Editor's Note:
The firms/businesses/offices chosen for the current poll "What is the best [legal practice] place to work in the Vegas Valley?" were selected from the best known legal offices in Vegas and nominations submitted to our Friday post asking for suggestions.
If there's a firm that should have been included, please post write in votes as comments to this post.*
* In addition, if there's a firms that should have been included, it means you need to read the blog more often and contribute. Shame on you.
To those of you that voted on Saturday, WWL apologizes for asking you to vote again. The weekend poll was put up as a beta poll to solicit additional firms/offices from feedback.
ReplyDeleteYou should have included mine, but I ain't tellin'.
ReplyDelete"Best Place To Work" Poll has turned into a "Which Firm Reads the Blog More" poll.
ReplyDeleteWe noticed that. We're withholding judgment until the end of the voting. Disclaimers will be added if this continues.
ReplyDeleteI was going to say the same thing as the 8:03 post. This poll has almost a zero correlation to reality. You might as well take it down altogether.
ReplyDeleteLooks like "who reads the blog the most" and also "where do ATMS associates want to work?"
ReplyDeleteWe know they read, but can't select themselves.
What do you mean by "best place"? The quality of the work or the quality of life or both?
ReplyDeleteI know of places that get the best work in town but some of the partners are miserable to work for and have never really even heard of some of the other places despite their reputations for having extravagant fringe benefits.
The poll is, by its nature, problematic. Some attorneys think "best place" means having your neck stepped on by a partner while making a big paycheck, others think it is a smaller paycheck with respect and opportunities for experience, others think it is anywhere but the firm they are currently working at.
ReplyDeleteAll that said, the poll will remain up until it ends. We will see how the voting works out. The attorneys and support staff at Howard and Howard may have spent their morning voting, but there are four more days.
In addition, questions like the ones posed by @9:41 am help readers to examine the heart of what they want in a firm. Therefore, we think the exercise of voting and debating the results, in itself, is helpful for readers.
what shocks me is someone voted for where I work? what? I certainly voted for the places that I know treat everyone great, great pay, great benefits.... it was an overall "best place" kind of vote. Too bad people just vote for where they work ---
ReplyDeleteShould have added some government jobs like the County PD, Fed PD, District Attorney, Attorney General, USAG
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Howard & Howard website, they have 14 LV lawyers. As of right now, they have 64 votes. Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteI've never ever friggin' heard of Howard & Howard.
How about a poll asking which firm has so little business coming in that they have time to post on WWL and vote for themselves all day?
The fact that employees are willing to vote for their employer should still say something about that firm.
ReplyDeleteYou don't see Lewis & Brisbois with a single vote. But I know for a fact that L&B associates read this blog because it has come up in my conversations with friends over at L&B before.
Here's a few mostly objective measures besides the usual ones highlighting a few firms:
ReplyDelete1) H&H gets big props: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2009/05/29/does-holland-hart-offer-a-biglaw-rocky-mountain-high/
2) Fennemore Craig a "best place to work": http://www.bestcompaniesaz.com/best-places-to-work-az-large-and-extra-large.asp
3) "Best corporate firms" by metro area: GT(miami); Snell & Wilmer (Phx) [Vegas not listed separately]: http://www.boardmember.com/Winners-in-25-Metro-Areas-2009.aspx
4) Various firms: Chambers & Partners rankings for Nevada: http://www.chambersandpartners.com/search.aspx?pcd=5
1:53
ReplyDeleteHow is that objective? The whole purpose of a poll is to quantify the subjective opinions of the masses.
It's like saying the US News rankings are objective. It's just some people's attempt to quantify non-objective material.
WWL has decided to solve the issue this way: we will let the poll continue and let the voice of the masses stand (even if many voices are speaking from one firm).
ReplyDeleteHowever, on Monday, we will also publish WWL's list of the top 10 firms/legal jobs in Vegas with an explanation for why the firms/jobs made the list.
So keep up the comments about why one firm is better than another. We are watching and being influenced.
FYI: virtually all of the "big firms" on this list have cut salaries this year. The info on the NALP forms right now is a fiction. Those that haven't cut salaries yet will soon.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's that bad out there right now, but you already knew that.
