Los Angeles / Palo Alto

Sullivan & Cromwell has had a substantial presence in California for over 23 years. S&C operates in California from two closely coordinated offices in Los Angeles and Palo Alto. The California offices of S&C offer unique advantages to attorneys interested in living in California and working in the environment of a relatively smaller office, but with the quality of practice, challenge and resources of a major international law firm.

Our Practice

Incoming associates to the Los Angeles and Palo Alto offices join either the General Practice/Corporate or Litigation practice group. S&C’s securities, mergers and acquisitions and complex business litigation practice is unmatched by any firm in California. With the added benefit of living in either Los Angeles or Northern California, lawyers have the unique opportunity to work on the full range of complex and challenging matters for which S&C is well known.

Corporations, governments, financial institutions and individuals turn to us for advice on their most critical litigation matters and complex corporate and financial transactions, where the stakes are high, and the outcome is anything but certain. They expect and receive from our attorneys consistently innovative, forward-thinking and sophisticated legal advice. The work never ceases to be interesting, because it never ceases to change.

Many law students are attracted to Sullivan & Cromwell because of our leading position across the entire spectrum of our practice — a position documented year after year by independent rankings. Our incoming associates can be confident that whichever practice group they ultimately join, they will be working with the very best legal minds on the most significant cases and transactions.

Sullivan & Cromwell is involved in many of the largest, precedent-setting transactions and litigations around the world. As an associate in one of the California offices you will have the opportunity to work on an unparalleled array of matters in the following areas:

• Capital Markets – Advising on many SEC-registered and unregistered securities offerings.
• Investments – Advising clients in private equity capital transactions, including the organization and funding of venture capital entities and the acquisition, disposition and restructuring of investments.
• Mergers & Acquisitions – Advising corporations, commercial banks and investment banks in mergers, acquisitions and other corporate transactions.
• Litigation – Representing clients in all forms of securities, antitrust, intellectual property and other complex business litigation both as plaintiffs and defendants, as well as advising in SEC, DOJ, FTC and other types of investigative and regulatory proceedings.
• Project Finance – Participating in some of the more than $50 billion in project finance matters worldwide being handled by the firm.

Cohesiveness

The California offices were founded by lawyers who began their legal careers with S&C, rather than by lateral acquisition, and have been developed from within. Many of the lawyers in the two California offices have spent time in other S&C offices and have worked with lawyers from the firm’s other offices throughout their careers. These close and long-standing professional relationships help make the two California offices a cohesive part of the firm as a whole.  And, since S&C is one of the world’s preeminent law firms, our lawyers are highly respected and our alumni occupy prominent positions in all walks of business, legal and government life.

Training

Associates receive hands-on training in complicated matters that helps them develop their legal skills fully and quickly. The training of S&C lawyers is recognized as having produced some of the most talented, experienced and sought after business lawyers in the world. The goal is for junior associates to be exposed to an array of different matters with different partners. This exposure helps associates develop a broad range of legal skills and styles rather than making them an expert in one tight area of the law.

Although S&C believes that hands-on training is most effective, the firm also conducts an in-house training program for young associates. During the fall of each year, weekly or semiweekly overview sessions are conducted for new General Practice associates in areas they are likely to encounter in their practices, including the securities laws, acquisition agreements, due diligence, and HSR procedures.

The litigation group conducts a similar series of training sessions for new associates, with an emphasis on practical litigation skills, including deposition training. More senior litigation associates are offered an opportunity to participate in NITA trial-training programs.

In addition, all of the lawyers in both the Palo Alto and Los Angeles offices participate, by teleconference hook-up between the two offices, in bi-weekly breakfast meetings at which lawyers discuss significant issues in matters on which they are working and other developments of interest to the group.

The Experience

Our associate development process is consciously flexible, designed to bring associates together with a variety of partners on different types of matters. The size of our California offices fosters close working and mentoring relationships among our lawyers. Exposure to many different pools of talent at the firm and among our many prominent clients will do more to promote your development as a lawyer than all the textbook training anyone could possibly offer. We help our lawyers excel.

We encourage our associates to assume as much responsibility, at an early stage, as they are prepared to handle, regardless of their particular “rank.” Associates run deals and appear in court at a very early stage in their careers. The professional credibility and confidence that this level of responsibility gives our associates provide them autonomy in charting career development.

The firm’s hands-on, team approach to the practice of law demands a constant give and take of ideas, frank and open communication, and a willingness to learn from one another. This model is possible only in an atmosphere of genuine respect, for each other and for the work we do.

Culture

S&C’s long-standing commitment to genuine meritocracy continues to be a key factor in promoting the culture of extraordinary diversity that is one of our greatest strengths. S&C’s hands-on, team approach to the practice of law demands a constant give and take of ideas, frank and open communication, and a willingness to learn from one another. We know that the model cannot function apart from an environment of genuine respect, both for one another and for the work we do.

The relatively small size of both the Los Angeles and Palo Alto offices is also important to the working environment for our lawyers. It significantly adds to the collegiality and informality of the professional relationship among our lawyers and to the cohesiveness of the operation of both offices. Lawyers work closely with one another in a team approach. They learn from one another and they develop long-standing friendships that continue beyond the office. Lawyers in the two California offices go on a weekend retreat with their families each fall, where they have an opportunity to relax and socialize away from the office.

The California offices offer a unique environment that combines the best of S&C’s practice with the advantages of the close relationships and collegial atmosphere that exist in a smaller office.

Associates Have Said:



Summer Associate Program

S&C strives to show summer associates what life will be like as an associate. In the California offices, the summer associates are integrated into ongoing corporate or litigation matters as the junior associates on the team. This integration affords summer associates exposure to the strategic fit of their work and leads to a better understanding of the profession and the Firm.

Our summer program is as flexible as possible with regard to the number of areas in which a summer associate may seek work. Each participant is assigned to work with two mentors, a partner and an associate. Mentor assignments are based on the practice areas or the specialty areas in which a summer associate has expressed an interest.

Through a series of social events and programs throughout the summer, attorneys and summer associates are encouraged to develop relationships and summer associates are welcomed into the social fabric of the firm. Among the events that took place during the 2007 Summer Programs in the California offices are: a cooking class, whitewater rafting, dinner at the Getty Museum, bowling, kart racing, a beach party and a show at the Groundlings Theater.

To Apply

For more information about how to submit an application to the Los Angeles or Palo Alto offices, please see How to Apply.