I think the general consensus for "too long" is anything past year 5, at least for in house jobs for a transactional associate.Desert Fox wrote:That's really only a stopgap. Sure, it means that the 50% attrition by year three is misleading (since they lateral to another firm), but the number of senior associate jobs are way lower than junior.thesealocust wrote:Yep - plus, I think the most common move for juniors I saw was big firm X to big firm Y.
Also, I think there might such a thing as staying in biglaw too long. I don't think I want to be the 7th year who never did a deposition, wrote a substantial brief, or argued a motion.
But I have no idea when too long occurs.
Litigation associates generally can't go in house unless they are 10+ years in biglaw and can manage trials, etc. There's not a lot of non firm exit opps for litigation associates.
thesealocust wrote:tbird12345 wrote:
There are exceptions on an individual level, exceptions for firms that hit financial difficulties, etc. - but the high attrition rate in biglaw is by and large (a) voluntary and (b) comes with a good to great job change for whoever is leaving the firm. A lot of employers simply don't hire fresh law school grads because they know there will be so many refuges coming out of biglaw - there are lots of places to go after your first firm gig.
In my experience (i'm a few years out of law school), the high attrition rate is largely voluntary, and a good portion (maybe 1/4 to 1/3) leave law entirely. Of the people who leave law entirely, many leave for no job, while trying to figure out what they want to do with their life.