With one exception—Seattle—West Coast respondents to our Midlevel Associates Survey tended to say they are more satisfied than those in the East and in London. That may be attributable to the larger number of midlevel associates who are employed in New York and Washington, D.C., and to factors such as the cost of living and local lifestyles that firms can’t control.
“Many [associates] end up in New York by default because it’s a big market, and one of the easiest places to find yourself in a Big Law environment,” says Jordan Sagalowsky, a fourth-year litigation associate at Mayer Brown’s New York office. “For a lot of people, New York City might not be the best city for them.”
