| Topic Name: |
BIGLAW opens many doors |
| Message Name: |
context |
| Date Posted: |
11/09/2001 |
| In Reply To: |
Most non-attorneys and law school applicants forget that having the name of a BIGLAW on your resume opens many doors. Associates with at least 3 years at BIGLAW can pretty much write their ticket to any boutique.
Most of us knew upon entering BIGLAW that we wouldn't make partner. Making partner was simply icing on the cake, but it wasn't a reality to us. Sadly there are some naive associates who feel that a partnership track is in their direct control.
Nonetheless, I'm an ex-BIGLAW associate who is quite happy with her current career. Your life isn't over if you don't make partner. I think a lot of attorneys are forgetting this. If you can even make it to BIGLAW, you are in good shape. So fear not BIGLAW associate, you will be okay. |
| Message: |
I agree that most BIGLAW associates have good boutique
job opportunities, particularly at boutiques devoted to the practice areas related to the associate of the BIGLAW experience the applicant possesses. I agree that the partnership track is an odd thing at any firm, and I know of BIGLAW in which folks don't make partner that you thought would, and vice versa. I completely agree that one's life isn't over if one doesn't make partner.
BIGLAW is a useful thing, but 3 years of BIGLAW is not in all things a "silver bullet" for one's career. One's choice of practice area at the BIGLAW firm will have some impact on the long-term hiring prospects of the BIGLAW associate in the boutique world. The commercial litigation associate usually places extremely easily in boutique, because so many boutiques use this set of skills. At the same time, I've seen BIGLAW associates with really "cool" backgrounds, let's say, for example complex arcane securitization deals, that do not meld well into some cities' littlelaw practices because the boutique firms may not be devoted to their particular area. I've seen the sad spectre, too, of the BIGLAW east coast 5 year associate with virtually no actual courtroom experience but time and a half the going market boutique salary level interviewing at a boutique firm where 5 year associates handle material matters a bit earlier. In general, though, a BIGLAW associateship is less a ticket to partnership than a ticket to quality work experience. If you can get quality work experience and ultimately the ability to originate business of your own (or, in some BIGLAW contexts, expand on the work gotten from the existing client base), you'll thrive. BIGLAW on one's resume is a positive almost every time.
I don't quite agree that "associates with at least three years at BIGLAW can pretty much write their ticket to any boutique", as boutiques in which I've been an equityholder have over the years elected to pass on a number of BIGLAW associates, and perhaps we respect boutiques similar to our own more than some BIGLAW environments, for corporate culture reasons. Yet, the . The reasons why a BIGLAW associate might be passed over?
The good old fashioned ones--folks with incompatible practice skills, difficult personalities, salary expectations we didn't meet, or just simple "doesn't click".
Partnership does matter, but that doesn't change the fact that a BIGLAW associate ordinarily gets good training and a good resume item. That's why folks shouldn't be consumed with the fact that not everyone in BIGLAW makes partner.
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