...Dewey associates in NY get their own offices within six months- one of the perks that sold me on this place.

We get very nice offices from Day 1. I have two desks, a laptop computer with a large flatcreen, comfy ergonometric chair, etc.

I have never seen anyone have to share an office.

BTW: Fulbright to $190!!!!

Based on friends over there, I think that Wachtell associates have private offices as first years (or if not first years, certainly as second years).

If someone can confirm, let's add this fact to the WLRK Wikipedia entry.

Fried Frank- sometime in your third year.

How about Nixon Peabody? Winners deserve their own offices, no?

Nobody shares offices in LA that I know of. Must be a NYC thing.

Quinn Emanuel - all California offices: from the moment you walk in the door as an associate.

Contract attorneys have to share offices, and some even get cubicles. This is as it should be.

CWT: As a second yr

S&S DC (and most of DC) Everyone has their own office from Day 1

LeBoeuf DC associates all have their own offices. So do the summers!

Everyone is dallas has their own office from Day 1. This includes summers.

Mayer Brown NYC - shared offices until about 18 months in.

This is a dumb Perk Watch topic. The only place here in the US that this matters is in NYC. Everywhere else we get our $160k *and* don't share offices.

Not exactly - there are several firms in Boston that force associates to share offices.

Weil Boston isn't one of them. Everyone gets their own office, even summers.

Ropes in Boston shares offices for the first year. No-one seems to mind, since it's actually fairly social.

I'm not sure this is really a perk. i shared an office for the first two years at my firm, and learned way more than I ever would have otherwise. I guess it just depends on who you're sitting with and how helpful they are. It was good to strike out on my own after that though...

I hate kiwis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUUx5FdySs

Everyone has their own office at Townsend in San Francisco. I even had my own office as a summer.

At Akin NY, 1st years get own office within 9 months (right before the summers arrive).

Not actually a dumb Perk Watch topic for those doing OCI. A number of people are trying to decide which city to work in as much as they are trying to decide which firm to work in. It was not widely known in L.A. that some associates in NYC had to share offices - the only factors that were ever discussed were the differences in money and hours between L.A. and New York.

Apparently, at Greenberg Traurig NY associates share for 4+ years. WTF?!

I've never heard of any attorney (or summer) having to share an office here in the mid-west (Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland). I was scandalized to hear a few years ago that some summers in Columbus's Vorys office were put in offices without windows.

I have heard rumors that sometimes when lawyers go in-house they get put in something called a "cube." Does anyone know if that's true?

I've never heard of any attorney (or summer) having to share an office here in the mid-west (Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland). I was scandalized to hear a few years ago that some summers in Columbus's Vorys office were put in offices without windows.

I have heard rumors that sometimes when lawyers go in-house they get put in something called a "cube." Does anyone know if that's true?

day pitney(nj): sharing offices till 3rd year

GDC NY - seems some are sharing through third year

NY is the only city where associates share. In every other city all associates get their own office.

A&O associates share till 4th year.

Kramer Levin (NYC): Share for 1st & 2nd years, but all attorneys have windowed offices (not true everywhere from what I hear). Agree with 11:48 that there are a lot of plusses to sharing an office and it's rarely a hindrance, unless you're talking on the phone about things that you really shouldn't be talking about at work.

It blows my mind you would go to undergrad, go to law school, summer at a firm, and then not get your own office. Wow... just... wow.

Cleary NYC: Everyone gets a private office from day one (you even have your own office as a summer). Coupled with the amazing views, I think Cleary takes the cake on this one.

NYcentric- I can't believe no one brought that up. Thank you for your valuable insight.

Gibbons in newark shares for 1-2 years

I work at an ID firm in the midwest and everyone gets their own office.

Orrick NYC gives your own office from day 1. no sharing.

Second 12:00 - I have enjoyed sharing an office; it can be a hassle if you don't like the person but as a first year it is great to have someone to shoot the poop with and trade gripes. For a year or so it is a net positive, not a negative.

I work out of a stall in the bathroom, but at least it's all mine.

From a former NYC attorney, sharing an office is actually not a bad thing. I really enjoyed it - comraderie when you are working late, someone to ask your dumb questions to, a built-in social outlet. I made many of my best friends at the firm through sharing an office.

Things must be getting rough for L2L...he just misspelled his own name.

Nobody in Chicago shares offices. In London, though, the partners have "trainees" sitting in their offices. That would be annoying.

