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Is it possible to receive an "In-House" position after law school?

Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 9:31 am
by lawapplicant2017
I am in my early 30s and will be in my mid-30s whenever I complete law school. My goal has always been pursuing corporate law in New York. I know there are some "In house" legal positions at some of the investment banks like Goldman Sachs or Merrill Lynch. And typically most require you to work at a law firm for a couple years as an associate. I read, however, that there are some exceptions to this and was wondering

1). Is it true that at times, there are circumstances where some law graduates obtain "in house counsel" positions after graduation?
2). What would they have to do to set them apart from their classmates to obtain a position like this out of school?

Re: Is it possible to receive an "In-House" position after law school?

Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 11:24 pm
by tomwatts
Yes, but it's really unusual. HP has such a program. When I dabbled in corporate law for a couple of internships, I met one other person who got an in-house job at a nonprofit straight out of law school. But the jobs are pretty few and far between.

I'd imagine that you have to show an interest in transactional (corporate) law through your internships and class selection, and attending a top school is probably a prerequisite too. But you also just have to find the jobs (which is not necessarily easy), apply to them, and get sort of lucky; there are more qualified applicants than there are jobs.

Someone else may know more specifics, though.

Re: Is it possible to receive an "In-House" position after law school?

Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 8:50 am
by kalvano
The problem is that you aren't going to learn what you need to know as in-house counsel in law school, but most companies don't have an in-house training program. So they want someone with law firm experience because that person will, theoretically, have the skills needed. Some companies such as HP have an in-house training program, but that's pretty rare.

Re: Is it possible to receive an "In-House" position after law school?

Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 2:13 pm
by flashdril
Bank of America was at our OCI hiring so it does happen.

Re: Is it possible to receive an "In-House" position after law school?

Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 3:18 pm
by cavalier1138
flashdril wrote:Bank of America was at our OCI hiring so it does happen.
But were they hiring for in-house counsel? I've seen banks at OCI hiring for non-legal positions where they prefer someone with a JD, so the bank being there doesn't mean that they're hiring recent grads as lawyers.