Top Law Schools

Hi all, I'm having trouble selecting a firm for the summer. I'm attempting to choose between Sidley, V&E, and STB (all in Houston). I'm interested in working in the Chicago or NY markets after graduation and doing transactional work. Any ideas on which will be the "best" option here?

Sidley if Chicago
STB if NY
VE if staying in Texas

You should try to find out whether any of these firms would be open to you to working next summer at their NY or Chicago offices. Perhaps you could ask recruiting what their policies are on summers/incoming associates switching offices should you express that desire, though I'd try to phrase the question without giving too much away.

Obviously Sidley is excellent across groups in Chicago, and STB is one of the best transactional practices in NY. Would be pretty nice to head into OCI with a return offer from either.

If you want to be in Houston - V&E and it isn't close. Like everyone else said, if you want NY or Chicago for sure then one of the other two. Ultimately, it doesn't matter a ton (unless you plan on this being the firm you accept for 2L). The other firms will just like you had a 1L position at a firm (doesn't matter which one necessarily).

I’ve heard absolute horror stories out of STB so I wouldn’t go there. V&E is solid but it’s going to be pretty old school, white male, etc. and you may not love the culture. I’d probably go with Sidley. But I also don’t want to die of overwork (STB) or be at a firm where I’m unhappy with the culture.

Am in Houston. Of these three, V&E. Their only two competitors in the market these days are Kirkland and Latham and I think those two megafirms are the only satellite offices of larger firms that I'd feel comfortable working at in Houston. STB and Sidley may grow like gangbusters or they may run hot and then cold. Five, ten years down the line it may be different, but for now from those offers you should pick V&E.

Also, V&E's brand new building is pretty nice. I'm a bit jealous of it.

I’m also in Houston. You likely won’t be in biglaw more than 5 years, choose where you like the people.

I’d think about doing V&E just because it’s a bigger office/HQ and I assume you’d probably have the opportunity to try out more transactional practice areas which could be useful in figuring out what you want to do.

I’m not so worried about the long term career implications here because if you have these options as a 1L you’ll surely have lots of other choices after OCI.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 21, 2023 7:50 pm

If you want to be in Houston - V&E and it isn't close. Like everyone else said, if you want NY or Chicago for sure then one of the other two. Ultimately, it doesn't matter a ton (unless you plan on this being the firm you accept for 2L). The other firms will just like you had a 1L position at a firm (doesn't matter which one necessarily).

Agreed that it’s easily V&E > Sidley > STB if you’re staying in Houston. If you plan to end up in NYC then probably the opposite.

If you have these options as a 1L, I imagine you can probably come back as a split summer for 2L year. At least that used to be pretty standard. You might ask how the 2L summer works. It can be nice to have a split option so you can experience other firms.