All things equal, would you rather live in Chicago or DC? Second year thinking of transferring to one of those offices. My practice group has a large presence in both offices and comp is the same.

like
Posting as :
works at
You are currently posting as works at

Chicago. Lived and practiced biglaw in both and the same salary goes a lot further in Chicago.

like

DC - warmer

like

Chicago

like

DC. It has the most growth opportunities in my area- IP.

like

Yeah that’s what I should have said. DC is best for government opportunities and for interfacing with the government in general.

DC - clean, no sewage smell, not as bad traffic as in Chicago, feels safe, warmer and closer to many major cities (NYC, Pilly, Toronto etc)

like

Depends on where you live in DC. If you’re in the city, you’re not car dependent. I’ve lived in DC for 9 years and you don’t need a car unless you have a kid or live in the burbs. I feel really safe here. I like Chicago too and COL is definitely lower. DC is more of an international city with lots of government and non-profit options whereas Chicago has fewer lawyers and probably has more in-house opportunities. Both have good food and lots of things to do. Can’t really go wrong.

like

DC. A lot more to do there, cleaner metro, very walkable, milder winters, and close to a lot of other cool cities for weekend trips (NY, Philly, Boston, Miami, NOLA, etc.). Also, the networking on another level

like

Chicago. Midwestern sensibility is way better than whatever DC is (I have lived in both places)

like

Chicago. DC is a soulless place filled with careerists. Chicago has far better dining, affordability, and neighborhoods, and its also overall a much easier city to get around in (even though it’s much bigger)

like

DC is not soulless. You just have to find your crowd.

like

Chicago. The cost of living is lower. Also fewer disruptive protests. The last place I want to be during the next presidential election is DC.

like

Chicago, and it’s not even close. DC is like a small town compared to Chicago.

like

I’ve lived in both. I’d live in DC if you’re a political junkie and/or your practice area benefits from being closer to politics. I’d live in Chicago to settle down long-term.

like

Chicago

like

Question for those responding Chicago over DC and who have spent time in both cities - is DC biglaw like NY biglaw?

I found Chicago biglaw to be very similar to NY in terms of work culture (stuffy, conservative, lots of yelling), but have not worked in DC.

When I moved to the West Coast I went from hating my job to loving it, in large part because of the culture shift.

like

SA1, people aren’t nicer. They’re definitely faker.

like

Dc.

DC makes sense for my practice area and I prefer the weather. But I suspect I’d prefer living in Chicago, all other things being equal.

DC and Chicago are apples and oranges. All else being equal? What exactly is equal between the two? I’d love to know.

Like practice group prestige, comp., all that firm stuff.

like

DC and I live in Chicago.

Related Posts

What is your annual salary as Oncology Nurse Navigator?

like

What would be a competitive earning for a Director of Sales at a SaaS company in Israel?

like

CSM in Adtech, looking for comparable salaries in tech space for CS/CX

- 10 years experience
- 2 years in current CS role with enterprise accounts
- Operations lead / Ops experience promotion
- Remote

like

How much salary does jp pay to promoted associates in India? Which are not in tech

like

Hi Guys.. I have an interview scheduled with JP Morgan Chase. May I know what would be the max limit salary which I could ask for 7.3 YOE, Java Full Stack Engineer.

like

Hi all 🙂👋🏻 Apologies for such a late post. I have an offer of 18 CTC(1L joining bonus) from Larsen & Toubro Infotech & 12.5 fixed from IBM .
My joining in both are in around May last week. Tomorrow my IBM pre onboarding HR will connect with me. Should I ask for a counter offer tomorrow itself?
Or should I ask 2 weeks before joining?
Many told me that companies revise CTC when the joining date is near, else they show less interest. So should I go for it now itself?
Appreciate ur inputs🙂

like

How much will be in hand.

Post Photo
like

Hello, I’ve just completed my TPM on-site today. How long before the decision is made by the HC? What base and TC can I expect ? I’ve 5+ years at MAANG, across engineering, analyst, TPM roles.

like

I’m talking to a mid-sided publicly traded company (5Bn market cap, based in Middle East) about a advisory board position. What’s a reasonable negotiating position on compensation? It’s ~1 day a month with travel to their office. Most what I can find online on comp is about equity for startup advisors.

like

Recruiters, can you please give us freelancers the avg range for jr, mid level, and sr level day rates in your city?
My made-up example:
New York
Jr $500-700
Mid $700-$900
Sr $900-$1500

Thank you.

like

Hello fishes what is the CTC I can expect from the vitesco technologies for the position of associate architect for 6YOE
Skills Hardware Design Engineering...

