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So I know that a lot of people's gut reaction will be like duh choose Simpson. But I do have some considerations!
-transactional 100%
-want to move to CA later (hopefully a Southern California location)
-interested in privacy, tech, IP, entertainment/sports/media, but open to general corporate. Also open to exploring ECEB, real estate

pros for simpson
-it's Simpson lol. One of the best corporate practices in the game
-PE strength, and I'm interested in PE a bit
-people seemed cool, everyone I talked to seem to love it
-IP team is small but seems a lil more prominent than Sidley NYC's IP presence
-hours not tied to bonus (I know this doesn't really mean much, but at least tracking hours is one less thing to worry about)
-everyone I interviewed with was very cool
-seems like there's a pretty robust informal community there for people of my ethnicity

cons
-can't tell if it's a TLS meme but people keep saying that you will not have a life and it is scaring me a little
-people here seem to think that the LA culture is a little weird

pros Sidley
-It seems like a universal experience that they are really nice
-seems like I will have more of a life
-seems strong in entertainment in LA (but they don't seem to do much of that in NYC so maybe not relevant)
-pro bono seems really important + the secondment program seems really cool
-they seem very committed to diversity

cons
-not interested in shareholder activism, which seems like their only strongsuit in NYC
-If I'm being honest, some of my interview experiences were a little strange
-they made me interview separately for two of their offices after getting an offer for one, which makes me feel like if I want to move later it might not be so simple?

Going to get flamed for this take, but take interviewer awkwardness with a grain of salt. How well you vibe with your interviewers is often a function of how good the recruiting team is. I vibed really well with all of my interviewers, and I never worked with any of them when I started. Conversely, recruiting never had me meet the crazy partner I did wind up working for a lot.

Note, I'm talking about awkwardness. I'm not talking about someone being rude or unprofessional.

I would start at STB given your goals. You will almost certainly work really fucking hard, so be ready, but will have more options to lateral elsewhere when you go to CA or anywhere really (have heard nothing but fairly bad things about STB satellites both through the rumor mill and anecdotally). Don’t think pro bono should be a meaningful consideration tbh but maybe I’m cynical and jaded. If you’re Asian I’ve heard good things about the Asian presence at STB ny.