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I had the same options when Latham offered me and I was going to pick Century City for sure. Way better neighborhoods to live in than the downtown office with less commute (I already lived in Santa Monica for 3 years so I know it's wonderful). If you have a family OC and SD are also great options unless you put value on being at the main offices for advancement reasons. I wouldn't go Northern CA because the weather just isn't as nice so what are you even paying all those taxes for? If you are a cold weather person, go Silicon Valley.
Lol nope. Really shocked me when I turned them down haha! No bad experiences with LW, just had a better offer.
Orange County or San Diego. I'm a CA native and the rest of the places are such a pain in the ass. The OC and SD are the best (especially SD)!
Lol so Latham? Would do Silicon Valley if you want to do corporate/M&A.
Former LW associate and people definitely work across offices. But your home office is usually first place to get work since you see and interact with those people more. Once you establish yourself it would be pretty easy I think to work in any of the LW offices and you’d get a pretty good flow of cross-office work. I would initially try to go to an office with M&A heavy hitters if that’s what you want to do. Could have changed since I was there, but my recollection is that is Silicon Valley in CA.
Mentor
San Diego is absolutely beautiful and much less stressful than LA. Can’t speak on SF/SV.
Coach
San Diego is the greatest place on earth don’t @ me
Coach
If you want the best work-life balance and quality of life, but don’t necessarily care about how high profile your work is, go to San Diego.
If you want the most culture/things to do/city pride/ don’t mind city life/high expenses, go to SF.
If you want Southern California, but want higher profile work than SD and a perceived more abundant social scene, go to Century City.
I would avoid DTLA, OC, and SV if I could.
Coach
I think OC is nice enough, I just think it’s fairly bland and lacks the culture and activities that SD/LA/SF offer. And there are areas in each of these cities that have communities similar to OC, but there are not areas of OC that really offer anything like SD/LA/SF.
Enthusiast
San Diego is great. Orange County is great. Can’t speak to SF/SV, but the amount you’d need to pay me to live in LA will not be on the Cravath scale in the foreseeable future.
Enthusiast
That’s what I’d heard but didn’t want to speak without firsthand knowledge.
All else equal I think SD is the best city in the US. That said, the legal market is small and might be limiting if you have higher ambitions. If you mostly just want a decent paycheck it shouldn’t affect you too much.
Between LA/OC, I would choose Century City. Lived around that area for a few years and mostly loved it. You can live in Brentwood or Santa Monica—both awesome. OC is nice but stuffy and boring in my opinion.
I now live in NorCal. I’m at a tech firm so it’s the mecca for that. I love it up here b/c of the access to nature, the general beauty, and the smaller feel compared to LA. I prefer SF over SV, much more going on and a ton of personality to the city, despite crime and bad local politicians. Feel free to DM.
With all this said, strongly encourage you to visit first. Try and get a week off or something if possible and drive throughout the state.
SAN FRANCISCO
Subject Expert
G. Texas office.
Is this Paul Hastings? I’d avoid hard esp corporate M&A
A22 knows what’s up
Depends on the kind of vibe you want as well as your interests but I vote Century City.
As a native LA’er, I would avoid DTLA. It’s a nightmare and parking sucks. If you want to be in LA, I would say Century City (my office is there).
I live in SD and LOVE it. It’s a slower way of life, less traffic, and the weather is more mild than LA.
Can’t comment on NorCal but it also depends on the kind of weather you want to live in.
Enthusiast
The various responses here show its totally a personal decision. Also depends on interests, age, single/married/kids. Probably everyone who lives here has a love hate relationship with it. Take time to visit the areas.
Also, housing prices in the Bay are astronomical/bad options. You can get a good place in SD or OC.
Coach
I’ve lived / spent times in all those areas and they’re all VASTLY different in terms of culture, lifestyle, weather, COL, size of market, etc. Happy to chat if you’d like more input.
Agree with all this. If you’re family oriented and/or aren’t concerned with nightlife, I’d go SD/OC/SV. If you like going out and want fun then LA in general is the best bet, although SF is fun too, just a very different vibe. SD has good bars and breweries.
If you’re a granola/nature person, NorCal has tons to offer there. If you just like warm weather and beaches, go SoCal.
Mentor
San Diego
Just want to add that the the SD real estate and rental market are pretty similar to SF. But I practice in SD and love it. Also, Latham’s SD office is very nice and definitely more relaxing than most of the other offices you mentioned.
Coach
SD or Austin.
As others have said, it’s hard to give you advice without knowing more about you. I think SV is Good Place-style hell on earth (you’d think it would be really nice, but it’s just eye-wateringly expensive and mind-numbingly boring). If you want a city-like experience, DTLA or SF are the only choices. West LA is great if you want to commit to living there, but if you don’t, Century City is out because the commute there is a nightmare. I’m from OC so I have a soft spot for it—if you want to drive and live a suburban lifestyle, and especially if you like the beach, it’s great.
Coach
Agree on all points. I loved living in OC the most out of all these places. Currently in SF however because it was a bigger market to start my career and my family is in the Bay Area. Eventually probably will move to SV to get more of a suburban feel once I’m ready to start a family. My partner and I love OC so much though.
SoCal all the way — San Diego or LA Century City. San Diego and LA are drastically different though.
Subject Expert
Do you want to live in NorCal or SoCal? Because they could be different states
SoCal if you like chill/carefree vibes