King & Spalding v. Willkie v. Bakerbotts (NYC Offices) Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am interested in corporate work and value a good environment, quality work with some kind of work life balance. I also care about offer rates and exit options. I know it’s a lot but thought adding a bunch of factors would help a discussion.

For people here for information here’s my impression. Willkie seems to have the best reputation in NY, reputation for people being nice and has a 100% offer rate even when the economy took a downturn. K&S seems to be growing quite quickly in NY, offer rate was near 100, has better global reach and has a pretty good culture. Bakerbotts has interesting work, ranked the best overall but not the NYC office(for whatever Vault is worth) but their offer rate is weaker and during the downturn did not offer quite a bit. However, last year the nyc office had 100%.

[Anonymous User]

Hey guys. I appreciate your responses but would also love to hear why you picked the choice that you did.

[Anonymous User]

I would pick Willkie if I were you. Although Vault can be a helpful reference, I recommend checking the Chambers rankings too. The Chambers rankings are more well-respected and they differentiate by practice area. If you look at corporate practice in N&Y, Chambers ranks Willkie among "The Elite" firms. Chambers then ranks Bakerbotts in the lesser (but still good) tier of "Highly Regarded" firms. K&S isn't ranked. (https://www.chambersandpartners.com/128 ... torial/5/1). I've also just heard better things from classmates working at Willkie.

Good luck!

[OrangeGrandma]

I heard Bakerbotts gave 100% offers at the NY office this year.

[Anonymous User]

Unless one of K&S or BB's other locations has a specific appeal to you, I think it's Willkie and I don't think it's close. It's definitely the most well-known and well-regarded of the three in New York. Disclosure: I'm a Willkie associate, but I can speak to the firm's positive culture. As far as biglaw goes, it's a great place to work.

[Anonymous User]

I would pick Willkie if I were you. Although Vault can be a helpful reference, I recommend checking the Chambers rankings too. The Chambers rankings are more well-respected and they differentiate by practice area. If you look at corporate practice in N&Y, Chambers ranks Willkie among "The Elite" firms. Chambers then ranks Bakerbotts in the lesser (but still good) tier of "Highly Regarded" firms. K&S isn't ranked. (https://www.chambersandpartners.com/128 ... torial/5/1). I've also just heard better things from classmates working at Willkie.

Good luck!

I do not even think Vault is helpful at all - Chambers has the same utility and is less likely to be misleading since it is broken down by practice group and region. Maybe I have just taken the Vault survey too many times (there is literally a section that asks you to rank every single firm, which I always skip because WTF).

[Anonymous User]

They all pay market, right?

[Anonymous User]

They all pay market, right?

Yep

[Anonymous User]

Unless one of K&S or BB's other locations has a specific appeal to you, I think it's Willkie and I don't think it's close. It's definitely the most well-known and well-regarded of the three in New York. Disclosure: I'm a Willkie associate, but I can speak to the firm's positive culture. As far as biglaw goes, it's a great place to work.

Ya that seems to be the consensus I am getting to. Would you mind telling me a bit more about the culture at Willkie?

[Anonymous User]

I heard Bakerbotts gave 100% offers at the NY office this year.

Ya they did. However, it wasn’t nationwide and they have had some severe cuts before and so they don’t seem to really have the 100% offer rate as a priority. I understand why they do that as a firm but it isn’t the best for incoming students.

[Wild Card]

Chambers:

Willkie New York

Antitrust (Band 4)
Bankruptcy/Restructuring (Band 3)
Corporate/M&A: The Elite (Band 4)
Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation (Band 4)
Insurance: Dispute Resolution: Policyholder (Band 2)
Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory (Band 1)
Litigation: General Commercial: Highly Regarded (Band 1)
Litigation: Securities (Band 3)
Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations (Band 4)
Real Estate: Mainly Corporate & Finance (Band 4)
Real Estate: Mainly Dirt (RP)
Tax (Band 3)

K&S New York

Intellectual Property: Patent (Band 4)
Real Estate: Mainly Corporate & Finance (RP)

Baker Botts New York

Corporate/M&A: Highly Regarded (Band 3)
Intellectual Property: Patent (Band 4)

--

The other two firms simply don't compare.

[Anonymous User]

I would pick Willkie if I were you. Although Vault can be a helpful reference, I recommend checking the Chambers rankings too. The Chambers rankings are more well-respected and they differentiate by practice area. If you look at corporate practice in N&Y, Chambers ranks Willkie among "The Elite" firms. Chambers then ranks Bakerbotts in the lesser (but still good) tier of "Highly Regarded" firms. K&S isn't ranked. (https://www.chambersandpartners.com/128 ... torial/5/1). I've also just heard better things from classmates working at Willkie.

Good luck!

That makes sense. I’ll use Chambers a bit more heavily. Their website just isn’t as user friendly but the data is more concise.

[Anonymous User]

Chambers:

Willkie New York

Antitrust (Band 4)
Bankruptcy/Restructuring (Band 3)
Corporate/M&A: The Elite (Band 4)
Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation (Band 4)
Insurance: Dispute Resolution: Policyholder (Band 2)
Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory (Band 1)
Litigation: General Commercial: Highly Regarded (Band 1)
Litigation: Securities (Band 3)
Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations (Band 4)
Real Estate: Mainly Corporate & Finance (Band 4)
Real Estate: Mainly Dirt (RP)
Tax (Band 3)

K&S New York

Intellectual Property: Patent (Band 4)
Real Estate: Mainly Corporate & Finance (RP)

Baker Botts New York

Corporate/M&A: Highly Regarded (Band 3)
Intellectual Property: Patent (Band 4)

--

The other two firms simply don't compare.

I am strongly leaning towards Willkie. Do you think the other two would have more of a friendly culture/work life balance or would they be the same/worse?

[Anonymous User]

Agreed with the above sentiments. Another useful measure is the AM Law rankings. I took a quick look and Willkie is above the other two firms in all of these rankings:

Profitability: https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2018 ... ity-index/
Revenue per lawyer: https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2018 ... er-lawyer/
Profits per lawyer: https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2018 ... er-lawyer/
Profits per partner: https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2018 ... 0717110949
Value per lawyer: https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2018 ... er-lawyer/

You mentioned that you were concerned about the potential impact of an economic downturn. It looks like Willkie could weather a downturn the best out of the firms you're evaluating. This will make a difference not only with offer rates but also once you're working at a firm. It's a good thing to keep in mind.

[Anonymous User]

Go to the one thats not a satellite office