avoid white&case NY? Forum

[Anonymous User]

been hearing some summers saying that the summer was generally bad but also that some partners got too drunk and attempted to get more than a little handsy with some female SA’s, at their last summer event and associates had to step in and help them. anybody else hearing this

[Anonymous User]

Idk what is true or not but why are there so many stories about racism and sexism—and now harassment—across summer programs this year?!

[Anonymous User]

spoke to some people at my law school who were Part of the summer program there for OCI purposes earlier in the month and they said it wasnt horrible but not good either and the culture was “off”. Lots of complaints about the firm being cheap with the program and rude people. Messaged one of them about the creepy partner and they confirmed a partner was very publicly trying to peak up some summer’s skirts and dresses and tried to touch them at a karaoke thing they went too.

[Anonymous User]

been hearing some summers saying that the summer was generally bad but also that some partners got too drunk and attempted to get more than a little handsy with some female SA’s, at their last summer event and associates had to step in and help them. anybody else hearing this

Also reports of many summers being asked to work until late regularly - think 10-11 pm if not later. Given the firm's rank & stature in the market, I'd think that most applicants would have better options and should avoid unless the British connection & international presence (which is a negative for most applicants actually) is a big factor.

Even then, Freshfields exists. Around the same level of selectivity, Milbank is a good option.

[Anonymous User]

Idk what is true or not but why are there so many stories about racism and sexism—and now harassment—across summer programs this year?!

Are there "so many"? I've only heard rumors about K&E summers. What other firms? Give me the gossip

[Anonymous User]

recruitment team looked over some summers hours when they turned down an assignment, saw that they were billing 7-8 hours a day and told them the job wasn’t a 9-5 and they should be billing more.

[Anonymous User]

The summers at W&C were apparently supposed to see Justin Bieber for one of the social events, but that got cancelled on account of his facial paralysis. There was also apparently another summer event (Hudson River wine cruise) that got cancelled because of some mechanical problems. Wouldn’t be surprised if these mishaps perhaps affected the summers’ perception of the firm.

[Anonymous User]

recruitment team looked over some summers hours when they turned down an assignment, saw that they were billing 7-8 hours a day and told them the job wasn’t a 9-5 and they should be billing more.

I don't buy this. There's no way any half-decent recruitment team at any firm would ever do this.

[thegreattexan]

recruitment team looked over some summers hours when they turned down an assignment, saw that they were billing 7-8 hours a day and told them the job wasn’t a 9-5 and they should be billing more.

I don't buy this. There's no way any half-decent recruitment team at any firm would ever do this.

i thought that was pretty obviously a joke.

[Anonymous User]

W&C summer here and can confirm that people did get their hours reviewed after they turned down work and the 9-5 comment was made. I’m not sure if they were billing 8 hours though but more like 5-7hours a day. We all got a range at the beginning of what it meant to be busy. You had to be billing either 35 or 40-50 hours a week. If you weren’t within that range you weren’t considered busy by firm standards and shouldn’t be saying no to assignments. We got some reminder emails about this throughout the summer and emails reminding us that the work came above all else including social events/lunches.

[Anonymous User]

recruitment team looked over some summers hours when they turned down an assignment, saw that they were billing 7-8 hours a day and told them the job wasn’t a 9-5 and they should be billing more.

I don't buy this. There's no way any half-decent recruitment team at any firm would ever do this.

Do we have to assume that their recruitment team is half-decent?

I have no knowledge of how White & Case's recruiting team works, but I do know that lots of firms saw significant turnover between the last in-person summer program and now. It's entirely possible that there's someone new (or someone promoted from another part of the firm such as lateral hiring) who just doesn't know how these things work.

[Res Ipsa Loquitter]

recruitment team looked over some summers hours when they turned down an assignment, saw that they were billing 7-8 hours a day and told them the job wasn’t a 9-5 and they should be billing more.

I don't buy this. There's no way any half-decent recruitment team at any firm would ever do this.

Do we have to assume that their recruitment team is half-decent?

I have no knowledge of how White & Case's recruiting team works, but I do know that lots of firms saw significant turnover between the last in-person summer program and now. It's entirely possible that there's someone new (or someone promoted from another part of the firm such as lateral hiring) who just doesn't know how these things work.

Plus, summers are the only members of the firm who actually think recruiting’s opinions matter. They probably took advantage of that dynamic to feel powerful and scare the summers.

