Defining the right firms to work is not that cushy.How does one handle the pain of meeting a firm youreally like and absolutely disliking it? I attended a Weil open day and everyone seemed so cold and uninterested ☹️ I really like their sectors and was considering applying for their vac scheme but I don’t think culture wise, it’s for me… should I still apply?
My advice is that you need to balance their quality of work, demand of work with their work ethic and culture. In that case, you might find it interesting to work at Weil due to their practice areas, etc which fall outside of culture, so that means you are not fully resonate to it.
Ikr to work in the US firms may have different atmosphere, especially myself had an experience with it at non-law firms, but that is just vast of majority or stigma.
There are some US firms that are friendly, to make it simple to navigate you can check Legal Cheek's social life score card. Weil has B score on it, so you should consider those with A* or A just to be transparent.
To mention, I knew someone who went to VS at Weil, but she didn't like it just like you, so she chose TC offer from Hogan Lovells instead despite their salary is lower than Weil, but it has contrast culture compared to Weil, she said.
You could see other firms that are on the same boat, but this is just IMO. I found Vinson & Elkins, Akin, Sullivan & Cromwell are cold too despite some had A score on Legal Cheek's social life score card.
For the US office, I saw news that Willkie associates departed to Cooley because of this issue too, especially when the firm defended Trump.
Hope that helps and not discourage you to apply.
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