LOCATION
Top five offices Seattle Hq | Portland | Bellevue, Wa | San Francisco | Los Angeles
Total attorneys 412 93 in Portland
Major departments/practices Corporate/Finance | Litigation | Environmental | Employment
First-year salary $85,000
2001 summer associates 26 7 in Portland
2001 fall first-years 21 7 in Portland
Who to call Leslie Dustin, Recruiting Administrator, 503-241-2300
Web site dwt.com
You could work for a major law firm in New York, Los Angeles, or another megacity, and that would be swell. You could work at a boutique firm in a sleepy little mountain town, and that would be neat, too. But if you want to work for a solid, established firm and live in an urbane setting and Rollerblade home to your charming Victorian in the hills, our pick is the Portland, Oregon, office of Davis Wright Tremaine.
First, let’s talk about Portland. It’s not for nothing that the City of Roses (population 529,121) tops Money magazine’s latest survey of America’s best places to live. The snow-capped Cascades are just an hour’s drive away, the Pacific Ocean is right over there on your left, and the Willamette River runs straight through town. Housing is affordable, public transit is fast and clean, and the people are absurdly warm and friendly. Portland also boasts such first-rate cosmopolitan attractions as the Portland Art Museum and the Portland Opera.
Now let’s turn to Davis Wright Tremaine. DWT’s 93-lawyer Portland office includes practices in technology, environmental law, and general litigation (clients have included AT&T Wireless, Bank of America, and Shell Oil Co.). Recruiters describe the culture as “comfortable” and “collegial,” and associates consistently give the firm high satisfaction marks. For two years in a row, Oregon Business magazine has listed the DWT Portland office in its annual ranking of the 100 best companies to work for.
Associates praise the challenging, high-quality work. “In my first two years, I had two arbitrations, I second-chaired a trial, took four depositions, and handled several mediations,” says third-year litigator Jenna Mooney. And they tout the firm’s commitment to the Northwest lifestyle. When fourth-year associate Shane Abma interviewed at DWT, he was asked to talk about his hobbies and the outdoors. “They want someone who’s into that,” he says, “not someone who’s just a cog.”
Also Consider
Pittsburgh’s Buchanan Ingersoll (bipc.com) is a 406-attorney firm with a strong bio-tech practice. The Steel City has enjoyed a renaissance in the past decade. It boasts world-class museums, restaurants, and shops; there’s excellent outdoor recreation nearby; and the cost of living is dirt cheap.
