For eventual clerkship/academia
Lowly but really fortunate 1L looking for advice! I wanna put in some time at a firm but eventually hope to get into academia. I have a preference for DC eventually, but I’m willing to go to NY for awhile.
Wait, are you saying you got offers from all three of these for a 1L SA position? 
OP here- yeah, long story I don’t want to get into because I’d out myself (although I may have already)
Also, love your pic 
Thanks! I’m a no-nothing 0L so I can’t give you any advice, but congrats on the options.
Help is not the right title for this post… but congrats on the awesome decision. I would rule out Kirkland instantly. If you want to be in DC I would go with the firm in DC personally although it may not have the “preftige” the others do. Many 1L SAs get full time offers for after they graduate, so getting an offer from Ho will make 2L OCI a lot less stressful and open up the possibility of either SAing at a firm you’d prefer or accepting the offer and spend your summer doing something a little more fun like SLIP.
None of this is really remotely helpful in providing you with advice.
You want to to spend “some time at a firm,” but then you “eventually hope to get into academia.”
You “have a preference for DC eventually,” but you’re also “willing to go to NY for awhile.”
Regardless, the majority of firms that offer 1L SAs do so with the intent to extend a 2L SA upon completion of the internship. I’m not sure if those specific firms don’t, but it would honestly surprise me. That being the case, you may want to select based upon (1) which firm you feel you’d be comfortable with (in terms of practice) returning to, and (2) which geographic area you’d prefer to reside in following graduation.
At the same time, you can still participate in 2L OCI regardless of an offer to return from one of those firms, so you’re really not pigeonholed.
In terms of academia, nothing you do this summer will matter toward it, so that’s a non-issue, frankly.
At this stage, just select based upon (1) practice area interest and (2) geographic location. If it really matters to you, take a look at (3) Vault “prestige”…most people do.
Honestly, there’s really no “wrong” choice to be made here.
Hogan (DC) > Kirkland (NY).
Huh.
I’ve worked at Kirkland NY, and I can honestly say that it is a wonderful work environment…at least I never experienced any of the horror stories you hear about biglaw, and I was at the bottom of the food chain.
Congrats. If you wanna be in DC - even if it is only “eventually” - then go with DC firm I think.
As for a future clerkship, it really doesn’t matter which of those firms you choose, (though if there are certain judges you are interested in, you may want to check if anyone at the firm clerked for that judge–could be a potential recommender or someone to call/e-mail the judge on your behalf). Congrats, and good luck!
Hogan DC is not better than Kirkland NY, but Hogan is in DC where he wants to be. S&C > Kirkland NY but thats just my opinion, and its not a slam-dunk to S&C.
Thanks everyone!
I appreciate the input on what’s probably a somewhat obnoxious post 
I thought S&C didn’t hire 1Ls, do you have some unique circumstances?
I’d take Hogan, not because it’s significantly better than the others, but because having worked in DC as a 1L will make it easier to trade up within DC as a 2L.
This is for 1L summer and all three firms are “good enough” in that aspect for whatever you want to do in the immediate future (i.e., this summer) and your choice won’t really impact what you want do in the not-so-immediate future (i.e., 2L summer and beyond), so it really doesn’t matter. Go where you want.