PWP LA vs Lazard LA

LA banker here, familiar with both groups, so I can provide some insight.

Lazard LA is around 35-40 people split across Aerospace & Defense and Interactive Media & Gaming. I believe analysts are staffed across both verticals. Both groups have been historically pretty strong, with A&D making a killing on MM sponsor-related deals and Media working on a lot of M&A, strategic advisory, and growth capital deals. The former office head (who was more involved on the interactive tech/media side) left for JPM in 2020, but the office reloaded by hiring a really strong senior, and deal flow in media and gaming has been really good (if you're interested in the media and gaming space the office is probably one of the best in terms of getting interesting deal experience). A&D lost one of their rainmakers to PWP just earlier this year, which has really affected their deal flow and momentum. They still have a solid senior bench, but the practice is definitely not as strong as it used to be. Culturally, I've heard the A&D side tends to be pretty fratty, while the media side tends to be a bit more buttoned-up. The seniors are great in both (media senior is a great guy, the A&D rainmaker who went to PWP was an amazing senior from what I've heard), and people are generally pretty nice, but both sides do sweat and get grinded. Historically, the office brings on 3 summer analysts each year, from what I've heard, and I think 2 are filled in the accelerated/diversity recruiting process. Exits have been solid historically with a handful MF and mostly top West-coast UMM and MMs.

PWP LA is pretty new office founded in 2017 by seniors from BofA, and has     ~25 people now. The office used to be purely industrials (focused on E&C, industrial services, environmental services, multi-industrials), but PWP's really been focused on growing out the office and hired 3 new partners in the past year (one focusing on A&D as mentioned earlier, one focused on P&U and energy transition who is apparently a huge baller in the space, and one focused on software/internet). From what I've heard, although the P&U senior will be collaborating with TPH, all deals out of the office will be staffed within the office and won't be outsourced, so analysts will a really diverse experience across very different verticals. Culture in the group is good, with really chill people. Where Lazard LA is a bit frattier, PWP LA definitely gives off a bit more of an intellectual "nerdy" vibe driven by both seniors and the deal flow. The seniors (especially the ones from BofA) are known to get their hands dirty in the modelling all the time. The office also tends to focus a bit more on mid- to large-cap deals often involving long-time public clients, so the modelling work tends to be more technical, although I'm sure the Lazard A&D partner will still be focusing on more MM-level deals. The office is really lean, so when things get busy things get sweaty. The SA class size is 4 I believe, but given the expansion in senior headcount, I can imagine the analyst class expanding to 5 or even 6 in the next recruiting cycle. Exits have also been solid historically, although slightly below Lazard LA given PWP LA is a newer and smaller office.

Overall, both offices are great. Lazard LA has historically been the more established office, but over the past 2 years they've faced a surprising amount of senior turnover given how stable they were pre-2020. PWP LA is newer and currently smaller, but they're a really fast growing office and I've heard rumors that future expansion in the works might bring their headcount up to 40-50 people (they're also moving into a much larger physical office from what I've heard). The offices are focused on different industries, with PWP's experience likely becoming a bit more of a "generalist" experience (across Industrials, Tech, and P&U) as the new seniors ramp up while Lazard LA doesn't really have any plans to expand industry coverage. Culture is great across both offices, but both groups are very hardworking so don't choose them for lifestyle over any other LA groups. In terms of exits, Lazard's traditionally been a bit better better given they're more established and had larger analyst classes, but you'll be getting the same looks from both groups. 

Both groups are pretty hard to recruit into though. Although PWP LA will likely be expanding their class size in the near future, PWP LA is very UCLA/USC/Wharton-heavy and look for people with LA roots, so make sure to network to have a chance at breaking in. Lazard LA is a bit more open to other schools and has more diverse undergraduate/geographic representation, but they've traditionally reserved 2/3 spots for their accelerated recruitment process, and I don't think they'll be expanding their SA class size in the future as the office as a whole isn't in growth-mode like PWP LA is. Obviously, if you're interested in LA banking, you should be networking with and recruiting for both groups. Hope this helps!