Currently they are offering me 18.5LPA fixed

Your feedback will be more valuable

like

Was just told my HOP is leaving in 3 weeks and they’d like me to takeover. Medium sized agency with a range of clients big and small. 20+ person dept. Wondering what percent raise I might get and/or negotiate?

like

Hi,
Looking to find out realistic salary of VP's in technical roles at Barcalys in London area. I've been working at Barcalys for 7 years in Infrastructure engineering roles , I feel like I am getting underpaid, I have no realistic reference since this is my first fulltime job.

Offer from Tech Mahindra Pune
Package : 13 LPA
Profile : Sr. Engineer for Navistar project

current organization Donaldson offering same LPA with Team Lead position for Product management.

Which is good?

like

anyone take a new job for the compensation and regret it? have an offer for a huge bump but not the exact role that i am interested in. would appreciate any insight into things you wish you considered, how it has effected your career etc.

like

Hi Everyone...i have offer of Publicis Sapient as SA level1.Can anyone please help me out about how the company is in term of work culture,career growth, work life balance, yearly hike.I am really confused as my joining is near.
Tech stack : Java Backend
Thanks

like

Hi friends
I am working as a Software Product Developer with 5 years experience with 18.5 CTC
I am working on Java, Spring boot, Microservices, Bigdata(cassandra,kafka)
Am I under paid. What is the current market pay

like

Hi, what is starting package for workday consultant in Mercer? Please help

What is Bain & Company comp at Consultant (post-MBA) rank?

like

Alvarez & Marsal Would anyone here be able to give a rough salary breakdown (base, bonus, signon) for Associate to Senior Associate at Alvarez & Marsal in Singapore under PEPI? Also any information on WLB, culture and progression would be appreciated!

like

More Posts

like

Does a security + help a PM? I know a couple of people that have a SEC + and are now PM/POs

Hi Fishies,

Please give some advice/input , Need to know the names of good Product/Service based organizations which have good WORK LIFE BALANCE, Good Environment to work.

Skills : C# .Net Developer, WPF/WCF.

like

Have 1M+ assets at vanguard (some vanguard funds and ETFs). TDAmeritrade offering me about $1800 if I transfer them over and they claim I could do so in kind, so no liquidations. Do it?

I'm 1 year out of college and recently inherited $400k and have another $120k saved up from internships and work.

I know the standard thing to do is DCA into an index fund/ETF but is there anything else I should be doing to invest my money and hedge against inflation. I'm just concerned with the political turmoil going on and trying to figure out what ETFs I should be investing in and how much I should be putting in every week.

How would you recommend investing the money?

like

Worked for 10.5yrs in Infy Package is 11L and now I have an offer from Enquero(Genpact) for 20L and as a counteroffer from Infy:- 40% hike + Canada visa or 70% hike

Please suggest which will be better for the long term for Testing(Automation/Manual)

PS: I have not considered a Canada visa

like

uncle daddy 🥵

Post Photo
likefunny

Do you think getting SQL/Python experience is worth the extra time for financial analyst roles coming from Big 4 tax consulting? I would love to hear any advice for shifting towards the financial modeling path from accounting. Thanks!

like

When we return to client site

Post Photo
likefunnyhelpful

*If anyone actively looking for a job, i can refer you in cognizant.
Just go to career page and let me know the Job ID number.
I will help you.*

like

Currently living in the museum district but the rent is getting out of hand. Considering moving out to Katy, The Woodlands, or Friendswood. Any suggestions on pet friendly elevator buildings in those areas?

like

Anyone know if non-m cars have launch mode?

like

Repost - The % of the African American population killed by police in 2019 is roughly 0.0005%. It was 235 people. But around the same year 6,000 african americans were killed by eachother. How do we reconcile these facts? In 2013, 72% of african americans were born to single parent households; one of the strongest indicators of future poverty and criminal disposition. Can we acknowledge and fix instances of police brutality while also not ignoring our cultural problems as well?

like

Looking for inspiration from real people versus youtubers..

Post a picture of your home office. Starting my first WFH job and I'm looking for ideas! Top accessories? 13x13 guest room is the desired location. TIA 😊

like

What big firms let you get to manager and above with an MBA and/or EA for tax?

like

Was told about this bowl by a fellow fish. 25F convinced I have undiagnosed adhd. Anyone get on meds later in life vs as a kid? I always had a billion micro thoughts but now it’s ten times worse

like

Elevator pitches: what are your best tips, examples and resources for crafting a really good one?

like

Has anyone gone from BigLaw to a mid tier firm in their city? Any noticeable differences or just more of the same, esp around:
- Wk/life balance and expectations
- Quality of work
- Culture
- Opportunities and progression

like

Imagine being so fragile that you get angry about having to refer to another person as "She" instead of "He"

likefunny

Hate to say it but uber is definitely in tune

Post Photo
likefunny

Additional Posts in Big Law

Any insight on Brewer (either office, generally curious about the firm). I assume comp after year 1 is discretionary, rather than lock-step, given the size of the firm. Would appreciate happiness, horror stories, of whatever “firm culture” falls between the two. DM me if you don’t want to share publicly.

