Let's talk about Atlanta! Forum

[Anonymous User]

That's a crap question, so you are going to get a crap answer.

AGG is a fine mid-level firm in Atlanta, I know many people that work there and like it. I know a few that didn't. Just like every other peer frim.

Can you draft a question for me that is not crap? Why did a few of the people you know that worked there not like it?

[Anonymous User]

Does ATL care about Southern ties as much as somewhere like Tennessee or Texas does?

[SplitMyPants]

Does ATL care about Southern ties as much as somewhere like Tennessee or Texas does?

Yes. Don't know anything about Tennessee, but from what I can tell, they care more than Texas. Purely anecdotal, but I know someone (non-URM) who landed Texas from Vandy with no ties whatsoever.

They care a lot of Atlanta ties. Being from the Southeast generally will help, but Georgia/Atlanta ties are better.

[Anonymous User]

Does ATL care about Southern ties as much as somewhere like Tennessee or Texas does?

I am from the SE and was drilled relentlessly about my ties, even after having spent my 1L summer in Atlanta.

[Anonymous User]

I'm from GA (also attended one of UGA/GT/Emory/GSU for undergrad) but not Atlanta, and Mckenna/Denton's drilled me about why I wanted to work in Atlanta.

[Anonymous User]

Here are the Atlanta firm descriptions for anyone in this class still wondering and for the next class:

K&S: It's K&S. If you are a striver, this is the firm for you. The best firm. And everyone in the firm will remind you it's the best firm. And you will remind yourself on Saturday night its the best firm. And then you will continually let your friends know its the best firm. Before you lose them. It's hard balancing 2500 (yes, be prepared for that) hours a year and a social life. But you will have a lot of Atlanta prestige. You will pwn the Buckhead bar scene if you get a job here (kidding, you won't actually get to go out).

A&B: Not quite K&S. But still prestigious. You'll still do well at Buckhead bars. Not as laid back as they once were. Less hours than K&S, maybe, but maybe not. Try to work for a good partner.

After those two firms no one outside of the legal world knows wtf you are saying.

Jones Day: Doesn't have the Atlanta prestige K&S or A&B have in the old money Atlanta society. But in the legal community its just as reputably and just as good of work. Just as many hours. Get paid more $$, so probably a better option. Just don't expect to be able to drop the Jones Day bomb at Big Sky. Top for M&A.

Sutherland: Tax. If you are in tax, best firm in south. Outside of that you are just doing regional Atlanta work.

Kilpatrick: Does top tier regional Atlanta work. Sutherland and Kilpatrick are best two Atlanta firms after K&S and A&B for non M&A work (Jones Day is tops).

Dentons: Not sure what is going on with Dentons, Everyone left. I'm sure they still have some good partners.

Troutman: Atlanta institution. Not as fratty as they think they are but still cool people. If you just want to be in a good Atlanta firm with cool people, work here. They do large deals for an Atlanta firm.

Paul Hastings: Literally the only thing I've heard about this 40 person office is "sweatshop". Probably do relatively big corporate work for a 40 person Atlanta office.

Morris Manning: Actual fratty dudes. Great for real estate and corporate for a firm their size.

Arnall Golden: Does medium-sized Atlanta work. Real estate and healthcare centric. Nice people from what I've heard, but very insular.

Random mentions:

Parker Hudson: Very underrated. Does great healthcare work.

mcguirewoods/ Hunton: What are these Richmond firms doing in Atlanta?

Locke Lord: Houston firm is even weirder than Richmond firms.

Bondurant: As someone way earlier in the thread said, no one reading this is getting a job here. Best litigation firm in the South,

[cookiebrown]

Anyone interested in selling their GA bar materials (2012 or later)??? PM me I really need the video/audio lectures thx

[SplitMyPants]

A+B*

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know what the grade cutoffs are looking like for these firms now that the class sizes are back in the double digits? Especially Alston, Troutman, and Denton's?

