Insights into Jones Day (Atlanta) and Akin Gump (Dallas) Forum

[wooooooooop]

Hello! I was wondering if anyone had any insight into the Atlanta office of Jones Day and the Dallas office of Akin Gump, especially for litigation work. Thank you!

[Anonymous User]

Only go to Jones Day's Atlanta office if it's your only offer. They require you to come into the office 5 days a week and since Atlanta moved to market pay, they have experienced a mass exodus. I think you should look at King & Spalding and Alston & Bird first if you want to be in Atlanta.

[Anonymous User]

Is there any scenario where someone would choose JD over another, market-paying firm? I personally don't think so.

[Anonymous User]

Is there any scenario where someone would choose JD over another, market-paying firm? I personally don't think so.

1. You are a SCOTUS clerk looking for the largest available bonus.
2. You are interested in living in a place with a JD office and no market-paying firms.

Those are about the only 2 scenarios that justify it.

[wooooooooop]

I definitely agree about Jones Day. How is Akin Gump’s reputation in Texas?

[Anonymous User]

No firsthand knowledge, but Akin Dallas is fairly notorious for having a bad culture. Otherwise, in terms of general rep, Akin in Texas is solidly mid-tier.

[Anonymous User]

Is there any scenario where someone would choose JD over another, market-paying firm? I personally don't think so.

1. You are a SCOTUS clerk looking for the largest available bonus.
2. You are interested in living in a place with a JD office and no market-paying firms.

Those are about the only 2 scenarios that justify it.

3. You want a specialty practice group like I&A, L&E, or GovReg
4. You want a revolving door between government and private practice
5. You want a path to equity partnership that doesn't involve billing 2700+ hours
6. You want to move to an exotic location while staying at the same firm
7. You want the JD culture (formal, conservative, collegial)

There are plenty of reasons to work at JD. Short-term profit clearly isn't one of them, but it's not crazy to sacrifice 10-30k a year pre-tax for some combination of the above.

[veers]

Is there any scenario where someone would choose JD over another, market-paying firm? I personally don't think so.

1. You are a SCOTUS clerk looking for the largest available bonus.
2. You are interested in living in a place with a JD office and no market-paying firms.

Those are about the only 2 scenarios that justify it.

3. You want a specialty practice group like I&A, L&E, or GovReg
4. You want a revolving door between government and private practice
5. You want a path to equity partnership that doesn't involve billing 2700+ hours
6. You want to move to an exotic location while staying at the same firm
7. You want the JD culture (formal, conservative, collegial)

There are plenty of reasons to work at JD. Short-term profit clearly isn't one of them, but it's not crazy to sacrifice 10-30k a year pre-tax for some combination of the above.

+1

Imagine it is a choice between billing 2600 hours at KE and hating your life vs. billing 2000 hours (or a bit less) at JD, and the difference is all of $40k. Seems ridic that the TLS bigwigs all assume that any sane person who go for the KE nightmare.

[Anonymous User]

No firsthand knowledge, but Akin Dallas is fairly notorious for having a bad culture. Otherwise, in terms of general rep, Akin in Texas is solidly mid-tier.

Interested in what you've heard regarding Akin Dallas - why do they have a rep for a bad culture? Not OP but also looking in Dallas.