Small boutique firm less hours?

Actually the industry wide-accepted is 200 hours a week.

A smaller firm does not necessarily translate to fewer hours. It depends on the firm's deal flow - you may work MORE hours than you would at a BB bank, especially at an elite boutique. That being said, 120 hours is very much at the high end, and even the busiest shops don't work you that hard regularly. "Normal" banking hours are 80-100.

anselm, you seem very concerned about the hours in banking. remember that with the long hrs, comes more opportunity for valuable experience, comes the possibility of higher bonuses (firms with more deal flow vs those with less) and the possibility of better exit ops.

with that being said, if you're okay with the possibility of lower bonuses and weaker exit ops, there are a lot of small boutiques that will not work anything close to 100 hr weeks. i've interned at tiny boutiques where there are literally like 5-10 employees, where people rarely work weekends, and do something like 8-10 hr days. with that being said, comp is far below street and they close like 1-3 deals a year.

another possibility that comes to mind that offers similar type of work is a valuation shop (like duff & phelps) or transaction services at a big4.