Gibson (DC) vs Cleary (NY) Forum

[gprapendo11]

Having trouble deciding between these two. I'm not sure what I want to do yet but am interested in white collar investigations and compliance work.

[Anonymous User]

Why are you interested in compliance?

[Anonymous User]

Why are you interested in compliance?

I've previously encountered FCPA work and really enjoyed it. Gibson Dunn obviously has the edge when it comes to FCPA, but a major reason why I like FCPA is because of my interest in international work, which is Cleary's whole thing.

[gprapendo11]

Why are you interested in compliance?

I've previously done work related to FCPA compliance and really enjoyed it. Gibson Dunn has an obvious edge when it comes to FCPA, but a major reason why I like FCPA is because I'm interested in international work, which is Cleary's whole thing.

[Anonymous User]

(a) you need to decide where you want to live -- NY and DC are very different.

(b) the TLS consensus would be that Cleary's in a tough spot -- lot of partnership defections, much weaker financial metrics than its historical peers. GDC DC is top notch.

I guess Cleary still has Joon Kim?

[Anonymous User]

(a) you need to decide where you want to live -- NY and DC are very different.

(b) the TLS consensus would be that Cleary's in a tough spot -- lot of partnership defections, much weaker financial metrics than its historical peers. GDC DC is top notch.

I guess Cleary still has Joon Kim?

Eh. Cleary definitely took a hit with the Freshfields M&A hires, but its white collar investigations is still top notch. The financials are as you said, although Cleary is very much an international firm (20 foreign offices or so?) and so I wonder how that plays into the structure.

But yes, if general lit then I'd strongly consider GDC.

[Anonymous User]

Eh. Cleary definitely took a hit with the Freshfields M&A hires, but its white collar investigations is still top notch. The financials are as you said, although Cleary is very much an international firm (20 foreign offices or so?) and so I wonder how that plays into the structure.

But yes, if general lit then I'd strongly consider GDC.

is there any guarantee you'll get to do that work though? this was a year or two ago, but PoC Y/S friend at Cleary left to clerk COA, told s/he couldn't be guaranteed a seat on return

[Anonymous User]

If you're a litigator's litigator, go to GDC. Fairly or unfairly, Cleary is not really known for that. Also, associates there seem to get pushed out sooner than they do at other places.

[Anonymous User]

Gibson DC without question - not really that comparable anymore. Unless you really want to live in New York, but then I'd ask Gibson to summer in their New York office.