[Anonymous User]

Davis Polk said the same thing for us (minimum of 7 hours billed a day), except we could bill lunches, firm events, coffees, a conversation with other associates, law review work, etc... I think the gist is you just can't like sit and watch Netflix in your office or something. Maybe that is what the White & Case people meant?

[Anonymous User]

I think W&C is truly a “working” summer, or at least has been in recent years. A close friend of mine summered there in a non-NYC office in 2021 and worked just as much as associates (often worked until 11-12, sometimes as late as 2-3 am, worked almost every weekend, etc.). He switched firms during 3L as he thought that was a bad sign.

[Anonymous User]

confirming that the creepy karaoke partner thing happened. Many things were attempted to get him to leave and he just would not. He tried to hop in a summers Uber home. It was actually a scary situation to be involved in especially since we hadn’t received our offers yet. I was annoyed with their policy banning partners from going to after events with summers because I didn’t think it made sense and it led to some very awkward moments like after the broken boat when we were supposed to be fed on the boat but didn’t and everyone was standing around because they knew they wouldn’t get reimbursed by the firm if they took us out to eat. It made sense at karaoke though. Nothing says please accept your offers like some farewell sexual harassment or watching your friends being sexually harassed.

[Anonymous User]

7 hr a day requirement is common (or at least is a thing in my non W&C firm, for all lawyers). But all it means is that if you don't have 7 hours billable in a day you just put in an entry for nonbillable administrative tasks to fill up the time. I've done this without any push back whatsoever. W&C summers - I'm sorry this wasn't explained to you and the recruiting staff didn't understand the guidelines. (Or maybe W&C actually is weird about this).

The harassment is a whole different level of horrible, you should definitely report it to the HR or even just informally to a different partner.

[Res Ipsa Loquitter]

confirming that the creepy karaoke partner thing happened. Many things were attempted to get him to leave and he just would not. He tried to hop in a summers Uber home. It was actually a scary situation to be involved in especially since we hadn’t received our offers yet. I was annoyed with their policy banning partners from going to after events with summers because I didn’t think it made sense and it led to some very awkward moments like after the broken boat when we were supposed to be fed on the boat but didn’t and everyone was standing around because they knew they wouldn’t get reimbursed by the firm if they took us out to eat. It made sense at karaoke though. Nothing says please accept your offers like some farewell sexual harassment or watching your friends being sexually harassed.

You can’t hold the partner’s behavior against the firm — Unless the powers that be were made aware of the behavior and chose to take no action. Shit happens at every big firm, what matters is how the firm reacts to it.

[Anonymous User]

confirming that the creepy karaoke partner thing happened. Many things were attempted to get him to leave and he just would not. He tried to hop in a summers Uber home. It was actually a scary situation to be involved in especially since we hadn’t received our offers yet. I was annoyed with their policy banning partners from going to after events with summers because I didn’t think it made sense and it led to some very awkward moments like after the broken boat when we were supposed to be fed on the boat but didn’t and everyone was standing around because they knew they wouldn’t get reimbursed by the firm if they took us out to eat. It made sense at karaoke though. Nothing says please accept your offers like some farewell sexual harassment or watching your friends being sexually harassed.

You can’t hold the partner’s behavior against the firm — Unless the powers that be were made aware of the behavior and chose to take no action. Shit happens at every big firm, what matters is how the firm reacts to it.

They had a rule against partners at after parties so I'm guessing they are well aware.

[Anonymous User]

confirming that the creepy karaoke partner thing happened. Many things were attempted to get him to leave and he just would not. He tried to hop in a summers Uber home. It was actually a scary situation to be involved in especially since we hadn’t received our offers yet. I was annoyed with their policy banning partners from going to after events with summers because I didn’t think it made sense and it led to some very awkward moments like after the broken boat when we were supposed to be fed on the boat but didn’t and everyone was standing around because they knew they wouldn’t get reimbursed by the firm if they took us out to eat. It made sense at karaoke though. Nothing says please accept your offers like some farewell sexual harassment or watching your friends being sexually harassed.

How many summers were there? At my v30 if there were 40-50 or so we would’ve just banded a couple of partners together and just taken people out—my firm would’ve copped me the $1000 regardless of any dumb policy.

