Pros
The people are wonderful, and make the place what it is. They are almost uniformly excellent practitioners, and for the most part, genuinely good colleagues. The pay is also market rate, or better, for BigLaw, which is nice. You can work reasonable hours, for BigLaw, that is, but the "reward" for good work is more work, so expect to bill 2200 if you've impressed the right people. The quality of thought, significance of the deal or dispute, caliber of peers and opposing counsel, and general complexity of and challenges posed by the work are top tier, as you would expect from an AmLaw 20 firm. Great place to learn, get paid, and LAUNCH your career.
Cons
Good luck making partner! There does not seem to be any emphasis of actually grooming and developing the next generation of partners from the ranks of current associates. The firm seems content to buy books of business by lateral partner moves. Very little in the way of formal mentoring, or business development education. Originations seem to be the ticket to higher office, but that topic gets little if any emphasis even for more senior associates, although the expectations remains.
