Sullivan & Cromwell LLP - The Inside View

“I got a piece of advice,” one associate told us, “that the difference between a sad lawyer and a happy lawyer is that a happy lawyer takes their time to try different things and then sticks to what they enjoy most.” It’s a feeling that was reflected across all the juniors we spoke with at Sullivan & Cromwell, and one that made S&C a clear choice. The realities of working at a BigLaw firm can often veer quite a bit from the more regimented law school structure, so S&C ensures that associates have the opportunity to spread their practice to see what fits best for them. “Some firms have it where you can rotate practices over a year, but what happens if you’re stuck somewhere you don’t enjoy?!” one baffled insider exclaimed. “Here though,” this source continued happily, “they let you work with everyone and have that agency in terms of what you want to decide, so you get to try out a lot of practices before declaring what your focus is.” 

“Sullivan & Cromwell has a lot of history…” 

“Reputation” was another draw for juniors… in more ways than one. Firstly, “even among the top-tier firms, Sullivan & Cromwell has a lot of history,” that which harks back almost 150 years and has culminated in it being at the top of the league both stateside and internationally. Not only is the firm given its flowers in Chambers USA for corporate crime & investigations, corporate/M&A, derivatives, financial services regulation, international trade, product liability, projects, securities litigation, and tax – (and breathe!) – but the firm is also recognized in Chambers Global  for its corporate/M&A and tax offerings again, as well as corporate investigations among others. 

Beyond its glowing reputation in our sister guides, S&C also has “a reputation for not yelling at associates, with friendly in-office mannerisms from everyone.” It’s something that was reflected from juniors across the firm, including in its New York office, “with a beautiful view of the East River!”,  where most of our associates were based, as well as its smaller Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Palo Alto stations. 

Sullivan & Cromwell is recognized as a Strong Performer for Associate Satisfaction and two other categories in our 2025 survey.

Strategy & Future 

Associates were all positive about the firm’s transparency when it came to strategy; S&C is looking to stay fluid “to see where the hot areas are” and move towards those. One area the firm has made strides in is the crypto space, recently bringing in two new corporate partners to work on that side of things.

Speaking with the firm’s co-chairs, Bob Giuffra and Scott Miller, we’re told that the firm is making big pushes in the technology space in addition to growing M&A worldwide and expanding the Palo Alto office. “We’ve made big investments in intellectual property and technology litigation,”  Miller tells us, and Giuffra highlights AI and national security as “groups where we’ve had increasing demand from our clients.”  The firm has recently worked on related headline cases including the FTX bankruptcy and Silicon Valley Bank’s reorganization, so “cutting edge bankruptcy and antitrust have become important practice areas for us. We expect to focus more on antitrust to the extent that the government ramps up activity in that area.”

Over the next year, S&C expects to see “greater deal flow, likely from less regulation particularly on the antitrust side,”  Giuffra notes, so “I expect there will be a substantial change in the regulatory environment.”

The Work 

Associates at Sullivan & Cromwell are split into two broad groups – corporate or litigation – where they can take on work in any area within their practice, and the staffing model changes overtime. When starting out, newbies fill out a sheet describing their capacity every week, but after the first few months (“after you’ve built those relationships”), juniors can also get work directly from partners and seniors. “Partners just look at your availability,” so “asking for work will help you get work, but asking for particular work doesn’t give you a guarantee. It really depends on what’s available and who has time.”  For any associates struggling to get staffed on matters, “there is also a firmwide staffing system where you can get work if you need to.” 

“The clients are pretty big… if you’re going to be working until midnight, you don’t want to be killing yourself over small projects!” 

S&C call their corporate practice ‘general practice’ – emphasis on the general, because associates get to work across a spectrum of transactional work. Capital markets, securities, restructuring, and financial services all make up aspects of the practice, but M&A is “a lot of the work; we’re working on public deals with billions in equity, so they’re big deals. Then, we also have some private equity stuff in the millions.”  Insiders shared a number of significant matters the firm worked on: an IP matter where “we worked on a deal with a pharmaceuticals company to build a factory for vaccines;” the Silicon Valley Bank bankruptcy; and a “huge refinancing” for the Rockefeller, “so the clients are pretty big… if you’re going to be working until midnight, you don’t want to be killing yourself over small projects!” 

