Pros
This is a company that has historically had success in the Urban Design and Masterplanning discipline. Those that wish to explore those avenues can find success and mobility only if working with the right partner or director. There is also a great opportunity to work in the technical aspect of Architecture, as another of CR's more recent identities is in operating as an "Executive Architect" (A fancy word for Architect of Record) for major cultural projects such as museums. The working hours are very fair and the starting salaries are competitive.
Cons
Cooper Robertson is a strange place to engage in the earlier years of your career. CR really struggled to modernize both technologically and culturally throughout the late 90's and early 2000's and is still showing MANY signs of outdated design ideology and technology. Working there sort of makes one feel trapped in an age that is a very far step behind some of the leading firms in both the industries of Architectural Design and Urban Design. The softwares used are outdated, the employee handbook was last updated in the mid 90's, and considering the nature of the architectural services, the approach, the management and the techniques actually make the work far more difficult than needed. The Partners are all in the twilight years of their careers and in many cases feel completely segregated from each other or overwhelmed when faced with any adversity related to the modern era. This causes them to sort of play favorites with each of their handpicked employees that they solely trust to handle client relations or technological challenges. This is the only chance at upward mobility and completely divides the company into three completely unrelated disciplines. Their architectural design services, while very nostalgic, have almost nothing to do with their museum projects (they essentially handle 95% of the documentation and 5% of the actual design) and is mostly focused in academic masterplanning or a sort of vernacular/colonial residential design that caters to a very specific type of client. It is disappointing to see them ride on the coattails of high end designers like Renzo Piano or James Carpenter in order to appear to be more than they are. They have the full capability to execute very exciting projects, but don't have the reach or modern design sensibility to acquire them.