, for example. I hope that’s helpful. If you have any specific questions let me know.
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Re: Sidley SF/SV Insights
Just curious, why did you leave Sidley? And how was WLB relative to biglaw? I noticed a number of SV corp associates lateralled out in the past year.
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Re: Sidley SF/SV Insights
Given office size I can’t tell you where I left for without identifying myself, but I can say that I left due to an opportunity that I was excited about including a change of geography rather than because I was dissatisfied in any way. WLB was about what you would expect from west coast biglaw. I came in over 2000 billable hours each year but never over 2200. Last year was on the busier end of that and I think a lot of people got crushed and still are getting crushed but I think that’s industry wide right now.
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Re: Sidley SF/SV Insights
Not sure your circumstances, but given the chance to go to Sidley and/or what is typically thought of as a EC/VC firm (Cooley, Goodwin, Fenwick) which would you prefer?Anonymous User wrote: ↑Tue Sep 14, 2021 11:39 amGiven office size I can’t tell you where I left for without identifying myself, but I can say that I left due to an opportunity that I was excited about including a change of geography rather than because I was dissatisfied in any way. WLB was about what you would expect from west coast biglaw. I came in over 2000 billable hours each year but never over 2200. Last year was on the busier end of that and I think a lot of people got crushed and still are getting crushed but I think that’s industry wide right now.
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- Posts: 428118
- Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am
Re: Sidley SF/SV Insights
It depends on what you want to do. If you know that you only want to do EC/VC, you’re probably better off in one of the traditional SV firms. If you have an interest in doing some other corporate work as well (such as M&A and cap markets, or Shareholder Activism which Sidley is one of the top firms at) Sidley could be a good option. I also think there is capacity to handle a couple of pure EC/VC associates, but I’m not sure if they are thinking that way or would prefer to have juniors who are more generalists. Personally I have always enjoyed having a broad practice rather doing the same thing over and over again, but some people prefer to specialize.
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- Posts: 428118
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Re: Sidley SF/SV Insights
If you wanted to do M&A and cap markets, then EC/VC firms like Cooley and Fenwick would still be better.Anonymous User wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 12:36 pmIt depends on what you want to do. If you know that you only want to do EC/VC, you’re probably better off in one of the traditional SV firms. If you have an interest in doing some other corporate work as well (such as M&A and cap markets, or Shareholder Activism which Sidley is one of the top firms at) Sidley could be a good option. I also think there is capacity to handle a couple of pure EC/VC associates, but I’m not sure if they are thinking that way or would prefer to have juniors who are more generalists. Personally I have always enjoyed having a broad practice rather doing the same thing over and over again, but some people prefer to specialize.