Pros
-Small organization offers direct access to partnership -Creativity, ingenuity, and approach to structuring transactions by junior deal team members is heeded -Reasonable amounts of autonomy for more junior members of deal teams -Smart, capable professionals across most of the firm -More of a "scrappy" (not white shoe) cultural approach -Somewhat of a work-life balance relative to other financial services firms
Kontras
-More of a "scrappy" (not white shoe) cultural approach -Below market benefits (health insurance, paid time off, etc.) for a financial services firm -Below market compensation for a financial services firm, esp. with regard to investment banking -Partnership often conducts high-level decision making in the dark (lack of transparency) -Some hiring mistakes / poor vetting of candidates -Lacking institutional resources in deference to cost-savings