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I want to go into transactional but have not decided on a group. Which do I choose? I want to live in nyc or another international city long term.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 18, 2022 6:56 am

I want to go into transactional but have not decided on a group. Which do I choose? I want to live in nyc or another international city long term.

Depends on:

1. Practice group: DPW is cap markets king, Skadden is better for public m&a and tax, etc. Speak with attorneys at those firms or peer firms to get a sense of how each firm's practice groups stack up against each other.

2. Culture & Location: DPW is aggressively nice and very polite, and also skimps on associate benefits & events. Office needs a renovation, midtown east. Skadden is social and a large % are very fratty. New office, crazy nice gym, spends more on perks and events, Hudson Yards.

3. International presence: DPW has a stronger presence in Asia iirc. Look into each firm's international office locations and see if one firm has a stronger presence in the region you eventually want to end up in.

Prestige difference between the is not really material - most people would have a strong preference for one or the other based on some combination of the above. If you haven't yet, schedule second look visits and visit the firms in person - that should give you a strong gut check one way or the other. If you're still split after, honestly just flip a coin.

DPW. Better culture. Better for capm, finance, restructuring. Band 1 in every other major corp practice area. Compensation leader.

Your career will turn out great either way though. Good luck!

Do you know what practice area you want to be in?

Skadden has a year long rotational and then you rank your groups, but a good amount of people each year don't get their top ranked choice. I can't recall how DPW does it.

The two are pretty similar in every meaningful metric, so I would go with the choice that gives you a better chance at ending up in the group you want.