early on it can be a lot of fun. tons of early exp. since there are many contested matters, large claims, adversarial proceedings, etc. which spawn opportunities for deps and arguing in court. the actual restructuring process has shifting alliances where ur ally will just stab u in the back out of the blue.

but, all of this is offset later on because (1) u'll get tired of biglaw and u won't give a crap about taking deps or arguing in court; (2) bankruptcy lawyers are extremely aggressive, the partners always seem like they're on the warpath, and this is extremely tiring after a while; (3) there are no meaningful exit options for bankruptcy associates; and (4) the countercyclical nature of the practice means that u'll either be crushed by work, or idle while wondering when u'll get fired.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2759574&forum_id=2#26953315)

but also, litigation in the restructuring context (and bankruptcy associates may handle quite a bit of this) moves at warp speed. the debtor is often under pressure to reorganize and emerge from bankruptcy asap so it doesn't continue to lose money. this means that everything is unbelievably expedited. it's basically like litigating a TRO for everything. in practice that means that instead of having months to produce docs, u may only have two weeks. u'd have to be insane to deal with all of this all the time (on top of the hardball negotiations on the restructuring side concurrent to these litigations) so only the most insane people on the planet actually enjoy this work and become partners.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2759574&forum_id=2#26953373)

kind of surprised that no one ITT has asked "weil or kirkland?"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2759574&forum_id=2#26953402)