https://abovethelaw.com/careers/2016-ra ... gree/?rf=1Anonymous User wrote:Cornell student at median here: Dinged by Cravath, Simpson, Paul Weiss and Debevoise. Offers from Skadden, Sull Crom, DPW, Cleary, Latham and Kirkland. Interviews aren't even over and I can already tell you 10 Cornell offers from each of these firms including Cravath. Have a nice day while I make my decision!Anonymous User wrote:I strongly suggest you go to STB (or for the other dude, Cravath).
Out of the attainable New York firms (i.e., not WLRK), Cravath, Sullivan, Davis, Cleary and Simpson are all pretty much on par with each other. Latham is a clear step down, while Paul, Weiss and Debevoise are a half step down.
Latham is more comparable to Kirkland and Weil in terms of selectivity. Latham is prestigious to Michigan, Berkeley or Virginia students (generally top 25%), but not really at all prestigious to someone coming from an ultra-competitive Manhattan law school like Columbia or NYU, where they hire down to median and even below median. At CLS/NYU school, firms that generally recruit from the top 25% of the class are those elite New York ones originally mentioned. If you go to Latham NY you're going to spend all your time wondering why your coworkers are from unprestigious schools like Cornell, Berkeley, Duke and GULC -- all of which are virtually nonexistent at DPW, S&C, STB and Cleary.
If you have the option, keep playing in the prestigious league. This is an industry where nice credentials are valued in spades, and a firm's worth is in significant part determined by how much it can concentrate those nice credentials.
Median rank of law school of firm associates:
Davis / Cleary / Cravath / Debevoise: 4 (i.e., Columbia Law School)
Sullivan: 6 (i.e., New York University School of Law)
Simpson: 8 (i.e., MVP)
Skadden: 11 (i.e., DCN)
Kirkland / Latham: 12 (i.e., DCN)
That's an enormous gap in selectivity.
Don't go to unprestigious firms that don't play in the same exclusive league, OP.