Why Hello, Old Chap! Say Good Day to Chambers Associate
Last month, we mentioned the plans of Chambers and Partners, the U.K.-based publisher of law firm guides, to launch an online guide to U.S. law firms called Chambers Associate. Already well-known for its rankings of top firms in different practice areas — which firms love to tout in their PR materials, since they’re always good news — Chambers now seeks to supplement its coverage with a resource for law students and laterals.
The Chambers Associate site is now live. Enter a firm’s name in the search box to find its profile, or use the advanced search feature to find firms by region, practice area, or some other criterion.
How does Chambers Associate compare to other resources in the market? The field is already crowded, with players such as Vault and the new ATL / Lateral Link Career Center. Editor Michael Lovatt, whom we met at the NALP conference, explained Chambers Associate:
The emphasis we have gone for is away from the Vault prestige ranking model, and toward the notion that there isn’t a ‘best’ firm, rather that an individual’s specific interests and ambitions make different firms — with their various cultures, policies, practice strengths and identities — the right fit.
Getting law students and lawyers to look beyond prestige, in a profession as status-obsessed as the law, may be a challenge. But at least Chambers has done its homework:
For each firm, we write an overview based on the detailed practice area rankings from Chambers USA, then write 10 sections of editorial based on anonymous telephone interviews with a random, representative sample of junior associates at that firm. It’s an in-depth, substantive approach that we think gets under the skin of law firms in more detail than any other publication.
Present company excluded, of course; here at ATL, we pride ourselves on the ability to “get[] under the skin of law firms.” We checked out a few of the Chambers Associate profiles, and they struck us as comprehensive, if a bit tilted towards the positive.
Press release, after the jump.
CHAMBERS AND PARTNERS — CHAMBERS ASSOCIATE — PRESS RELEASE
New publication helps law students find the right job.
In this tough recruitment market, it’s not enough for law graduates to ask: “Which is the best law firm?” They need to know: “Which is the best firm for me?”
The new website, Chambers Associate, based on interviews with associates, provides the information that law students need to make an informed career choice.
It gives ‘the inside track’ - seen through the eyes of junior lawyers themselves - about working inside top law firms. “I reviewed overviews, including two firms where I practiced,” says Lois Casaleggi, Senior Director of Career Services at The University of Chicago Law School, “and I think the information provided is great.”
Chambers Associate reveals a law-firm’s culture and working environment for law students, and prospects for continuing employment, rather than a firm’s status and ‘prestige’.
Lois Casaleggi supports this approach: “Prestige is not the issue, but finding the right firm for each individual. That is a message that we try to convey all the time.”
· Designed in close consultation with students, associates, law firm recruiters and law schools,
· Based on a thousand telephone interviews with young lawyers across the USA.
· Also draws on the research undertaken for Chambers USA, the market-leading legal directory which assesses law firms on the basis of interviews with clients.
· Evaluations are drawn from those who really know the associate experience - junior lawyers themselves.
· Profiles of the top 100 US firms by revenue.
· Free access: no institutional or personal subscriptions required.
· Easy to search: Chambers Associate takes users directly to all the facts and figures they need.
Chambers is the world-leader in the publishing of client-based market assessment of the legal profession. All research is independent and unbiased: no one can buy their way into the guides or influence what is said about them.
Chambers Associate [official website]
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Comments
Note that it is 4:25 pm and this post is authored by Lat. Will we see a later Elie post? I wait with bated breath.
Too many links. Couldn't read it.
BREAKING NEWS:
Sotomayor: "I've interacted with a number of white male jurists. I don't find myself particularly fond of them, and I'm certain they think the same of me."
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
How much did they pay you to post this?
Lat: "Getting law students and lawyers to look beyond prestige, in a profession as status-obsessed as the law, may be a challenge."
Lat is a major reason law is regarded as "status-obssessed." People like him have destroyed our profession. Thanks.
Latham is soooo prestigious! It's a Vault 10 firm!! I want to work there! All the chicks will dig my status when I piggy-back my self-worth on the name of a limited liability partnership.
-- naive law school class of 2008, circa 2007.
6 - what would a street smart '08 student have said about Latham in 2007?
7, maybe "I shouldn't go to the New York satellite office of an overexpanding firm with a minimal litigation reputation and overloaded recruiting hype that is too popular for its own good."
Or "high PPP is good for partners but bad for associates. I'm an associate. I think Marx wrote something once about these 'capitalists' who profit from the surplus value of labor produced by the 'proletariat.'"