Corporate clients: Open AI, FTX, Credit Suisse. Overcame litigation filed by the FTC to assist in Amgen’s $28.5 billion cross-border acquisition of Horizon. 

Securities, criminal defense & investigations, product liability, and general commercial disputes are all part of S&C’s litigation practice, where juniors’ roles shift depending on the size of the matter. “The couple of matters where it was just me and a partner, I ended up being the primary contact,” one junior beamed, praising the speed with which associates can get substantive experience. However, “inherently no matter how experienced you are, if the matter is big enough, you need a bigger team. With larger and more complex litigations, everyone has more of a regimented role… but sometimes it is nice to be doing something more clearly defined.”  We were told that drafting takes up most of the role, “drafting of briefs and sections of briefs that I’m sure will go through a million revisions, but it is substantive.” 

Litigation clients: BP, Boeing, Goldman Sachs. 

Culture 

“I love the environment and atmosphere – everybody knows each other!” 

When it comes to the firm’s culture, as one might expect from a leading BigLaw firm, “they do expect you to work very hard – everyone is firing on all cylinders.”  We found that beyond the “demanding” work culture, experiences of the office environment different depending on where associates were located. “In LA we’re really close, every other Thursday we go out,” but we heard that New York and DC “mirror the culture of the cities: New York is more work hard, play hard – people are in the office more; but in DC, it’s more family-oriented. The office typically clears out around 5.30, then people work from home in the evening.” Particularly in the smaller DC and LA offices, juniors “love the environment and atmosphere – everybody knows each other!” We were told that monthly get togethers help to support this; for example, there’s the Fall Fest in DC – “people bring their dogs!” – and the Fourth of July where “we have a great view of the fireworks.” 

Career Development 

Sullivan & Cromwell’s approach to career development was “a bit sink or swim” in the eyes of our interviewees because, though there are a lot of formal training sessions – “so many that I can’t go to all of them!” – the firm “could be a little bit better with a bit more formal mentorship.” That said, we did hear that partners do make an effort to walk newbies through things, and S&C does have a mentorship program where associates work with a partner mentor because “when you understand what you’re doing, it’s more efficient for the firm!” The firm also provides opportunities for juniors to get involved in business development, such as client dinners – “they make it clear that we’re important.” 

On top of this, the firm has a career development center where associates can anonymously discuss internal and external opportunities because “they do value the idea that it’s good to go in-house at a client for the firm.” Interviewees with a slightly longer tenure at S&C got the impression that “a lot of people come here for a few years then move onto the next thing,” like going in-house or to government. Sources felt that the path to partnership was pretty evident – “be really good, work hard, and bring in clients!” – but there were concerns about how attainable this is: “They made, like, five last year, so I know what I’d have to do. It’s just not something you can do without sacrificing a lot.” 

Sterne Kessler is recognized as a Strong Performer for Associate Retention in our 2025 survey.

Hours & Compensation 

Billable hours: no requirement 

Though the firm has no distinct billable hour target, “you get the sense you should swing for 2,000 hours. If you’re around there, you’re probably good, and if you’re really low, they’ll probably bring you in to try and get you on more work.” At any rate, “there’s enough work, so I haven’t heard of anyone getting pushed out for not delivering – they know you’re working to get stuff done, you just don’t have that added pressure that a hard target brings.” On the day-to-day, this manifests itself in the typical BigLaw manner: “When you’re not on vacation, you can expect to be on call basically all day and maybe on weekends too – but then, it’s understandable if you’re gone for a couple of hours” because you have something to do. Insiders did caution that mid-levels and senior associates will often “respond while on vacation,”  but juniors’ vacations are typically honored.

“In New York, we have a gym, and the food is really good!” 

