Cleary Gottlieb
New York, NYWashington, DCSan Francisco, CA +1
FIRM PROFILE
Debevoise & Plimpton
- New York, NY
- Washington, DC
- San Francisco, CA
Offering expertise across both disputes and transactions, and a life outside of the office, make some noise for Debevoise.
About the Firm
- 3
- National Offices
- 6
- Overseas Offices
- Undisclosed
- Summer Places
- 547
- Associates
The age-old advice about having your cake and eating it too aims to dispel people from coveting two mutually exclusive desires. At a lot of firms, this translates to an unspoken agreement whereby associates sign away a fair chunk of their free time in order to pursue a BigLaw career. Not so at Debevoise, where the message is clear: “I have been able to do BigLaw in a way that keeps me happy, healthy and that lets me take care of myself,” one junior happily shared, “happy employees equal more productive employees, and I think Debevoise really is the blueprint for this.”
New York houses the Debevoise HQ, with further offices in Washington DC and San Francisco and another six internationally, including London, where juniors are given the opportunity for secondment (interest piqued? Read on to find out more).
“I have been able to do BigLaw in a way that keeps me happy, healthy and that lets me take care of myself…”
Debevoise receives top-tier nods from Chambers USA across the likes of employee benefits, insurance, intellectual property, corporate media & entertainment and white-collar crime and government investigations litigation in the firm’s home state, alongside the likes of corporate crime & investigations, international arbitration, private equity fund formation and securities regulation nationwide. As a result, associates were quick to describe the firm as “a leader in both private equity and public deals with a long history of white-collar litigation and international arbitration.” “The quality of work that you get here is definitely unmatched,” one junior praised, “every single matter that I’ve been on has had highly complex situations.”
Summer Program
- Undisclosed
- Summer Places
Life on the summer program, we heard, looks much the same as life as a junior associate. Juniors shared that they were staffed on “a bunch of different matters and opportunities.” “I was staffed on a merger” reported one source, “andI really enjoyed that because I was actually looking at things and helping draft a couple of definitions for an agreement, and as a summer I thought that was really cool.” Sources were happy with the start they were given as summers, as it gave them a chance to figure out their preferred practice group.
A standout feature of Debevoise’s summer program is the chance to be seconded to one of their international offices: “I got to do a four to five week stint in the firm’s London office,” shared one junior, “working abroad and being given the opportunity to fully immerse myself in a foreign office was by far my favorite moment of the summer programme.” As part of the summer program, there is a special event for parents – most recently a visit to Central Park Zoo where associates brought their families.
Strategy & Future
Debevoise’s associates were quick to show off their knowledge of the world of AI and its impact on firms: “Not only is it changing our internal practice a lot, but almost every client seems to be focused on it too,” shared one insider, “Our firm is investing a lot to be on the cutting edge of law and AI. We have a practice group that’s fully devoted to consulting clients on certain compliance issues related to their use of AI and their work.”
Looking to more practice group growth, sources confirmed that “Debevoise is trying to grow its investment management private funds transaction deals. The firm is actively adapting to and monitoring different tides of practice areas. The continuation vehicles and private funds we’re doing more of is the kind of trend Debevoise is keeping their eye on and wanting to do more of in the private area in particular, and I think that’s due to strong client relationships.”
The Work
Initially, work is provided to juniors through a central staffing system. However, while the system remains in place throughout their time, one junior shared, “as I’ve gotten more assignments, I’ve started to work with more partners and senior associates which has meant that I get more work from them directly.” We heard that if you’re able to “develop relationships with partners, counsel and senior associates, when they’re looking for people for matters, they’ll reach out and tell staffing and staffing will put you on those matters.” The general consensus was that cultivating relationships is key to your development as an associate at Debevoise. Juniors also had praise for the full-time staffing coordinator who does a great job “of staying in touch with you, understanding your workload and allocating work as it comes up.”
“…you learn along the way and there are multiple different people reviewing your work and giving you feedback.”
Within the firm’s general litigation team, associates can expect to work on “white-collar and commercial litigation matters” which includes “anything from contact disputes to investigations and data security breaches.” More typical junior tasks including legal research, document review and analysis, privilege review. Sourcing supporting materials are undertaken by associates assigned on bigger deals. “Synthesizing factual histories” is another important task expected of juniors to ensure that “things are factually correct so someone more senior can go ahead and write a brief.”
On smaller matters, teams are more leanly staffed, meaning that juniors are given the opportunity to “take the first crack on motions.” One source reported being given the chance to review privilege entries unsupervised, with a mid-level associate stepping in only where help was needed. There was assurance that although the work can be daunting as a first year, “you learn along the way and there are multiple different people reviewing your work and giving you feedback.”
Litigation clients: Adidas, Capital One, Robinhood Markets. Represented Shell in its defense of over 30 climate-change lawsuits brought by state and local governments nationwide.
Over in the corporate department, juniors are given the opportunity to do two rotations in separate practice areas before then deciding where they would like to specialize. Of the options available to them, M&A was a popular choice. Juniors are exposed to the inner workings of public deals, making for a very “fun and exciting” rotation. “There’s a broad range of tasks available to you as a junior within the M&A group and I enjoy that,” shared one source, “from running a checklist to drafting resolutions for signing or closing to also spearheading due diligence, and I’ve also been able to draft more substantive documents.” Juniors praised being given “as much responsibility as you want. I’ve even built a funds flow chart, which is basically all the calculations of the ownership of your client if it’s being sold, and so that involves reading the merger agreement and figuring out how the configuration and purchase is set up.” Public deals involving the likes of Warner Bros Discovery are part of the package for juniors. So, if casual name-dropping is your thing, ‘Debevoise & Plimpton’ has a nice ring.
