DC Corporate Competitiveness Forum

[STattorney]

How competitive is the corporate market in DC. I know lit has much higher GPA requirements but is the same true for corporate (have school GPA data but I'm sure it is heavily skewed by lit-focused people). Also, any culture insights on DC corporate departments (LW, Fried, Hogan, Skadden, GDC, etc)

[Anonymous User]

I think this depends on your school/GPA - hard to say how competitive you'll be without knowing either of those.

I went through OCI in 2019, went to one of the higher-ranked T14s (not HYS), and interviewed with 3 of the firms you listed for corporate in DC. I got offers from two of them, but didn't even get a callback from GDC, which, particularly in DC, is known to be very grade-sensitive. My school didn't officially calculate GPAs, but I put my grades into a calculator and had roughly a 3.45, including two Bs, after 1L. Nobody asked me anything about my grades. I interview well and had ties to DC, but I assume if grades were a hard dealbreaker I met whatever cutoff they had.

[Anonymous User]

Harder than NY because there are fewer spots but for sure easier than DC litigation. Be aware that "corporate" is a somewhat amorphous word in DC, and firms advertising it may not always do the type of corporate work you're probably envisioning. Some firms have corporate groups in DC that only do Real Estate or some esoteric corner of transactional work. The firms you listed all have more traditional groups to my knowledge. Check out the chambers rankings for Corporate/M&A and don't forget Northern Virginia offices too.

[Anonymous User]

relatedly, how hard is DC regulatory compared to DC transactional and litigation? closer to transactional?

[Anonymous User]

How competitive is the corporate market in DC. I know lit has much higher GPA requirements but is the same true for corporate (have school GPA data but I'm sure it is heavily skewed by lit-focused people). Also, any culture insights on DC corporate departments (LW, Fried, Hogan, Skadden, GDC, etc)

In my experience, regulatory groups care a little less about normal OCI credentials and a little more about experience with the regulated industry. Patticularly when it's a niche regulatory area.

[Anonymous User]

relatedly, how hard is DC regulatory compared to DC transactional and litigation? closer to transactional?

I'm a DC regulatory associate - my experience is that it's a bit more competitive, because the groups are relatively small and regulatory work (outside of a few firms that are very grade-sensitive, like Wilmer/GDC/Covington) isn't necessarily a giant fee generator the way transactional matters or big litigation matters can be. And because it's DC, many people have some kind of related pre-law school experience in the government or on the Hill and have an advantage.