Somewhat anomalous to the industry, though the firm doesn’t officially have a strict in-office policy, we heard that “the heads are saying to come in five days a week” across different offices. Sources were generally okay with this – “in New York, we have a gym, and the food is really good!” – and associates acknowledged that “Zoom meetings aren’t really conducive to getting that informal guidance.” On the other hand, we were also told by multiple insiders that “there is quiet resistance from associates; I understand working from home is eroding firm culture, and I do like going in… but when I don’t have a lot of work during the day, it can be frustrating not doing anything in the office, then arriving home and getting work. We’re on demand 24/7.”  We also heard some mixed reviews about not being able to work remote around the holidays, but it was acknowledged that “they don’t really police it anyway, and I think it’s something that will change overtime.” 

Pro Bono 

The pro bono policy at the firm is “unlimited” so “nobody has told me to work less on it,” but there’s also no official requirement. So, the amount our interviewees took on really varied. From those active in the pro bono space, we heard that the firm focuses on matters like The Innocence Project and legal clinics. These include family law and housing clinics like the DC Landlord-Tenant Resource Center which S&C staffs once a month that allows tenants to call in for legal assistance. Associates also mentioned helping form charities or non-profits, further aiding them with by-laws, researching, drafting, and strategy.  

Pro bono hours 

• For all US attorneys: undisclosed 
• Average per US attorney: undisclosed

Inclusion 

Those we spoke with were all largely positive about the firm’s inclusion efforts, particularly regarding their support of affinity groups, which anyone at the firm is welcome to join. The Women’s Group specifically received lots of praise for frequent engagement with events like Women in Law in New York, and S&C also hosts events to bring female law students together through the Women’s Initiative Committee. Other networks like the Asian Associates Network host events too, such as welcome dinners – “and Diwali at a fancy restaurant in New York!” – alongside monthly group meetings. S&C also has networks for the LGBTQ+ community and have the Network of Black & Latinx Lawyers.

Get Hired

The first stage: recruitment on and off campus

Sullivan & Cromwell interviews at roughly 25 to 30 law schools and several job fairs.

At this stage, interviewers want to learn about candidates’ interests and what experiences they are after; how they analyze issues; and how they would work in a collaborative environment. Generally, interviewers will ask for more info on an interesting work experience, or even a hobby that is listed on a candidate's resume. Hiring partner Sergio Galvis says that “sometimes more informal conversation is a great way to learn about someone and what matters most to them.”

Top tips for this stage:

“Your best bet is to be yourself throughout the interview process and engage in authentic discussions about your interests – professional and otherwise. Chances are there is someone at S&C who is interested in those very same things.” – hiring partner Sergio Galvis.

Callbacks

S&C conducts fewer callbacks than many firms. This is, in part, to “provide a highly personalized, in-office interview experience that focuses on the interests and professional goals of each candidate.” The firm tries to pair interviewees with interviewers who practice in areas of interest to the candidate. Galvis explains that “our conversations with candidates are wide-ranging and could touch upon any number of topics. We don’t like to be too formulaic because that’s not how we operate.” The ideal scenario, Galvis reflects, occurs when “the callback process feels less like an interview and more like a meaningful conversation between people who have similar professional interests.”

Top tips for this stage:

“Do your best to familiarize yourself with S&C, our practice, and the work we do. It’s important to give some thought to the generalist, multi-disciplinary approach and whether this appeals to you as it is central to the way we develop lawyers at the firm.” – hiring partner, Sergio Galvis.

Summer program

“We’re very focused on getting our summers engaged in the work of the firm," says Galvis. "We see no reason to wait until they become regular associates.” We heard that some summers use the time to experiment and explore different practices, while others come in knowing what they want to do and can seek out that type of work. A large majority of summers return to the firm after graduation (or after a clerkship), and at that point, students can select a practice area to join. But it’s not all work and no play – the firm puts on a “robust” list of social events as well.

Top tips for this stage:

“I wouldn’t worry about trying to impress people and instead would focus on taking advantage of the opportunities a summer at S&C will present to you. Attend trainings, participate in practice group lunches, dive into the work, get to know your summer cohort and enjoy your time at the firm.” – hiring partner, Sergio Galvis.