Seyfarth Shaw -- everyone gets own office from day 1 and at least in the Chi office the offices are all the same size (partners and associates) as some sort of a "everyone is equal" gesture. You can take that for what its worth. Seyfarth associates are not even paid "equal" to their peers (even amongst firms within the same office building).

What is a Gibbons in Newark?

Don't know of anyone in Chicago that shares an office. Everyone I know that worked in biglaw (at Latham, Sidley, Mayer, Winston, K&E) got their own office from summer associate day one.

Jones Day Chicago -- Get private office with a window on day 1.

At Covington DC everyone gets a private office from day 1, but first and second-year associates usually have internal offices that look out at the building atrium rather than external window offices. Do other places do this too, or just Covington?

Debevoise NYC shares through the fifth year or so.

Paul Weiss NYC - we share a room with 30 attorneys. No views in the basement, but the nice part is its next to a McDonald's in the concourse.

kirkland and ellis in NYC -- everyone gets his/her own office from day one. further evidence that K&E is the most under-appreciated firm in the nation.

Does anybody know about Proskauer in NYC?

Cahill NYC 1st years share. Those double offices are huge, though, and in general the associate offices are big.

latham chicago- they do share offices for a few months as first years

I can't believe anyone would think it good to share an office. Sure, someone to talk to, but I can walk down the hall to do that any time. And I don't want the resentful stare when I leave at a reasonable time and s/he doesn't (or vice versa.)

I can't imagine why you people live out there in New York. Crummy weather, angry people, ridiculous rent for a broom closet, the same salary, and shared office. Eeesh.

(And it's not just NY--I know people in DC that share (i.e. Jones Day.))

At Fried Frank DC, every incoming associate gets a window office from day 1.

Which firms (if any) give associates their own offices WITH A COUCH (see earlier nap perk post).

Sharing an office would be horrible. Apart from the pure indignity of not meriting your own office, imagine always having to listen to someone chomping away at his lunch (and smelling it), never being able to have a personal telephone conversation and feeling self-conscious about all other conversations, having to listen to every single tedious phone call your office mate makes, etc.

At S&C you get your own office sometime in your second year (although a few first year M&A associates got them this year).

I personally used to think this was a bad thing, but would now no longer want my own office--I love being able to gossip with my officemate without having to wander the floors (exposing myself to potential new assignments :) ). I'm sure it depends on how well you get along with your office mate though, so if you summer at a firm that doesn't give you your own office right away, make sure you pick someone during the summer whom you woulnd't mind sharing an office with for a year and a half or so.

Heller Ehrman NY: private office from day 1.

I think at K&L Gates NY everyone, including summers has their own office and secretary. Every time I called me friend who summered there, her secretary answered.

I remember being on a callback with McCarter & English (big NJ firm), and being informed offhandedly that associates share an office for the first few years. I understand maybe doing that in NYC, but in Newark?

I would like to share an office with the brunette in that picture and watch her take off her glasses, shake out that head of hair and let it fall out of that ponytail and see what, if anything, she is wearing under that dreadful jacket! ROWR!

S&C Palo Alto: private offices for attorneys and summers from day 1.

Simpson Thacher: 2nd year

what about cadwalader

akin dc - private offices with large windows from day 1 as summer/associate (with individual thermostat). even paralegals get their own offices, but no window.

Drinker in Philly: own office from day 1, with full-width/height windows. i have a nice view of the Phila Museum of Art. summers double up in partner-sized offices.

I have my own office, and right at this moment some dude is cleaning the window from the outside, presumably not watching me post a comment to ATL.

On another note, I keep reading the posts above that start with "everyone" to the tune of "Everyone's a winner at Nixon P-Bah-Dee!"

E.g., "Everyone has their own office at Townsend in San Francisco!"

Wow, this is unbelievable. I don't know of a single firm in CA (LA, SF, or anywhere else) where someone with a law degree actually has to share an office with someone else. Where do you people masturbate?

Today must be window-washing day. I was just startled by someone descending into view. Thought it was Spider-Man for a moment.

Hogan & Hartson DC: First years don't share but get an internal windowless office. Move to office with window in second year.

Paul Weiss NYC - we share a room with 30 attorneys. No views in the basement, but the nice part is its next to a McDonald's in the concourse.

Posted by: Anonymous | August 24, 2007 12:24 PM

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Ha! I had your job once (before the Bar results came out)! I got a rash and hives from that basement. They treat you all like lepers. Down with PW!