like

Anyone willing to share details about Baker Hostetler lit—comp, bonus, environment, autonomy, billables, etc.? 6 YOE

like

I know I am hella late to the party BUT I am a first year associate at a V20 firm and am ridiculously curious about when bonuses drop. Anyone know? And by bonus I do not mean an iPad. I will chuck that right back. Just another excuse to have a “flexible work environment.” No ma’am. Not in 2021. We not playing no games anymore.

likefunny

Does anyone have any insight on being a junior associate at Lewis Brisbois? How does it compare to similar firms for workload/salary/bonuses?

likefunny

Any first years have experience with a firm trying to clawback bar fees, expenses, etc. following an early exit?

like

If you take vacation, is the onus on you to make up that billable time? If so, how do you enjoy long vacations?

likefunny

If a partner asked you to do non-client related/may help later work, how long is too long to get back to them? Came to big law as a second year from a smaller firm (three years out). First year (who should be a second year) is emailing me trying to figure out where are things with a federal notice summary (I allowed them to help). Can I tell the first year to chill? I feel like if the partner needed it ASAP, they would have said so. I turned in the summary less than 72hrs later. Nbd/big deal?

like

Midlevel M&A here and got my issues list pretty much completely rewritten - any tips on how to improve? Feeling dejected and like i’m not meant to be a corporate lawyer at the moment 🥲

like

Any July ‘21 NY exam takers hear back from C&F yet? I submitted in late Dec but haven’t heard anything but I saw a friend got sworn in already. (Second Division btw)

like

I’m a 9th year in a mostly litigation-based practice group at a one-tier partnership firm. My group’s billable hours have been low the last few years, so making partner will be nearly impossible, and a counsel position is not viable long-term in my group. What’s the best option here if partnership is the ultimate goal? Try to get a NEP/counsel position at another firm, which is likely difficult in my market, or offer to take a class cut by a few years?

likehelpful

What was the hardest class year for you? I used to think first year was by far the hardest but now I’m a third year and I’m really feeling the pressure to step up. I work in finance and at this point I’m expected to handle closing documents, manage first years, draft some portions of major docs, etc. I feel like I’m always frazzled, constantly second guessing if I handled something correctly and anxious to answer calls from clients/OC. The worst part is I think people can tell I’m a mess....

likefunny

My goal is to save 300k by end of 3rd year. HCOL. Do you think I can do it? Or maybe 5th year?

like

Curious — do people consider billing 200ish hours a month a lot still or is that almost standard now?

likeuplifting

I’m a junior in big law and in the short time I’ve been here, I’ve noticed that counsels produce perfect drafts and yet aren’t partners but partners can’t write two sentences without numerous typos. Shouldn’t counsels be partners and partners counsels instead?

like

What does a junior associate do on internal investigations?

like

Associates, do you want to be copied on emails to service providers/vendors (like CSC, CT, etc)? My thought is you get a billion emails everyday and don’t need more, but maybe I’m wrong?

like

Junior associates c/o 2020–how much did you put towards loans in 2021? (Money stashed away for post-forbearance also counts.) I’m bummed I did not do as well as I wanted to, and am just curious how others did and looking for motivation/advice. Graduated with 300k, put away about 45k this year.

likehelpful

Thoughts on K&L Gates corporate department?

like

Are there any books or other resources that mid levels/seniors/counsel/partners on here have found helpful for the project management / managing junior attorney aspects of your job?

I am not finding a lot of stuff written for lawyers specifically , but there is a lot directed at “managers” in business generally that I imagine could be applicable.

like

Boston biglaw associates, do you pay for monthly parking and drive into the office? Or do you still ride the T?

like

New to Fishbowl?

Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
That was just a preview…
Sign Up to see all discussions
  • Discover what it’s like to work at companies from real professionals
  • Get candid advice from people in your field in a safe space
  • Chat and network with other professionals in your field
Sign up in seconds to unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.

Already a user?
Login here

Share

Embed this post

Copy and paste embed code on your site

Preview

Download the
Fishbowl app

See what’s happening in your industry
from the palm of your hand.

A phone with Fishbowl app

Scan your QR code to download
Fishbowl app on your mobile

Download app

Sign up for free to view this conversation on Fishbowl

By continuing you agree to Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Already have an account? Log in

Sign up for free to continue using Fishbowl

By continuing you agree to Terms of Use(New) and Privacy Policy(New)
Messaging rates may apply

Already have an account? Log in

For account settings, visit Fishbowl on Desktop Browser or

General

Legal