if the mountain will not come…

[Today was the last day of classes- so after this I crawl into my exam hole for two weeks.]

The more mobile startups get, the harder it would be to start new silicon valleys. If startups are mobile, the best local talent will go to the real Silicon Valley…

–Paul Graham

I love New York, but after much thought, I’ve decided that I’m going to Silicon Valley this summer, to work at the law firm of Orrick Herrington. (wikipedia) (Assuming I pass their conflicts requirements, of course.) I’m really excited- Orrick has great people and a strong startup and licensing practice. It should be a great place for me to start my career.

This was simultaneously a very hard and a very easy decision- very easy, in that there was no ‘wrong’ answer, but also very hard, in that there were a lot of great options with various, competing strengths. I spent a lot of time wrestling not just with them, but with myself as well, trying to understand not just what they offered but what I wanted and needed. Orrick came out on top, but I literally went down to the wire, and I think very highly of the other firms that I filtered out along the way, especially the last handful.

I wasn’t the only one involved in this decision. I’d like to thank the various lawyers in my life- I got a lot of great advice. Much of it was conflicting, but that was the nature of the beast :) And yes, Krissa is excited about the possibility of going West again, though she’ll be in New York for the summer.

[And yes, before anyone mentions it to me for the third time in the past 24 hours, I’ve seen the bubble 2.0 video. I even got shown it in a class today! The video is exactly correct- we’re absolutely in a bubble… and yet, per Graham, I think I need to make the pilgrimage anyway. Who knows… the explosion might be fun.]

[Oh, and if any Orrick people stumble across this, make sure to check out my blog Q&A.]