portland before dc?

DC!

What is this, the tenth Merck article today? Does Billy ever do any actual work?

Great, save DC for 5 pm on a Friday. That will be a really useful thread.

Talk to me about Perkin Coie. Particularly their employment law practice area.

I want D.C. too and it's silly this hasn't been done yet. But at this point, save it for Monday fer chris'sake...

I have never once picked on Billy, and generally find the anti-Billy comments annoying. But open threads on Atlanta and the Pacific Northwest before DC?? Are you just trying to show us all how mighty and powerful you are?

What do you mean "[w]e haven't forgot [sic] about you, West Coast."

Other than the obvious grammatical error, a full majority of the posts now have been based on the west coast.

DC, Philly, Jersey... hello?

Seconded. Save DC for Monday. Don't throw it out with the friday trash.

3:15 - or is it plurality?

No, I think it's Friday. Cheers.

lets get back to talking about atlanta

wow. talk about a slow news day. I thought the earlier threads were bad until ATL started to post blank space.

Are you serious?? Portland & Seattle before DC?

perkins coie please

NY, of course. LA, OK, I feel you. San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago? M'kay. Atlanta and the West Coast??? Are you friggin' kidding me. Where the hell is DC? (Sighs) At this time, I'd like to present articles of impeachment against Billy Merck.

freaking east coast bias man, there are other cities in America besides Philly and D.C...

Bring up D.C. for Monday!

Can we get a recruiting thread for New Orleans? It's hard finding a job in the Big Easy right now...

Okay, to start the actual discussion, I'll talk about QOL. Heller is a sweatshop with everyone (including summers) working very long hours. DWT and Dorsey both have great reputations for manageable hours. Everyone I've met at K&L Gates has also been super friendly.

Am considering a move to the Seattle area from NYC. Have 2 years of structured finance experience, which is probably not useful in Seattle. Any ideas what firms I should consider contacting?

Yes, there are other cities than Philly and DC... and I think we've covered them all.

So what's the M&A scene in Walla Walla like?

Deskmonkey -- try Stoel Rives or Orrick -- the latter doesn't have structured work in Seattle, but they sometimes use associates from the Seattle offices for work. Also, lots of public finance work in Orrick's northwest offices (Portland too), and the skill set is similar.

How hard is it to transition to Seattle from DC? Anyone know any dirt that differentiates Heller from Gates from Perkins?

Portland Market offers sophisticated practice and reasonable rates for heroin.

re: 3:31

I've heard Heller does some structured finance for WaMu.

re: 3:45

Gates and Perkins have a more well-rounded practice. There are advantages and disadvantages to this. They have more variety in the practice groups, but also have lower PPP. Perkins is definitely trying to become more national and I do not know how that is affecting their culture. Gates is also trying to do so, but seems to be able to maintain their culture. Heller has a more hostile work environment. The associates seem nice, but I can't say the same about the partners. Their office is smaller and their practice groups are more. Many of their clients are related to venture capital.

Merck you have screwed up the front page of this blog.

I so hate you.

Any word on the Seattle offices of:
- Wilson Sonsini
- Susman

I am considering moving to either Portland or Seattle from NYC. I have two years experience in BigLaw doing corporate, M&A, securities and technology (outsourcing, software licensing) work. What do people actually do in Seattle and Portland? Local work? Any cross border? Complex deals? Any recommendations?

I hear Vancouver is a good source of drugs. Lawyers in the Pacific Northwest do plenty of business defending dealers who get drugs from Vancouver.

Susman rarely hires summer associates or local graduates. Wilson does fine work with start-ups and VC, but Larry is still a little shady.

People in the NW do a variety of work. Portland does more local work, but Seattle does a lot of cross border work with Asia and Canada including many complex deals.

Fortunately Cadwalader is not out there.

From everything I hear, Heller is no fun and they've been losing people for a while because Seattle clients won't pay their California rates.

Can we get a thread on Miami or Phoenix?

What type of work does Orrick do in Seattle?

Will the Seattle market ever raise to 160? It's more expensive to live there than in Houston or Dallas.

DC on monday doesn't do shit for us georgetowners. Bid list for on campus interviews is due at midnight tonight. cmon DC!

Susman had 3 summers this year, but odds that not all of them will be getting an offer. If you check out the attorneys' bios, you'll see that Seattle has a good number district, appellate, and even supreme court clerks. Pretty damn competitive.

Orrick has a very small focused presence in Seattle. it looks like they only really have two partners and a handful of associates. I think their work mostly involves start-ups and other corporate work. To my knowledge they don't do any litigation out of Seattle. Portland is even smaller and focused on finance.

I'm a senior level litigation associate in NYC Biglaw that would consider moving out to Portland. Any recommendations?

This gets brought up in very discussion of the PNW, but bears repeating. If you don't have strong ties to the area, interviewing can be tough.