[Anonymous User]

confirming that the creepy karaoke partner thing happened. Many things were attempted to get him to leave and he just would not. He tried to hop in a summers Uber home. It was actually a scary situation to be involved in especially since we hadn’t received our offers yet. I was annoyed with their policy banning partners from going to after events with summers because I didn’t think it made sense and it led to some very awkward moments like after the broken boat when we were supposed to be fed on the boat but didn’t and everyone was standing around because they knew they wouldn’t get reimbursed by the firm if they took us out to eat. It made sense at karaoke though. Nothing says please accept your offers like some farewell sexual harassment or watching your friends being sexually harassed.

You can’t hold the partner’s behavior against the firm — Unless the powers that be were made aware of the behavior and chose to take no action. Shit happens at every big firm, what matters is how the firm reacts to it.

I would presume someone from recruiting was there "supervising" - I don't know for a fact but I doubt recruiting was totally blind. I also doubt this was an isolated incident with that partner, but again I don't know. If my assumptions are wrong, you're totally right. W&C summers should chime in.

Anyway, W&C may be on the extreme end, but 1Ls at OCI and 2L summers looking for "substantive experience" should take warning. Is this (the long hours, not the sexual harassment) what you really want? If not, just take your boring research assignments, free lunches, etc. and put your summer vacation in the W column.

[Res Ipsa Loquitter]

confirming that the creepy karaoke partner thing happened. Many things were attempted to get him to leave and he just would not. He tried to hop in a summers Uber home. It was actually a scary situation to be involved in especially since we hadn’t received our offers yet. I was annoyed with their policy banning partners from going to after events with summers because I didn’t think it made sense and it led to some very awkward moments like after the broken boat when we were supposed to be fed on the boat but didn’t and everyone was standing around because they knew they wouldn’t get reimbursed by the firm if they took us out to eat. It made sense at karaoke though. Nothing says please accept your offers like some farewell sexual harassment or watching your friends being sexually harassed.

You can’t hold the partner’s behavior against the firm — Unless the powers that be were made aware of the behavior and chose to take no action. Shit happens at every big firm, what matters is how the firm reacts to it.

I would presume someone from recruiting was there "supervising" - I don't know for a fact but I doubt recruiting was totally blind. I also doubt this was an isolated incident with that partner, but again I don't know. If my assumptions are wrong, you're totally right. W&C summers should chime in.

Anyway, W&C may be on the extreme end, but 1Ls at OCI and 2L summers looking for "substantive experience" should take warning. Is this (the long hours, not the sexual harassment) what you really want? If not, just take your boring research assignments, free lunches, etc. and put your summer vacation in the W column.

Yeah, it’s totally possible that he’s done this before and they don’t care because he brings in fat stacks of dough. But we just don’t have all the info here. Maybe he’s getting fired for this — I have no idea if the firm condones what he did.

[Anonymous User]

W&C summer here and can confirm that people did get their hours reviewed after they turned down work and the 9-5 comment was made. I’m not sure if they were billing 8 hours though but more like 5-7hours a day. We all got a range at the beginning of what it meant to be busy. You had to be billing either 35 or 40-50 hours a week. If you weren’t within that range you weren’t considered busy by firm standards and shouldn’t be saying no to assignments. We got some reminder emails about this throughout the summer and emails reminding us that the work came above all else including social events/lunches.

wow. i summered at a vault firm that many on here would probably clown and I doubt I billed more than 60 hours the entire summer.

[Anonymous User]

For all of you that are 'confirming' that this partner was sexually harassing female summers. Don't be shy and name the partner? If this allegation has teeth, it's so egregious that no one should have any qualms about naming this dude.

[Anonymous User]

For all of you that are 'confirming' that this partner was sexually harassing female summers. Don't be shy and name the partner? If this allegation has teeth, it's so egregious that no one should have any qualms about naming this dude.

Agreed. This one partner in no way represents the entire firm. If it's as egregious as the posters here describe, I don't see any issue with naming that partner.

[Anonymous User]

For all of you that are 'confirming' that this partner was sexually harassing female summers. Don't be shy and name the partner? If this allegation has teeth, it's so egregious that no one should have any qualms about naming this dude.

Agreed. This one partner in no way represents the entire firm. If it's as egregious as the posters here describe, I don't see any issue with naming that partner.

Especially true when the allegation involves predatory behavior. If true, this partner will undoubtedly be around female summers in the future as well as female attorneys in the present. A carefully worded warning seems called for here.