PWP LA in 2024

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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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.

 

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