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know what the grade cutoffs are looking like for these firms now that the class sizes are back in the double digits? Especially Alston, Troutman, and Denton's?

UGA is top 20% if you are not URM

[Anonymous User]

Anyone hav any insight into the ATL L&E firms? Littler, Ogletree, Ford Harrison etc.

[Anonymous User]

.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know if A&B is still giving out offers?

[Anonymous User]

A few Atlanta questions:

1. Does anyone know which of the Atlanta firms are more prone to taking 1L summer associates?
2. Where would a T-14 student (think Boalt/Mich/NU/GTWN/Cornell) with significant ties (born and raised in ATL, worked in ATL legal market) have to land in their class to get with K&S/A&B/JD/Kilpatrick/and especially Bondurant
3. What firm is the best for litigation outside of Bondurant (in regards to career growth, hours, etc.)?

Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

1. They are hard to come by in ATL unless diversity oriented or IP. That said, for the ATL-based firms, McKenna Long used to take a handful (don't know if they still do as Dentons). Most 1L SAs in ATL are in midsize firms (Parker, Hudson) or ATL outposts of firms based elsewhere (e.g. Burr & Forman, Miller & Martin, Nelson Mullins)

2. For the t-14, I think top 1/3, would be sufficient for K&S & Co. Bondurant is it's own beast. They practically require associates to do a clerkship, and I'm not sure about the grade cutoffs there, but from UGA, where I went, you had to be top 10 people. In looking at their associates, it seems like even the t-14 folks were law review, order of coif types.

3. For non-Bondurant lit, K&S is tops in mass torts, product liability, white collar/internal investigations, shareholder/corporate, and insurance coverage. A&B is pretty strong for antitrust and financial services. Jones Day is very solid all around, esp. good in securities and mass torts/product liability (hard to escape the tobacco lit as a junior lit associate there). Kilpatrick is an IP powerhouse, but also quite good for construction. Hours are tough at all these places, but K&S and JD especially. I have a good friend at K&S lit and he doesn't leave until 10:00 most nights. I'll defer to others for career growth, but can say that partnership prospects are pretty bleak at all these shops. From what I hear, I get the sense that A&B associates get a bit more responsibility early on than do K&S or JD associates. Not sure what happens to associates who aren't going to make partner do. I guess the usual efforts to try to go in-house or lateral to a smaller firm?

[Anonymous User]

Piggybacking off the above poster, I am top 10% at a t-14 with significant Atlanta ties and did well wrt screener/cb/offer ratio. I received offers from 3 out of the 5 firms you're interested in.

Last year, Bondurant specifically changed their grade requirement from top 10% to top 5% (at least for my school's recruiting). They get these students:

http://www.bmelaw.com/lawyers-Fredric_Bold.html
http://www.bmelaw.com/lawyers-Jason_Carter.html
http://www.bmelaw.com/lawyers-Chris_Giovinazzo.html

Also, I'm uncertain A&B gets more experience early on. JD has an neat setup--with their new lawyer group--that is supposed to let first years get some substantive experience in lots of areas so they have a real idea of what practice they want to join. K&S has the "discovery center" that handles most doc review, so young associates can focus on meatier work - although I've heard doc review can be somewhat cathartic when you want to bill hours and not think too much. Bottom line, if there is a difference between A&B/JD/K&S/KT&S, it is slight and you're going to work your butt off.

[Anonymous User]

K&S: It's K&S. If you are a striver, this is the firm for you. The best firm. And everyone in the firm will remind you it's the best firm. And you will remind yourself on Saturday night its the best firm. And then you will continually let your friends know its the best firm. Before you lose them. It's hard balancing 2500 (yes, be prepared for that) hours a year and a social life. But you will have a lot of Atlanta prestige. You will pwn the Buckhead bar scene if you get a job here (kidding, you won't actually get to go out).

