Big law or Big fed? Forum

[Anonymous User]

immediately after your clerkship, would you rather start at big law/superboutique firm or big fed if you had a choice?

[Desert Fox]

immediately after your clerkship, would you rather start at big law/superboutique firm or big fed if you had a choice?

big fed.

[eriedoctrine]

GS scale salary is crap.
Senior Administrative Secretaries make the same as you.

[wolfie_m.]

.

[FSK]

Whats the eventual goal? What practice area? What agency? What GS scale am I starting on?

This question needs way more context to be useful.

[pancakes3]

Don't all entry level lawyers start at GS9?

[Anonymous User]

Don't all entry level lawyers start at GS9?

No, the majority start at GS-11. After a clerkship, most start at GS-12. It's actually pretty varied by agency too. Some start you at GS-11, step 10 (IRS) or GS-12, step-5 (FTC).

[Anonymous User]

GS scale salary is crap.
Senior Administrative Secretaries make the same as you.

It's pretty bad at the very senior levels, but for a typical GS-14/GS-15 attorney making 130-150k it isn't that bad at all with federal benefits.

[theaccidentalclerk]

It's pretty bad at the very senior levels, but for a typical GS-14/GS-15 attorney making 130-150k it isn't that bad at all with federal benefits.

This is the understatement of the year. Between the comfortable salary, the generally manageable hours, the interesting work, and the job security, being a mid-career lawyer for the federal government is about the cushiest job imaginable.

If you told me that you wanted to do deals and only deals, I'd say go biglaw. Anything else, go fed. You can always move from the feds to biglaw. It's very very difficult to do the opposite.

[butlerraider1]

You can always move from the feds to biglaw. It's very very difficult to do the opposite.

Is this true? I've always heard the opposite.

[Anonymous User]

You can always move from the feds to biglaw. It's very very difficult to do the opposite.

Is this true? I've always heard the opposite.

It really depends on your agency and the kind of law you practice. From some agencies (those in fields with a lot of biglaw overlap-think FTC, SEC, FERC etc.) moving to biglaw or market-paying boutique is easy and basically part of the standard career progression for many new attorneys, while the reverse isn't true due to the much smaller number of federal government openings. At other agencies (maybe most?), it's basically impossible to move to biglaw because there is no practice group match, although there may be boutiques you can move to.

Also, those federal lawyers working in the "general law and ethics" groups at any agency, even like the SEC, will usually not be able to move to biglaw. Those groups usually deal with internal employment disputes, federal labor relations, federal ethics, and other fields that aren't very marketable to major firms. But, those groups are very marketable within the federal government.

[pancakes3]

You can always move from the feds to biglaw. It's very very difficult to do the opposite.

Is this true? I've always heard the opposite.

It really depends on your agency and the kind of law you practice. From some agencies (those in fields with a lot of biglaw overlap-think FTC, SEC, FERC etc.) moving to biglaw or market-paying boutique is easy and basically part of the standard career progression for many new attorneys, while the reverse isn't true due to the much smaller number of federal government openings. At other agencies (maybe most?), it's basically impossible to move to biglaw because there is no practice group match, although there may be boutiques you can move to.

Also, those federal lawyers working in the "general law and ethics" groups at any agency, even like the SEC, will usually not be able to move to biglaw. Those groups usually deal with internal employment disputes, federal labor relations, federal ethics, and other fields that aren't very marketable to major firms. But, those groups are very marketable within the federal government.

Talked to an alum at a networking thing said that his BL firm used to welcome SEC laterals but they're moving away from that.

[Anonymous User]

You can always move from the feds to biglaw. It's very very difficult to do the opposite.

Is this true? I've always heard the opposite.

It really depends on your agency and the kind of law you practice. From some agencies (those in fields with a lot of biglaw overlap-think FTC, SEC, FERC etc.) moving to biglaw or market-paying boutique is easy and basically part of the standard career progression for many new attorneys, while the reverse isn't true due to the much smaller number of federal government openings. At other agencies (maybe most?), it's basically impossible to move to biglaw because there is no practice group match, although there may be boutiques you can move to.

Also, those federal lawyers working in the "general law and ethics" groups at any agency, even like the SEC, will usually not be able to move to biglaw. Those groups usually deal with internal employment disputes, federal labor relations, federal ethics, and other fields that aren't very marketable to major firms. But, those groups are very marketable within the federal government.

Talked to an alum at a networking thing said that his BL firm used to welcome SEC laterals but they're moving away from that.

It's still very much the norm in big law. Opportunities of course ebb and flow with the amount of work, but I don't think there's any general trend to move away from it. Especially considering that most partners have SEC experience. Also, most SEC attorneys have biglaw experience before coming to the SEC--they hire almost no entry levels.