@4:22 I refuse to believe a firm in Vegas could cut salaries without it being splashed across the headlines of WWL, accompanied by the lamenting of associates and the ridicule of peers.
ReplyDeleteSo, Lionel Sawyer and Howard & Howard have a ton of votes coming in. Perhaps the attorneys and staff at their firms do actually believe they are great places to work and got excited about getting the chance to express it. Oh, wait, that was too positive. Clearly, they are paying people to do nothing but vote all day.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that Harrison Kemp Jones & Coulthard is a great place to work, and they aren't on the list. They certainly would have gotten my vote because of their reputation.
Otherwise, I've heard good things about aspects of Holland & Hart (that litigation is better than transactional), good things about Wilson Elser and a lot of negative about Marquis & Aurbach.
When I saw the poll, I asked a partner what his thoughts were and he has a lot of respect for Kolesar and McDonald Carano.
For whatever it's worth...
It would be interesting if there was a solo category. No firm affiliation and just working for yourself. I wonder how many people would think that was the best option...
ReplyDeleteRyan Mercaldo & Worthington, LLP
ReplyDeleteSigh. Dropping the cloak of anonymity...
ReplyDeleteI am an associate at Howard & Howard. I added the comment that got us into the poll and I have definitely voted for where I work (perhaps along with a couple of others) because I do think it is a great place to work. I also let people in our office know that we were listed (those who don't already read WWL) and they voted too.
@ I've never ever friggin' heard of Howard & Howard... We are relatively new to Las Vegas. Our main office is in the suburbs of Detroit. Law for Business since 1869. There is a mix of transactional, lit and IP. We have a great group in Vegas and, I believe, some of the best in the country working at all of our offices.
I've had the pleasure of working at H2 since October 2007. Like everyone else who works there, I have worked at other firms. It's a good company, with a great business model. Our CEO is top-notch. I think that all of the info on our benefits and compensation can most likely be found on the website, if you base your vote on that type of thing only.
So, thank you to everyone who left snarky comments regarding how busy we are or what our motivations were. Imagine that - we were pleased to be on the list and voted. Good luck to everyone and I hope the best firm wins. It's been a pleasure for me to introduce Howard & Howard to WWL.
Sigh. In the same vein of dropping the cloak of anonymity...
ReplyDeleteI am a partner at Lionel Sawyer. I, like Danielle, also added the comment that got us into the poll and I have definitely voted for where I work (perhaps along with a couple of others) because I do think it is a great place to work.
I also let people in our office know (threatened them with their jobs) that we were listed (those who don't already read WWL) and they voted too.
We are (not) relatively new to Las Vegas, we started the firm in 1967. Some people call us Liars Scoundrels and Cheats, but they are mistaken.
I know that everyone reading this blog (with, perhaps the exception of those assholes at Brownstein who screwed my dear friend Sheldon like a common whore at Crazy Horse Too) would give their left arm to work for me.
And if anyone thinks about making a snarky comment about my firm, we will hunt you down.
*Not actually named Sam Lionel, but wish I worked there?
@ June 1, 2009 9:54 PM
ReplyDelete"I've heard . . . a lot of negative about Marquis & Aurbach." Curious what you've heard...
sweatshop (not ATMS sweatshop, but sweatshoppy nonetheless), attorney mill, firing pregnant female associates, etc.
ReplyDelete/not June 1, 2009 9:54 PM
re: M&A-not a sweatshop and in no way comparable to ATMS. 2000 hours is the minimum, but that's the true minimum for partnership consideration and will get you a decent bonus on top of a competitive salary. I'm aware of 2 pregnant female attorneys at M&A now, 1 of them a partner. A few years ago the firm hired a pregnant female on the verge of delivery, so it doesn't sound like the alleged "fired pregnant female associate" was fired just because she was pregnant.
ReplyDeleteCan we talk about why LSC and H2 are the only ones getting votes?
ReplyDeleteInsider from H2 confirmed that she asked the firm to vote. Has a similar thing been going on in LSC?
What about the other firms, have they asked their employees to vote and people just refused, or do they not care?
Dish please!
You need to get Fox Rothschild, LLP up there
ReplyDeleteYeah, let's redo the entire poll so Fox Rothschild can get its two or three votes. Good call.
ReplyDeleteWhy isn't Alverson Taylor an option?
ReplyDelete