What is the salary scale in PDX/Seattle now? Did they get raises with the rest of the country?

DWT is a joke. B-list firm, B-list clients, B-list work, C-list salary, and crappy office space.

salary lags market big time. aside from the few national firms, starting salaries are $115k to $120k with serious compression ($3k -$5k per year at many firms).

Some of the national firms (WSGR, Heller, Orrick) pay approximately the $145k schedule being phased out elsewhere in the country. Portland pays less than Seattle overall, but there's huge disparity within the market, unlike other places.

Seattle (and Portland?) also have tons of great "boutique" outlets.

WSGR has lots of tech trans. in Seattle.

Seattle is going through a transition, from a secondary to primary legal market...and local businesses are SLOWLY learning to adjust to rising rates.

WSGR growing like gang busters and stealing the best from the rest of the firms--DLA, Orrick, Perkins. Raided Stoel and took their Clean Energy Group.

Nobody cares about Larry and any alleged shadiness, particularly outside of California.

The salaries are lower here but, like Texas, Washington has no income tax. Just don't buy any real estate . . .

Only in Seattle would a firm where associates average 1900 billable hours per year (which I have on good authority is the average for Heller in Seattle) be called a "sweatshop." If I wanted to sell out and work for a big firm, I'd take 1900 hours for $145k over 1800 hours for $115 in a heartbeat.

Also, where did Heller get the reputation for being a "hostile work environment"? The sweatshop bit is an old (and blatantly false) record these days, but hostile? I've heard nothing but good things about the work environment there (as well as K&L and DWT - can't say the same for Perkins or Dorsey though).

It's embarrassing how Heller continuously gets bashed in the local market. People, just because the firm you wanted to work for is really selective and didn't give you an offer doesn't mean that you have to make up (or repeat like a parrot) lies about it to make yourself feel better.

According to NALP, no one in Portland is paying more than 110K. Is that accurate?

And can anyone tell me more about DWT? I have an interview with them in a few weeks...

What about Tonkon Torp? Miller Nash?

You've got to be kidding! PNW gets a thread before DC!?!?!? WTF!

Merck is an intense stud! Long live Merck!!!

Anyone who got their raises, be happy.

The PE bubble has officially busted. The M&A boom is over. In case anyone hasn't been paying attention, PE and the M&A boom have been fueling NY Biglaw profits. These profits have fed down to the other markets, and the demand has fed to biglaw firms.

But now it's over. It's 2001 all over again. Times 10.

Be happy you have a job. Hopefully you'll get a bonus this year.

Other than that, expect no raises for several years. Be happy you have a job for the next few years.

In regards to DWT's crappy office space- they just recently moved to the same building that houses Perkins Coie. As far as the work environment at Perkins, the perception is that it is in a transition as the firm tries to become a national player. Perkins does, however, always tend to end up somewhere on those "best companies to work for" lists. They do have an "employee happiness committee", or something like that, which basically carries out random acts of kindness- e.g. leaving gifts on people's desks at night, etc.
Hours in Seattle aren't bad, but salary compression is. No state income tax is nice, but a Range Rover costs the same anywhere, and the housing market is still strongly a sellers market.
The legal market in Seattle is still very saturated too. There aren't really that many big firms here, but there are always tons of law school grads that want to work here. Hopefully the successes of out of state firms like WSGR, Heller and Orrick will lead more larger firms to come up to Seattle soon, but it is doubtful.

anon 8:41 - Heller attorneys bill much more than 1900 hours. That is merely their minimum and most everyone bills way over that. 12 hour + days are regular. While that may not be much by NYC standards, it is in Seattle. I have had friends at the firm who quickly left. And if you don't believe me:

http://averyindex.com/2007_seattle.php

PS- I neglected to mention that everyone I've met from Stoel Rives has also been great, but I don't know the nature of their work.

@ UW_2L: 1900 is Heller's minimum, but it's also the average, and 12+ hour days are certainly not regular. I have friends there currently and what you are saying is simply false. I also haven't heard of anyone (much less the multiple people you imply) starting and leaving quickly. People will believe what they want to, but I find it highly amusing that these misconceptions about Heller persist.

What's next, a post about law market in Siberia?

Anon at 5:03: try Stoel Rives in Portland if you high-end litigation most closely resembling Biglaw practice.

I joined a Seattle-based law firm after working in DC. It's a tough market to break into, especially if you're a fifth-year or higher. Salaries are lower, but my hours are much better. And I have a wonderful view of the water and mountains; in DC, I overlooked an alley.

PS: DWT's new office space is beautiful - it's in the same building as Perkins and Susman.

Gates has one of the best corporate practices in town from what I hear - and they have been looking for associates.

Any insight into differentiating b/t Perkins and Stoel in Portland? Considering summer offers from both...