Hi all - there's been some information on PWP LA's office on WSO but given just how fast the office has grown over the past two years, I'd appreciate any insights into how the office is doing now in terms of culture, deal flow and wlb. Thanks!
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Bump, also does anyone have insight if the LA office visa sponsors?
They don’t sponsor for analysts, only for associates and up i believe.
PWP US as a whole does not sponsor for analysts.
I have a lot of friends at PWP LA so I can provide a bit of insight. Office is primarily Industrials (E&C, services, industrial tech, A&D) with a Tech partner who only works with SF and a P&U partner who I heard does most of his work with TPH. Overall it's a strong office with good deal flow. The head of the office from BofA is a whale hunter and focuses on large-cap coverage for his coverage space, and does a lot of strategic advisory in addition to M&A work. That side of the office is very technical and seniors are very detail-oriented, and is culturally more old-school. The A&D side of the office from Lazard is more of a volume shop where they do a lot of MM and mid-cap sell-side work along with some buy-side work here and there. The seniors there are also strong and the A&D head is especially well-connected in the sponsors universe, and overall the A&D side is culturally more "new-school" (flatter hierarchy, seniors are more chill and approachable, more culture of mentorship rather than analysts getting treated just as a resource). The P&U partner is incredibly strong in his space and has incredible large-cap relations across both the utilities and traditional O&G space, and he's also a nice guy as well. I've heard that overall the office is culturally divided; although analysts work across the Industrials practice, the A&D and other Industrial mid-level people and seniors really don't work together that much, which is expected.
In terms of wlb I've heard that the office doesn't have much of a facetime culture and seniors try not to waste juniors' time with extra work, but when things are busy (as they often are) the juniors get absolutely worked. The office also has no official protection policy, but overall it sounds like wlb is manageable. Don't have comp numbers, but PWP pays above street and is generally in the middle-of-the-pack among EBs (usually better than places like Lazard but don't pay as well as CVP), and everyone I know at PWP always seems pretty happy come bonus time. I've also heard that the LA office takes care of its own and makes sure to stick up for each other once bonus discussions are had firm and group-wide.
Overall seems like a great place to be if you're interested in industrials. I've heard that the office has further expansion plans in the future as well so it seems like it's an exciting place to be, and given Lazard LA's decline and MS LA's restructuring, PWP is arguably the second best place to be in LA for M&A exposure behind Moelis.
Worked with Steve back in his days at Lazard - he’s awesome.
He's awesome as a person but he's an absolute workhorse - junior experience under Steve has been and probably will always be sweaty.
R.A. is a beast.
Big guy in the Energy space.
The office loves USC, Penn and UChicago prospects.
From the vibes I've gotten interacting with the office, it seems like the juniors there are chillers and are pretty tight knit and laid back. None of them give off a finance bro personality, which is a plus for me.
As a side note their new office is very nice, in the Century Plaza Towers and has a great view of Santa Monica/Century City/the ocean.
Facts Century Plaza Towers > 1999 any day.
Does anyone know when their SA 2025 process will likely kick off?
Heard that the diversity process there is kicking off very soon.
Ebs do diversity too? Where can one sign up?
It already kicked off
Interviews in mid February.
PWP LA. So hot right now.
Interviews are probably going to kick off around mid-late February or so.
Anyone know how large the SA class is?
This past summer was 5 summer analysts.
What's the WFH policy like at PWP LA?
3 days in office.
Wow is that common for LA groups these days?
It's now 4 days in office.
Very familiar with the ex-Laz team, all nice people but very sweaty.
Very true, heard that getting pinged about work at 11pms on a Saturday is standard with that team.
bump
Very familiar with the Laz guys over there - great group of people, but they are grinders like you've never seen and sweat hard. I would be surprised if any of that has changed. If you go to PWP LA, be prepared to get worked.
Used to have better wlb but ever since the A&D team from Lazard came over it's been sweaty.
Heard the A&D side has become a bit more chill culturally recently.
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