Switching Practice Groups and Cities Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hey all,

I'm a 4th year finance associate in NYC that plans on trying to get out of NYC over the next year. Probably will be looking to move out west to either the mountain west or the PNW. I've given finance the old college try and the more senior I get, the more bored and annoyedI get with it. Drafting and reviewing credit agreements is honestly more boring that drafting ancillary documents and it seems that finance is one practice that truly gets worse the more senior you get. As it is, I want to switch out to a more general corporate/M&A practice for exit ops and because my friends that do it seem far more interested in it.

I don't want to ask to switch groups at my current firm, since I'll likely be trying to leave the firm to move starting in the fall and think that is a bad look, but was wondering how hard it is to switch practice groups in a lateral move? Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks all.

[Anonymous User]

Bump Bump

[Anonymous User]

Bump - anyone with any experience with this at all?

[Anonymous User]

I have no experience with this but I would think the best course of action would be to switch in your firm, stay at least a year, then lateral. Unless you have been doing substantial M&A/corporate work already, I don't see how or why a direct lateral/switch would work. I don't see an upside for the lateral firm in taking in a 4th year with no practice experience in the group you want to lateral to.

[Anonymous User]

I have no experience with this but I would think the best course of action would be to switch in your firm, stay at least a year, then lateral. Unless you have been doing substantial M&A/corporate work already, I don't see how or why a direct lateral/switch would work. I don't see an upside for the lateral firm in taking in a 4th year with no practice experience in the group you want to lateral to.

I agree completely, which is why I would likely make it known that I would be willing to drop multiple class years to switch to general corporate. I figure this way they get a guy with 4 years of finance under his belt who is willing to loose out on some salary to start fresh. Switching within the firm isn't really doable at this point since we plan on moving early 2018 and I'd like to leave NYC as soon as possible.

[Anonymous User]

I have no experience with this but I would think the best course of action would be to switch in your firm, stay at least a year, then lateral. Unless you have been doing substantial M&A/corporate work already, I don't see how or why a direct lateral/switch would work. I don't see an upside for the lateral firm in taking in a 4th year with no practice experience in the group you want to lateral to.

I agree completely, which is why I would likely make it known that I would be willing to drop multiple class years to switch to general corporate. I figure this way they get a guy with 4 years of finance under his belt who is willing to loose out on some salary to start fresh. Switching within the firm isn't really doable at this point since we plan on moving early 2018 and I'd like to leave NYC as soon as possible.

I have no idea if this woudl work. But what if you could try to pitch it as you woudl do some finance work for them but you also want to try some more general corp. Then once you are there take on more and more gen corp. This coudl be a stupid idea, im just thinking about it

[Npret]

What kind of corporate do the firms you want to move to actually practice? I know the PNW and mountain west are small and competitive. Do you have ties? Do you have connections?

[favabeansoup]

I have no experience with this but I would think the best course of action would be to switch in your firm, stay at least a year, then lateral. Unless you have been doing substantial M&A/corporate work already, I don't see how or why a direct lateral/switch would work. I don't see an upside for the lateral firm in taking in a 4th year with no practice experience in the group you want to lateral to.

I agree completely, which is why I would likely make it known that I would be willing to drop multiple class years to switch to general corporate. I figure this way they get a guy with 4 years of finance under his belt who is willing to loose out on some salary to start fresh. Switching within the firm isn't really doable at this point since we plan on moving early 2018 and I'd like to leave NYC as soon as possible.

I have heard of laterals sometimes dropping a (single) class year to make moves easier, but I haven't ever heard of someone dropping multiple years just to start in a new practice group.

I mean it might work, but I personally haven't heard of someone doing this.

[Npret]

I have no experience with this but I would think the best course of action would be to switch in your firm, stay at least a year, then lateral. Unless you have been doing substantial M&A/corporate work already, I don't see how or why a direct lateral/switch would work. I don't see an upside for the lateral firm in taking in a 4th year with no practice experience in the group you want to lateral to.

I agree completely, which is why I would likely make it known that I would be willing to drop multiple class years to switch to general corporate. I figure this way they get a guy with 4 years of finance under his belt who is willing to loose out on some salary to start fresh. Switching within the firm isn't really doable at this point since we plan on moving early 2018 and I'd like to leave NYC as soon as possible.

I have heard of laterals sometimes dropping a (single) class year to make moves easier, but I haven't ever heard of someone dropping multiple years just to start in a new practice group.

I mean it might work, but I personally haven't heard of someone doing this.

I think offering to drop a year or two before asked might seem desperate. I'm not sure how that works but I wouldn't offer coming in as a second year upfront.

[oblig.lawl.ref]

I personally know one person who dropped two class years to change practice groups. She also moved from the east coast to the west coast. There was some overlap between the groups but probably not quite as much as you have with gen corp. I had heard of one other that did it as well.

PNW and Mountain West may be a difficult lateral in general. LA/Bay Area may be more doable, I would think, just based on size/insularity of the markets.

I would try to get gen corp assignments sooner rather than later, including at your current firm if possible. You're not getting any more junior.

[Anonymous User]

I personally know one person who dropped two class years to change practice groups. She also moved from the east coast to the west coast. There was some overlap between the groups but probably not quite as much as you have with gen corp. I had heard of one other that did it as well.

PNW and Mountain West may be a difficult lateral in general. LA/Bay Area may be more doable, I would think, just based on size/insularity of the markets.

I would try to get gen corp assignments sooner rather than later, including at your current firm if possible. You're not getting any more junior.

This is great to know. I definitely plan on trying to take on more corporate assignments (talking to the head of my group about an interest in trying some general corporate work). Hoping that since finance still has some significant overlap the sell is easier than switching from other groups. I definitely know the mountain west can be tough to crack, but figured its worth a shot. Worst case I guess California would be there, but honestly, its so expensive that it almost seems not worth leaving NYC.