Is The West Coast The Best Coast? An Interview with Kinney Recruiting’s Paige Drewelow

An expert in the legal industry for 19 years, Paige Drewelow is a recruiter for the West Coast offices of Kinney Recruiting. Her experience both working within and as an outside resource for some of the country’s biggest firms, including three Am Law 25 firms, has offered her a nuanced insight into the Biglaw placement process. Between her work experience and having lived on the West Coast for 15 years, Paige has developed a deep network of connections across the region—in the Bay Area in particular—and she’s well-positioned to help attorneys looking to make a lateral move westward.

We recently sat down with Drewelow to get an insider’s view on current market trends in the region and what to expect if you’re a lateral looking to make a move to the West Coast.

How do the salaries and bonuses at West Coast firms compare with other markets?

Most large California firms are on the “Cravath” scale when it comes to salaries and bonuses. Outside of California, more firms are below that scale but, in general, the best firms pay national market salaries in all the major West Coast Markets. We also work with a number of smaller, regional or boutique firms though.  Some of their salaries might be lower, but there are obviously quality of life tradeoffs. Salaries in Seattle have not yet reached the national market scale in some cases that are surprising, but we have reason to believe that’s likely to change soon. One of the benefits of being in a relatively large and put together network of recruiters at Kinney is that we have a good number of connections.  Through some of these, we know of some changes that are afoot.  We have had good luck using precedent in some of our other deals to negotiate starting bonuses recently in West Coast markets.  Things are negotiable in many cases.

What about the cost of living and the availability of housing?

What about it?  No one who comes to us is suffering from any illusions about what the prices for real estate are like in Northern California.  But if someone wants to do first class work for technology companies, and perhaps wants to be in house with one of these companies, Silicon Valley and San Francisco have been the place to be for at least 20 years now.  You have to take the good with the bad; few leave once they arrive and settle in.  Seattle is an interesting market for outsiders to consider because there’s good work and no state income tax.  Although the cost of housing is still pretty high, it’s manageable on a normal law firm salary.  

What kind of hours should associates on the West Coast expect to bill?

We hear fewer of the “stuck-in-the-office-’til-midnight” stories that you hear so often out of places like New York. The West Coast, in general, just has a more laid-back pace even when people are working hard.  That said, we know partners in all sorts of markets who bill over 3,000 hours per year when 1,800 would be plenty, so there is a lot of variation. As Seattle is seeing a boom in tech, the hours there have been going up. But, like everywhere else, the hours expectations are going to vary as much as the firms do.  In general, you should plan to bill 2,000 hours or so if you’re going to work with a firm that cares enough about productivity to hire us to find them a great lawyer.  It’s all a function of productivity; in general, you’re going to make about one-third of what the revenue is for your time worked.  That’s true up and down the food chain.  

What are the most relevant industries or current practice area trends in the various cities on the West Coast?

Seattle is a hot market right now. It’s quickly becoming the Silicon Valley of the North. There are lots of opportunities in tech transactions and emerging companies, as well as the life sciences. Nevertheless, when it comes to corporate work, Seattle is still more of a generalists market.  There are lots of transactional opportunities. Finding positions can be slightly more challenging on the adversarial side of things, as firms are generally staffing more leanly in litigation.

Northern California is the strongest market on the West Coast. Silicon Valley is still obviously a hotbed for technology and emerging companies. Private finance and M&A are the two hottest practice areas, although we have filled executive compensation, ERISA, and litigation roles in the recent past there as well.  Silicon Valley is a place where it’s easy to specialize rather than being a generalist.  You can develop world-class skills in your chosen practice area there.

There’s generally less tech work in L.A., but firms who have opened offices there are working with emerging companies, particularly in areas like IP. The entertainment field is always big in L.A., and life sciences is a thriving industry in Southern California.  That said, there are just fewer of those opportunities.  Our biggest success in L.A. has been with uncovering interesting roles in medium sized firms.  

Talk to us about breaking in if you’re an outsider. Do you need local connections or to have gone to a particular law school? Is there much of an “old boys’ network”?

There’s a great amount of opportunity for everyone on the West Coast. If you have a strong tie to any of the specific markets, that never hurts.  But even having attended a top law school is often enough to help make you feel at home within your alumni network in most West Coast markets.  The weather is nice in CA so people are just friendly.  In Seattle and Portland, people are just genuinely happy to get up every morning and be alive, so the same theory applies.  They will be open to you as an outsider almost anywhere.  You’ll also find plenty of open doors.  There’s not much of an “old boys” network to worry with.  On the other hand, in California the bar exam can be a barrier.  If you’re from a top firm in a major market, being barred in California is not usually a problem.  Otherwise, it can be difficult to get anyone’s attention until you have passed the bar, with it’s 34% pass rate.  

What’s your current takeaway on the overall state of the West Coast lateral market?

The West Coast is still the golden land of opportunity. Firms are always looking for strong candidates and are willing to have conversations with potential laterals. It’s a great place for people looking at a long-term career path and wanting to make partner. And, while it’s always challenging to make a geographic move and go directly in-house, a move to the right law firm will open a lot of the right doors and offer lots of opportunities for in-house moves.  I’m always looking to talk to quality people who are interested in considering opportunities on the West Coast.  If I come away from the conversation thinking that someone is both impressive and serious about a move, I’m usually successful in moving him/her.