DPW (NY) vs. S&C (NY) vs. Covington (DC) Forum

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DPW (NY) vs. S&C (NY) vs. Covington (DC)

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Sep 11, 2021 8:04 am

Not sure exactly what I want to do but deciding between these firms. Leaning lit, and maybe white collar (have experience in gov't and private sector before law school). It seems like the NY shops do more white collar in SDNY/EDNY but Cov has Congressional investigations, although I assume I would get access to both. Do any of these narrow down my options drastically in the future (e.g. clerking, future career prospects, etc.)?

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Elston Gunn

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Re: DPW (NY) vs. S&C (NY) vs. Covington (DC)

Post by Elston Gunn » Sat Sep 11, 2021 2:45 pm

No, none of these options is going to substantially limit your future. If you have any preference between NY and DC, that should be the first thing that drives your decision.

Everyone I’ve known at DPW and S&C have been exceptionally miserable, though YMMV. Covington lit/white collar is not exactly a walk in the park, but on average it is not as punishing. I was in DC Biglaw, so not as familiar with the specifics of DPW’s and S&C’s lit practices, but a desire to do white collar would be a good reason to go to Covington. White collar is probably their single strongest practice area, beyond super niche stuff like FDA regulatory, and one of the best around. Unless you specifically have a reason to need to end up in NY, there’s no reason to weigh having a lot of cases in SDNY over more DC-based Main Justice or other DC agencies either, imo.

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Re: DPW (NY) vs. S&C (NY) vs. Covington (DC)

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Sep 15, 2021 11:47 am

Anonymous User wrote:
Sat Sep 11, 2021 8:04 am
Not sure exactly what I want to do but deciding between these firms. Leaning lit, and maybe white collar (have experience in gov't and private sector before law school). It seems like the NY shops do more white collar in SDNY/EDNY but Cov has Congressional investigations, although I assume I would get access to both. Do any of these narrow down my options drastically in the future (e.g. clerking, future career prospects, etc.)?

Go to Covington. People at my CCN who are leaning litigation would choose Covington DC over any generic NYC V10 (sans Wachtell) in a heartbeat. A friend got S&C (NY) early in the OCI process and ditched it immediately when she got a DC firm (lower-ranked than Covington). Like the above poster said, unless you really want to be in NYC (which I don't understand since DPW and S&C are depressing as heck and you'll get ground to a pulp in a few years), Covington DC is the best choice for litigation. Also, idk if preftige has any sway on you, but Covington has, relatively speaking, a lot more YLS/HLS people and tippy top CCN folks.

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Re: DPW (NY) vs. S&C (NY) vs. Covington (DC)

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Sep 26, 2021 2:35 pm

I faced a similar choice (S&C NY v. Cov DC) with similar goals. I picked Covington. The decision was not particularly difficult, and working there over the summer and talking to associates only made me more confident I had made the right choice. TBH talking to laterals to Covington in practice areas I was interested in made me feel a bit like I had won the BigLaw lottery given how they described Cov compared to their prior firms (generally NY V10s).

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