WilmerHale NYC: Everyone gets their own offices, including summers, from day 1. Some (many, even) have cushy views of the MetLife Building, Park Ave./Lever House, East River, Downtown, or Central Park (depending on the floors, which range from the 27th through 37th floors of 399 Park Ave.). Not bad!

S&S NYC: office-mates for first years; most second years I know have own offices;

On a side note, if you get a good office mate, life is a blast. I am ambivalent about having my own office.

Skadden NY: Only summers have to share an office.

When I was choosing to summer between Skadden and Cleary I took the "summers get their own office" as a perk on the Cleary side. But frankly I would rethink that at this point. I learned more on a day to day basis from my officemate than anyone else at the firm and the recruiting department did a great job pairing people. I'm not talking instruction on substantive law here--I'm talking the everyday details.

I understand Sullivan & Cromwell has a policy where junior associates have their own office, but often move into a senior associate's office to be their little toady and perhaps sex partner.

Associate LS at Katten in NYC can still blow Partners in her office in the hope of becoming one. nice.

Has anyone mentioned how New York centric this thread is? I'm surprised no one has pointed out just how New York centric this whole discussion is. I'm not even in New York, so I don't know why I am reading such a New York centric thread.

How about a perks thread re which firm has the nicest offices??? The thread could go city by city.

McDermott DC - from day 1 with an external window.

I heard a rumor that WilmerHale NY is thinking of making associates share for their first year or two in the future.

Milbank NY - 2nd year
Milbank DC - Day 1

What about Cravath? Is Lat's earlier post right -- that you don't get your own office until year three?

Oh wah, the NYC i-banking associates don't even have shared offices -- they are in a field of cubicles with low walls!

West Coast: 1) because NYC is the center of the universe; 2) having seasons is sometimes a good thing; and 3) Paris Hilton doesn't live in our state.

'Nuff said.

S&C London - 6 months shared (by policy, not driven by space shortage)
S&C NY - about 2 years shared; you get assigned solo offices sometime in your second year depending on availability

2:44 - thank you. I just called and reneged on going to my callback at WilmerHale, thanks to the little bird you use for info.

Hughes Hubbard (NY): Share first two years, but it's very social and most seem to like it. A few attorneys are actually voluntarily sharing past their 2nd year. Also, all offices have windows.

That's not a ponytail, unless it's a really messy end-of-the-day-held-with-a-rubber-band ponytail. more likely it is a sensible haircut for women who can't stand to have long messy hair that requires some attention every day.

as a summer, I'm pretty sure I annoyed the f*ck out of my office mate. all those myspace page songs...

I was a summer at WEMED NYC - big mistake - and my summer office was a desk inside a file closet. I had an officemate, but she was a file clerk who didn't speak english. (She actually had a larger desk in the closet.) It was the worst summer of my life. I got an offer and said no without anything else in the pipeline. Thankfully I was able to land a better job elsewhere.

I'm the female attorney pictured above, and yes, my hair is in a ponytail, but it looks messy because I just finished having sex with my officemate when the picture was taken. I am a huge whore. That is all.

3:03 - if you're that short-sighted, you never would have been hired at WilmerHale anyway.

Davis Polk - 3rd or 4th year

No one (in any firm) shares an office in Seattle. Not like anyone cares though.

12:48 -- Wow, I bet no one else here even thought of that!

1:09 -- Could've been a shared secretary.

Sutherland (DC): Own office from day 1 (although sometimes summer associates get doubled up)
Sutherland (DC Energy Group): Own office with a window from day 1
Sutherland (Austin TX): Own building from day 1

lord bissell, chicago: everyone had their own office--summers, first years, second years, everyone.

Lat, how about a thread for "best offices" in general (i.e. assoicates, partners, conf rooms, onsite dining, lobby, views, etc.), for each city...

wlrk shares offices in the first year.

Latham LA-plenty of offices for first years. though, we are moving at the end of the year so that make complicate things.

Several years ago I got my own office with a beautiful view of the mountains and the ocean. All for a lowly government lawyer on his first day at work straight-out of a clerkship. Big Law associates can keep the shared offices; I'll keep the view.

Man, even newbies in the south get our own offices.

Jones Day New York summers get private offices. As do associates. And of course they have windows - do some firms really have offices without windows??

associates share offices for the first two years. In London EVERYONE shares offices, including partners, English tradition.

No sharing offices at Cooley

I like sharing an office. As long as you like your officemate, it's kind of nice to have someone to gossip with, vent to, etc.

Dechert DC - Own office from the first day

Kirkland-NY: every associate has a private office from day 1.