Brokeback Lawfirm: Two Interesting Articles
From the new March issue of The American Lawyer. Both are by the fabulous and fashionable Vivia Chen. Go Vivia!
1. "Antigay or Antihuman?" [American Lawyer]
Yes, this is an article about Sullivan & Cromwell. Money quote:
"We can't fire everybody who might say something inappropriate, who does something foolish under pressure," says [firm chairman H. Rodgin] Cohen, adding that partners and associates who step out of line receive counseling. "[But] I'm 100 percent convinced that this firm is no worse than others."
Maybe; maybe not:
In the last two years, S&C has scored near the bottom in The American Lawyer's midlevel associates survey. And according to an S&C memo leaked to The Wall Street Journal in January, the firm had a 31 percent attrition rate among its associates in 2005.
See also:
"Every word of that complaint rang true to me," says one former lawyer. "They [M&A partners] are just vulgar."
"I don't think it's discrimination; M&A is just a brutal group," says the former lawyer. "I think this guy was treated badly and unprofessionally." Sums up another former M&A associate: "S&C isn't antigay, just antihuman."
2. Rainbow Revolution [American Lawyer]
This article is adequately summed up by the subhed: "Despite the lawsuit against Sullivan & Cromwell, these are the best of times to be a gay lawyer." Our favorite quote:
One reason that accurate data [about gay lawyers at large law firms] is hard to collect is that GLBT individuals can stay below the radar screen. "It's not obvious; I don't sing 'YMCA' when I walk into a room," says Joseph Hall, 43, the only openly gay partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell. Unlike gender or race, revealing sexual orientation is a matter of choice.
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell (scroll down)
(13) Comments
I'm adding "Anti tier 2 or anti human" to my repertoire. No jobs no peace.
I've never worked at a truly "white shoe" firm, but I had always imagined that, in addition to denoting top-notch work (and pay), the "white shoe" description meant that the people - especially the partners - were civil to the point of being "genteel". I guess that is not the case at all at S&C.
Big law firms are similar, but they are not completely alike.
Davis Polk: genteel, but passive-agressive.
S&C: surprisingly hard-edged, macho, crass (as suggested by these articles).
Cravath: some quirky people, but personality may matter less, since there is "a Cravath way" for everything.
Cohen's pathetic "We're no worse than others" is precisely why I would never work at S&C. Of course, they almost certainly wouldn't hire me (and had no interest when I was a 2L!), but it's a fantasy to think all BigLaw firms are the same. They simply aren't. Do you suppose the self-satisfied jerks at S&C, gazing out the window at the Statute of Liberty, consider the problem solved when they remark blankly to one another "I'm sure it's the same at Cravath"? Is this kind of guy that the ineffectual leadership at S&C wants to put out in front and represent them? It's obvious they're simply defensive and couldn't care less what goes on so long as they don't have to cut a check.
Going back to the S&C internal memo to partners that also disclosed some sensitive info about Goldman employee reviews, was anyone else shocked to find out that one of the "suggestions" for improving associate morale and retention was to say "thank you" after an associate completed a task? What world do these people live in - and how did they get to where they are in life - when they have to be reminded to say "thank you" to someone who helps them out? Based on everything I've read about S&C, you couldn't pay me enough to work there.
Well, you could, but it would be a hell of a lot more than they are paying now...
did i read that right? DPW only has 1 openly gay partner, and S&C has 11?? it sounds like S&C is a pretty damn good place to be gay.
does anyone know how many gay partners cleary has?
The relevant question would be how many gay partners as a percentage of the total partnership.
well, according to their respective firm websites, S&C has 170 partners with 11 (6.5%) being openly gay, and DPW has 145 partners with 1 (0.69%) being openly gay.
according to the NALP directory, Cleary has 104 partners in the United States, of whom 4 (3.8%) are openly LGBT.
in other words, S&C has proportionally 10 times as many openly gay partners as DPW, and almost twice as many as cleary. also, both S&C and cleary have at least one lesbian partner, but DPW has none.
[At DPW] GLBT individuals can stay below the radar screen. "It's not obvious; I don't sing 'YMCA' when I walk into a room," says Joseph Hall, 43, the only openly gay partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell.
As a lesbian that comment makes me really think twice about working at DPW. Of course it's rarely "obvious" that someone is gay from a first impression. Just like you can't tell just by meeting a person whether they have kids. But if you develop any kind of personal relationship with someone it shouldn't take long before you find out they have kids or a boyfriend or a spouse or that they're gay. They don't have to sing 'YMCA' for their friends to figure it out.
The only way to stay "below the radar" among people you see regularly is to forcefully and actively conceal your identity. If, as Mr. Hall suggests, that's what a lot of partners at DPW are doing, is that really a firm I want to work for?
"With 11 openly gay partners (this year S&C made its first openly lesbian partner, Stacey Friedman), the firm is hands-down the gayest partnership on Wall Street."
"I'm 100 percent convinced that this firm is no worse than others."
Wrong answer.
Sullivan & Cromwell is the Dorian Gray of law firms.
I wonder how many 1Ls at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and NYU just made a mental note not to interview with S&C in the fall.
I'd be interested to see how their recruiting goes.