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i'm leaning corporate with no specific type of work in mind. which of these two would be the better place to start my career or provide the best exit options? tough to tell since Deb substantially lower in V100 but higher in NY while Milbank is a relatively recent force in the V20. i know vault rankings are shallow, but i get equivalent vibes from the people here and being undecided it's tough to say. is there a clear favorite here?

Vault's rankings should be irrelevant to this decision. It is based on the perception of associates who work at these firms, and does not necessarily reflect strength of practice relative to other firms. Milbank made a significant jump because they were the catalyst for a bunch of raises and bonuses in recent years, and associates are (rightfully) showing their appreciation, but that does not mean that their corporate practices all of a sudden got better or their associates are getting better exit options upon leaving.

You should really be comparing Chambers rankings for those corporate practices which you think you may be interested in. For the overall corporate M&A rankings in New York, Debevoise is ranked Band 2 in the "Elite" category whereas Milbank is not ranked at all. So going purely by strength of the overall corporate practice, you should be leaning Debevoise. But again, you should check for more specific department rankings as Milbank does have some noted strengths.

That said, both are great NY firms and you should focus on fit in addition to just prestige/exit options.

Good luck!

Debevoise is regarded as more prestigious by a lot of people, if you care about that.

...Not trying to be mean but did you do any research at all before you posted this thread OP? Debevoise corporate is leagues better than Milbank...

Yeah, Debevoise easily clears Milbank in quality of corporate work/"prestige"

Milbank is cool for giving us raises for sure, but that's been the catalyst for their jump up the vault rankings the last couple of years, not so much any significant change in their practice

The other posters hate to admit it, but these firms are peers in terms of comp, great work, and overall success. Here are their financials last year:

Milbank:
19.9% Equity Partners
$5,033,000 PPP
$1,660,000 RPL

Debevoise:

18.1% Equity Partners
$5,011,000 PPP
$1,687,000 RPL

Hard to do anything other than reeeee about historical NYC prestige, because the firms could be each other if you switched their names. If you're an M&A-or-bust poster, Debevoise makes more sense, but it doesn't look like you are. In pretty much every other scenario it's a wash or Milbank might even have a marginally better practice. Just look at Chambers to see which one has better practices in what you like to do, think about their location in NYC (I'm assuming both in Hudson Yards), and do whatever your version of the vibe test is.

Deb for the prestige alone

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 16, 2022 11:27 am

Deb for the prestige alone

V18 cope. V11 milbank is unphased.

Sackboy wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 16, 2022 11:20 am

The other posters hate to admit it, but these firms are peers in terms of comp, great work, and overall success. Here are their financials last year:

Milbank:
19.9% Equity Partners
$5,033,000 PPP
$1,660,000 RPL

Debevoise:

18.1% Equity Partners
$5,011,000 PPP
$1,687,000 RPL

Hard to do anything other than reeeee about historical NYC prestige, because the firms could be each other if you switched their names. If you're an M&A-or-bust poster, Debevoise makes more sense, but it doesn't look like you are. In pretty much every other scenario it's a wash or Milbank might even have a marginally better practice. Just look at Chambers to see which one has better practices in what you like to do, think about their location in NYC (I'm assuming both in Hudson Yards), and do whatever your version of the vibe test is.

While I agree with your conclusion that the firms are not as far apart as people make them seem, your reasoning is flawed. Profitability of a firm does not and should not matter to a junior lawyer, unless the firm is so unprofitable that it is verging on shutting its doors, which is not the case for either firm.

How did the two firms make their money? Milbank made it on the backs of their PF, restructuring and capital markets group. Debevoise made it on the backs of funds formation and M&A.

OP should focus on which practice area he is interested in and choose the firm that is stronger in that practice area. If he doesn't know - he should go with fit and which firm allows him the opportunity to explore which practice area he is interested in.

Edit: Grammar.

That's exactly my point.

Sackboy wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 16, 2022 11:20 am

The other posters hate to admit it, but these firms are peers in terms of comp, great work, and overall success. Here are their financials last year:

Milbank:
19.9% Equity Partners
$5,033,000 PPP
$1,660,000 RPL

Debevoise:

18.1% Equity Partners
$5,011,000 PPP
$1,687,000 RPL

Hard to do anything other than reeeee about historical NYC prestige, because the firms could be each other if you switched their names. If you're an M&A-or-bust poster, Debevoise makes more sense, but it doesn't look like you are. In pretty much every other scenario it's a wash or Milbank might even have a marginally better practice. Just look at Chambers to see which one has better practices in what you like to do, think about their location in NYC (I'm assuming both in Hudson Yards), and do whatever your version of the vibe test is.

Isn't Deb better at capital markets too?

I just feel like Milbank is generally a weird choice over the other top firms for transactional work unless you're sure you want to do finance type stuff.

existentialcrisis wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 17, 2022 9:06 am

Isn't Deb better at capital markets too?

I just feel like Milbank is generally a weird choice over the other top firms for transactional work unless you're sure you want to do finance type stuff.

I didn't think Deb had a very strong CM practice, but maybe I'm mistaken (not my area).

Sackboy wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 17, 2022 9:59 am

existentialcrisis wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 17, 2022 9:06 am

Isn't Deb better at capital markets too?

I just feel like Milbank is generally a weird choice over the other top firms for transactional work unless you're sure you want to do finance type stuff.

I didn't think Deb had a very strong CM practice, but maybe I'm mistaken (not my area).

It looks like they’re moderately well ranked on issuer side stuff but honestly not my area either.

I just feel like Securities and M&A are the things most students are interested in on the corporate side and Deb is better at both.

If you wanna do PF or even regular finance Milbank is a great choice here.