Checked out some of the firm profiles on Chambers. It's mostly pretty skin deep analysis. The writers never criticize or predict future trouble for any firm. Anything bad that is mentioned is tempered by some positive aspect of the firm. I don't see how it's any different from vault.
"7, maybe 'I shouldn't go to the New York satellite office of an overexpanding firm with a minimal litigation reputation and overloaded recruiting hype that is too popular for its own good.'"
That's kind of a lot for law students to figure out, don't you think? Maybe I don't give them enough credit.
- Not 7
9; it may be "skin deep" but it's definitely a step above and beyond ATL's career center....
10, actual critical thinking is a lot to expect, which is why so many people simply read Vault and other popularity surveys, and went to Latham.
"10, actual critical thinking is a lot to expect..."
So we agree then.
9 - The ATL career center seems to have more balanced firm reviews, with cons as well as pros.
Anyway, more information is good. Good luck to Chambers (because this is a terrible time to be launching a product aimed at legal job seekers).
4, I don't think they paid for this. I don't see any Chambers ads on ATL.
15 - you mean other than this post?
Ahhh... how very interesting. A directory service providing in depth information on the best and most prestigious law firms in the country.
Well, let's just see what this fine source of information on the BEST law firms in the country has to say about the storied institution I work at - Thompson Hine
"No results were found that match your query"
http://www.chambers-associate.com/Result.aspx?let=thompson%20hine
(Eye ahm in yor lawpherm. Ewe cannnot staup mi)
Unsolicited questions / advice for Chambers:
1. Macro-timing: Why are you launching this guide at a time when Big Law is going down the drain?
2. Micro-timing: Why did you launch on a Friday (esp. after Memorial Day)?
3. You should advertise heavily on ATL - all the readers you want to reach, law students and laterals, are HERE.
i luv rogue associate. and his lolcat impressions.
I checked out Chambers Associate. It seems solid and well-done to me.
Chambers Associate has potential but it isn't as comprehensive as the full-scale Chambers, which gets into regional and state rankings in a way that Associate does not....but it should work pretty well for the biglaw types.
Re PHJW: "but the firm hasn’t (yet) seemed quite so exposed to the downturn as fellow boom-timers".
Hahahahaha! They've laid-off, what? 20%? (1300ish -> 1100ish.)
Every firm seems to be described as a great place to work and better positioned than its competitors for tough economic times.
Firm marketing departments will love Chambers, but I don't see how it's helpful to associates or law students.
So, I read the "Meet the Team" link for this site and not one of those chumps was ever a US lawyer for any law firm. Not one of them appears to even be a US citizen. This site is a total fucking sham and is no better than the equally stupid Vault.
24 – you douche. They’re journalists, not lawyers. Pick up a newspaper, is everything written by specialists? You’ll find otherwise.
The information on Chambers can be inaccurate. It says that Akin Gump has not conducted layoffs, which is news to the fifty or so of us who were let go.
25 - that's all fine and good, except this isn't a newspaper. They market their product as "the definitive insider guide to US law firms for law students and laterals." The problem is none of them are insiders. See the problem there?
Dude. No one in England says "hello old chap." Unless that person is about a hundred and twelve years old, and stuck in some Agatha Christie novel. Ugh.
Folks, it's worth a visit. Warning: the unintentional comedy of the "Associates Say" flash video box is totally off the charts. Ex: Fried Frank associate: "I've hit the honey pot." Paul Hastings associate: "My assignments come directly from the partner." Either the persons who made them are idiots or they were dripping with sarcasm that Chambers missed.
This ranks as one of the most idiotic websites about the law ever. It adds not one iota of value. Maybe Chambers will also offer us Superlawyer ranking paid for by the recipient firms.
Wait but Vault's Prestige Rankings is just one of 20. Their best firms to work for list covers all the stuff Chambers is claiming. They should know their competitors better before making dumb statements.
Brits....
I am not sure that the opinions of junior associates are valuable to anyone other than law students, even if they are accurate. The comments about my firm are not - it's not surprising to me that junior associates are a little clueless but that's why you don't base a resource on their opinions.
Pros
Seems at least as comprehensive as Vault.
Free
Cons
Stupid time to be launching.
No chance of winning students away from the concept of prestige.
Pros
Seems at least as comprehensive as Vault.
Free
Cons
Stupid time to be launching.
No chance of winning students away from the concept of prestige.