Corporate clients: JP Morgan Securities, Warner Music Group, Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. Debevoise advised American Express on their acquisition of Center, a software company modernizing expense management.
“Every team in the funds group has at least one junior associate on each matter,” one junior explained, as a result, “juniors really have the opportunity to get exposed to everything from a short single interest transfer to something more complicated like a strip sale or fundraiser or a tender offer.” Within funds, associates can expect to work on a range of matters including purchase and sales agreements, continuation vehicles, and LPAs for a fund, in short, the whole “gamut of the funds world.”
When we asked sources about what they enjoy most about the work, one junior revealed that “the matters I have the most fun with are the ones with more responsibility, and those tend to be limited partner secondary led sales, because you can dictate the pace and once you’ve done a few of them you better understand and can then help out in a substantive way.” Responsibility is provided early within this team, and “depending on how time sensitive things are, ideally the team would like the junior to take a first look at most documents that come through to us and have their draft be reviewed by a mid-level or senior and then polished up by a partner before it gets sent out.”
Funds clients: Global Infrastructure Partners, Kelso & Company, Blackstone Alternative Asset Management. Represented Stone Point in the formation of multiple private funds.
Career Development
Debevoise provides two weeks of “extensive training” to new starters which is mandatory. The firm aims to teach juniors about different aspects of a business, including the basics of accounting, and wrapping their heads around corporate jargon to better understand the makeup of the big corporations that they will be advising. Following this, CLEs are provided throughout the year, along with practice group-specific sessions, such as “lunch and learns” for the funds group. We heard that the firm understands that “a lot of things go very over your head when you’re deep in work and those sessions give the opportunity to ask stupid questions.”
“…it was really refreshing to hear what exactly the firm wants from us versus trying to piece these things together ourselves.”
Over in litigation, the firm put on a commercial litigation bootcamp, which covered every major stage of a case: “They taught us things like how to answer a complaint, and how much information is too little or too much, and it was really refreshing to hear what exactly the firm wants from us versus trying to piece these things together ourselves.” The general consensus seemed to be that “Debevoise is a great place to teach and grow lawyers. So, as long as there are lessons to be learned, it’s a great place for me to be.” Aside from the formal training, sources praised the mentorships provided in the form of an associate mentor and partner mentor: “It’s an awesome avenue to ask questions that you may be embarrassed to ask” shared one junior, “I’ve had a number of instances where I’ve been working and there’s a contract or provision that I’m unsure of and I don’t want to ask the senior associate on the team, so I’ve asked my associate mentor those types of questions instead.”
Hours & Compensation
- No requirement
- Billable hours requirement
Prospective juniors considering a career at Debevoise can feel free to wipe a brow and let out a sigh of relief, because there are no strict billable targets for juniors: “The way they handle it is that you don’t worry about the hours, because central staffing will worry about it.” A soft target of 2,000 hours has been reported by sources, but “no one is penalizing you if you can’t meet it.” Compensation is lockstep, and “there is no specific requirement for bonuses so long as you are in good standing.”
“The way they handle it is that you don’t worry about the hours, because central staffing will worry about it.”
Typical days consisted of somewhere between seven and nine hours of billable work. Hybrid working operates at Debevoise, with two anchor days which are practice group specific, and then a third day which is firmwide. Perks enticing juniors into the office included “amazing baristas.” So amazing, in fact, that we heard that they “will have you seriously consider coming into the office on your work from home days.” There is also a subsidized cafeteria which offers breakfast and lunch, and the occasional pop-up treat.
Culture
As one associate put it: “We have a reputation for being one of the nice firms, and that definitely is true from an internal point of view.” In fact, ‘nice’ seemed to be the word of the day, with the majority of those we spoke to describing it as such. When asked about hierarchy, sources seemed to agree that whilst a hierarchy existed, so long as juniors put in the effort, “the partners and seniors are very receptive to meeting and having coffee chats and getting to know juniors.” One junior shared that “I feel very comfortable walking into a partner’s office and saying hi.”
On the social side, in some teams “I think the culture is to keep people’s social life and professional life a bit more separate,” one told us. Some practice groups described monthly lunches, happy hours, and dinners at nearby restaurants within their teams, although “there is no pressure to go to the events if you don’t want to.” Firmwide, Debevoise rented out New York’s Museum of Modern Art (no biggie) for an alumni event: “It was so wonderful because we got to see the MoMA when no one else was there” said one junior, “it felt like we were part of a special community.” We heard that events did tend to take place during special holidays at specific points in the year, and some juniors expressed a wish for more frequent events across the whole year.
Pro Bono
- 86,629
- Total Us Pro Bono Hours
- 110
- Average Pro Bono Hours Per Attorney
At Debevoise, juniors were happy to report that pro bono hours counted towards their billable target and there is no cap on how much associates are free to do. “We have a very strong pro bono culture here and the vast majority of people treat it the same; that it’s equally as important as billable work.” Juniors reported doing up to 150 hours of pro bono work in the space of a year. A unique feature of the firm is it’s Holloway Project, which was founded by a partner at the firm (John Gleeson), and aims to take on compassionate release cases involving people who have been incarcerated for criminal activities, including gun crimes. When juniors were explaining its purpose, we learned that “the law has since changed and reduced the mandatory minimum sentences given to people. So there’s this whole project to take on these cases and get those sentences reduced, because they should be smaller under the current law.” Juniors can get involved in a variety of pro bono work outside of criminal law including (but certainly not limited to) housing matters, asylum and immigration claims, and corporate governance for non-profit organizations.
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Top Figures
- New York
- Largest US Office
- $225,000
- 1st Year Salary
- 9
- Partners Made
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