I believe you laid out a comprehensive overview of Atlanta. Not sure how you came up with 2,500 hours. Given the amount of work K&S has coming through the doors, it’s certainly possible associates may end up billing 2,500 hours, but it’s not a requirement for a full bonus. Keep in mind that a fair amount of an associates’ time is spent traveling to out of town events (seminars, etc.), plus K&S encourages associates to use their 4 weeks of vacation. Work wise, 8A-7P is not uncommon, might add 4 weekend hours.

Something that is absolutely remarkable, the locals all seem to know about King. The firm has a fabulous citywide reputation.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have a sense of the prospects for lateraling to K&S/AB etc. as a corporate associate at an NYC firm? GA/ATL ties, HYS. I know this is a ridiculously unspecific question, happy for any insights people can give on the market.

[Anonymous User]

1. Does anyone know which of the Atlanta firms are more prone to taking 1L summer associates?

I'm from Atlanta and will be working in biglaw in Atlanta next year. I personally know people who did their 1L summer at A&B and Kilpatrick (and everyone I know who did their 1L summer at those firms were invited back for their 2L summer). Beyond that, I would look at the NALP website, which keep statistics of 1L summers.

2. Where would a T-14 student (think Boalt/Mich/NU/GTWN/Cornell) with significant ties (born and raised in ATL, worked in ATL legal market) have to land in their class to get with K&S/A&B/JD/Kilpatrick/and especially Bondurant

Although there have been exceptions in the firm's history, in general, Bondurant requires a Art. III or state supreme court clerkship for serious consideration. If you don't have one of those, the general rule is you're not going to get Bondurant unless you are exceptional in some other way other than pure academics.

As for the other Atlanta HQ firms (everyone on your list except JD), your strong Atlanta ties obviously helps. I think top 25% w/ journal probably starts giving you a good shot at any of the Atlanta firms. You're going to get screening interviews for all of them with top 25% from a T-14, and after that it comes down to how well you interview.

3. What firm is the best for litigation outside of Bondurant (in regards to career growth, hours, etc.)?

It depends. Outside of Bondurant I think you're going to get opinions all over the place.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have a sense of the prospects for lateraling to K&S/AB etc. as a corporate associate at an NYC firm? GA/ATL ties, HYS. I know this is a ridiculously unspecific question, happy for any insights people can give on the market.

Not entirely on point, but close:

Both of the litigation associates for my K&S CB were laterals - NYC/Chi without ties & both top 20 law schools.

My A& CB lunch included one lateral transactional associate - FLA with only ties being Emory Law.

The impression that I get about the tie-centric approach to ATL hiring is that firms don't want to waste resources training someone who is going to jump ship. If you're looking to climb on their ship after being trained, then by all means, come aboard!

[Anonymous User]

I'm a current BigLaw associate in NYC, determining which transactional group to go into. I'm considering transferring to Atlanta (or alternatively even smaller Charlotte or Orlando) after a couple of years and I'm gauging which of the practice areas would be best for applying to the Atlanta market. I'm assuming choosing to be in the NYC capital markets or project finance would be a poor choice, whereas corporate/M&A, banking/finance would be better choices for transferability to the South?

[Anonymous User]

Law student targeting ATL. General question...I know that Kilpatrick is a large full service firm, but have really only heard then mentioned along with IP work. Does Kilpatrick still hire a significant amount (relative to ATL) of general litigation/ transactional attorneys for summer programs or entry level jobs, or is it heavy IP with others sprinkled in?

[Anonymous User]

Yep, you rotate during the program, and I think 7 of the 10 offers Summer 2015 were non-IP.

[abogadesq]

Not sure if wanted, but Atlanta hosts some pretty big regional headquarters of federal agencies, including HHS, CDC, EEOC, and MSPB.

[Anonymous User]

Have no ties to Atlanta. Mass mailed a lot of firms there in desperation for an SA. Never heard back -- not even an email. Landed an SA in a different market, but just saying.