Hi all! Rising soph from LA. Just finished recruiting for my soph summer at a NY BB, and realized that NY isn't for me and I'd rather be back in LA long term, and am particularly interested in boutiques. Would love to hear more about the PWP, Lazard, and Houlihan groups out here, especially given I've heard these 3 groups tend to recruit especially early. Thanks!
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Pretty familiar with all 3 groups.
PWP LA is focused on industrials, with I believe 5 partners and 2 MDs now. Deal flow from the office is strong, with the Industrials team having very strong relations with large-cap corporates and sponsors doing a lot of strategic advisory retainer work in addition to M&A. The A&D team does a lot of MM sponsor-related sell-side and buy-side work, and is also strong in the space. The P&U banker is very strong in his space, although I'm not sure how much exposure juniors get to him as he works heavily with PWP's energy arm (TPH). Culture is pretty good in the office, with understanding seniors and mid-level workers, although I've heard the office can get pretty sweaty and intense given good deal flow. Exits from the office are good.
Lazard LA is split between interactive media (1 MD focused on videogames) and A&D, although the A&D team has been pretty gutted with most of the seniors leaving for PWP LA, and also has a separate growth capital team. Deal flow on the interactive media side is good (believe they did the Bungie/Sony deal), although tends to be more focused on capital raises given the deal activity across the wider industry. A&D side used to have really good deal flow, but I'd imagine the deal flow has taken a hit after much of the senior team left. Culture used to be pretty good but pretty different between the two main verticals, although the office is relatively sweaty. Exits from the office are good.
HL RX has strong deal flow across both the creditor and debtor sides. Most of the deal flow is concentrated in the HC space, and the office also gets some TMT deal flow, and a lot of the mandates they get are pretty interesting (lots of opioids). Office culture flat out sucks - no one I know there actually enjoys it there, and a couple of my friends there are just miserable all the time. Seniors aren't very nice, mid-level people are insecure and extremely demanding in the worst ways possible. Exits are solid, although there's a surprising amount of CorpDev exits from past analysts.
Agree with most of the comments above but HL LA underwent a major culture fix after COVID. The hours were so bad at one point that literally the entire 1st year class left one year in. The culture is a lot better now however. HL is also a great place to be if you’re looking for great exits. Every 2nd year there is heading to a MF/UMM PE/Special Sits shop according to my source.
Nah, I can tell you as I sit here 1am PT working on another futile iteration caused by Associates not understanding what VPs want and VPs not understanding what the MDs want that culture is still pretty awful (source: me).
Do you know if juniors will still be verticalized at Laz LA if the A&D practice lost most of its senior headcount?
do you know if they hire any FT laterals? rerecruiting rn and am interested
No spots for 24 at Laz
Poster above is pretty comprehensive, but I can add a bit more color from the more senior perspective given I interact with the three groups pretty often.
PWP LA's a strong group of guys - seniors are all strong in their space and most importantly are all pretty human in that no senior is very toxic. The original seniors that came from BofA are pretty technical and the office head still dives into the Excel backup all the time. Steve's an awesome guy and is strong in the A&D space, and I'm sure that the other Lazard people he brought along are solid given his knowledge of who to poach from the Laz LA office. R.A. is a serious heavy hitter in the energy and P&U space - back in his days at JPM he covered the supermajors from his seat. The mid-level people in the office are also smart guys and are demanding but understanding.
Lazard LA's senior team on the A&D side is just one MD now I believe. He's a strong MD but with so much of the senior bench gone I don't think the A&D franchise can keep up their momentum. The MD on the interactive media side is a super nice guy and is very knowledgeable and passionate about the space he covers. The mid-level people at Lazard LA are mostly nice people but some personalities are a bit more on the intense side. That being said, the office is still on the chiller side compared to other LA groups like Moelis, MS, or HL.
HL RX's senior team are not the nicest people in the world to say the least, but they're pretty strong in their space and you'll get great RX exposure there. Some mid-level people are complete a-holes though.
RA McD is sick. Big fan of his work.
Do you have any thoughts on GS/JPM LA?
GS LA is focused on HC and C&R and juniors are staffed with the SF team. A lot of the seniors the LA juniors work with don't sit in the LA office, and when combined with the lean team, the office experience isn't very "traditional" if that makes any sense. Still a strong office though.
FYI, traditionally Laz LA has filled 1-2 of its 3 spots through its early diversity process. I believe that PWP had a SA class size of 5 this summer, and they don't have a hard target on the # of spots they fill in their accelerated process.
What's the WFH policies for PWP, Laz and HL RX?
I believe that HL is in-office 4 days a week and PWP is in-office 3 days a week. Also heard that PWP works remotely the last 2 weeks of August as well as the last 2 weeks of December.
LAZ LA is 3 days in office, 4 days remote.
It's also my understanding that since CS LA's footprint is likely to shrink, other banks like MS or BAML may see an increase in activity in LA. As it stands, I think it's pretty safe to say that Moelis still seems to dominate the region but PWP/Laz/MS etc aren't too far behind.
Really hard to compare the offices because they excel at different things. Moelis is very media & entertainment and tech heavy, with a growing C&R presence in the office as well. PWP is arguably the king of LA industrials, but at the end of the day they're an industrials office and have zero intention of challenging the TMT/C&R scene in LA. Lazard is strong in a niche space (video games), and used to have a dominant A&D franchise before PWP LA poached most of it.
Dang dude, you messed up your RBC internship that bad you need to flee the entire state? Good luck!
How did you do your “soph summer at a BB” and apparently still a rising soph looking to recruit this year??
Think they just landed a Soph internship at BB for next year but don't want to be in NY anymore
How were return offer rates for summer analysts at PWP and Moelis LA?
Heard that both were close to 100% if not 100%.
Each office had 1 intern not take the return, according to my friends at both firms.
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