Best firm to be an associate in restructuring Forum

[Anonymous User]

I’m going to one of these firms this summer to do restructuring and am also considering going into real estate. Does anyone know if (1) real estate involves less work (I’m almost certain it does) (2) whether real estate or bankruptcy has better exit ops (do real estate attorneys go in-house for companies?) (3) can I go to a different practice group like Corp or PE relatively easy from one of these other groups if I end up not liking it? (4) bankruptcy is getting hotter while real estate is slowing down. I don’t know how much to factor this on as I have heard different philosophies on when the best time to enter an area is. The real estate group told me they do a lot of the real estate aspects of bankruptcy deals during a downturn, so maybe I would be insulated from a lay-off?

1) Real estate is substantially less work at Weil (bankruptcy averaged about 2400 billable hours last year across the group, corporate as a whole was under 1800 and real estate is at the low end of corporate).

2) Exit options out of bankruptcy are not going to be your traditional in house type roles generally, options are smaller firms, finance roles at banks, funds, etc. That said, we’ve had several associates go in house at large PE funds recently.

3) In theory, yes you can do this, but you really need to make that determination early on before you get too specialized.

4) The bankruptcy market is not hot as a whole right now, it’s just that Weil and KE have a significant market share and are busy while many other firms aren’t. Bankruptcy will only get busier, but real estate should be fine regardless as bankruptcy spins off a ton of work to other groups and will get them by as with the last recession.

Regardless of the above, you should spend time in both groups and determine what you enjoy doing more. These are useful considerations, but they’re not substitutes for figuring out what you’re going to actually enjoy (or at least not hate) doing on a day to day basis.

Not OP, but great info. What are the exit opps like for real estate? Better for real estate finance or transactional work?

[Anonymous User]

I'm the anon who revived this thread. Thank you everyone for your comments, they were very helpful.