Career Center Survey Results: Top Partners to Work For - New York (Part 1)

With all the negative press surrounding partners lately — see, e.g., here and here — it’s about time for some good news, about good partners.

Last month we asked you to nominate the best partners you work for, tell us why they are the best, and rate them in six categories: expertise within the practice area, quality of work given to associates, hands-on training given to associates, provision of feedback on associate work, respect for associates’ schedules, and professionalism with associates. And we didn’t even have to pay these associates to say nice things about the partners they nominated.

Over the next few weeks, the ATL Career Center, hosted by Lateral Link, will bring you the list of the best partners to work for, divided up by geographic region. This week we will focus on New York, Above the Law’s home base, and give you the top 24 partners to work for in the Big Apple as nominated by you, our readers.

Let’s look at the first eight, shall we?

The eight partners we present today hail from Cahill, Simpson, Orrick, Gibson, Crowell & Moring, Cravath, Paul Hastings and SNR Denton:

Floyd Abrams. A Cahill Gordon litigation partner, Mr. Abrams not only sets the bar in all survey categories, but as a bonus for working for him, “[y]ou could work on a con law book and learn inside info on Ann Coulter.”

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Howard Altarescu. Mr. Altarescu, a corporate partner and head of Orrick’s Financial Institutions Industry Group, is “awesome at finance, loved by clients, totally connected from his Goldman days, and yet still down to earth and full of feedback for associates.”

Barbara Becker. Associates want to work for Ms. Becker, a Gibson Dunn corporate partner, because she is “one of the most dedicated partners,” “respects associate opinions and is willing to give credit where credit is due,” and “does not ask associates to do things that she herself is not willing to do and works very hard.” In addition, her “[t]raining is top notch and she is very kind.”

Harry Burnett. A litigation partner in Crowell & Moring’s International Dispute Resolution Group, Mr. Burnett is known to be a “[s]tand up guy who doesn’t take himself too seriously.”

Evan Chesler. Mr. Chesler, a litigation partner at Cravath and the firm’s presiding partner, received the highest ratings for practice area expertise, associate feedback, and professionalism with associates.

Casey Cogut. A corporate partner at Simpson Thacher, Mr. Cogut sets the bar for the firm in all survey categories.

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Alan Cohen. Mr. Cohen is a corporate partner at Paul Hastings, and received the highest ratings in all survey categories.

Glenn Colton. Mr. Colton, an SNR Denton litigation partner and U.S. chair of the White Collar and Government Investigations practice, is one of the best partners to work for because he has “clear expectations,” issues “no false deadlines,” “treats associates like valued members of a team,” and maintains a “good balance between giving associates a lot of responsibility and providing guidance.” He is also “a Westlaw whiz, but doesn’t lord it over you,” and is a “super nice guy.”

Tomorrow we will highlight another eight New York partners whom associates enjoy working with. If you feel you are at a firm where there are no good partners to work for and you are considering a transition, let Lateral Link’s experienced search consultants help you make a lateral move.