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Mentor
DP is leaps and bounds ahead of Debevoise. Never heard of Patterson.
This.
Mentor
Only corpies / the uninformed wouldn’t know Patterson Belknap. As a litigator, I think it’s the best choice here, especially if you want a relatively better lifestyle with kids coming. I assume you have a clerkship, as that’s required.
I know someone there without a clerkship so wouldn’t say it’s required.
Cue in all the uninformed law students and ignorant juniors who have only heard of the big glossy names and not Patterson. It’s an excellent firm and those who matter, know.
I would go Debevoise or DP. Much bigger names in the market that will look better on your resume.
Enthusiast
If you’re litigating, PB no question. Have a friend there and they love it.
I always liked PB, considered going there myself for First Amendment litigation. But I think of it as something like a Haverford or Grinnell to DP’s Harvard or Yale.
That’s not a bad thing, at all. Just different.
Former DPW litigator - they very much respect your maternity leave and you get full bonus even when you’ve been on leave for 6 months. You’ll probably work fewer hours at PB though. I liked the money.
If youre in litigation, Patterson Belknap hands down. If not in litigation, then go with Davis Polk.
Ehhh, I had a few friends at PB who didn’t like it. Felt like there was no transparency with promotion and a bunch of people were told they were going to make partner and then the firm didn’t make any of them partner and delayed the process. Now, that’s probably common at these firms, but for a junior associate, it’s an important data point. Patterson also is very NY centric, which can be limiting if you are trying to transition later on and don’t want to live in NYC your whole life.