Litigation exit options Forum

[84651846190]

The "litigation exit option = government only" is a huge flame.

Of course, nearly all common TLS wisdom on the matter is pure shit. People seem to define "exit option" as exit from private practice.

Okay, but let's be clear about what you are most likely NOT going to be able to do after a few years of litigation:

1) It's HIGHLY unlikely that you'll be able to switch to transactional work.
2) It's unlikely you'll get an in house position where you're doing or overseeing litigation work.
3) Government jobs are few and far between.

That leaves moar biglaw and small firm jobs. There's a wide variety of small firms specializing in litigation. Some are better than biglaw; some are worse. My impression is that almost all small firm jobs pay less than biglaw. You usually work fewer hours, but not as few as in house dorks.

Starting your own firm is almost always harder than people expect it will be. (I have two family members who have done it. They're smart guys but nevertheless struggled mightily, especially when first starting out.)

So this seems identical to transactional options except harder to go in house? It's not like a mid level corp associate can go become an AUSA. Either way you close some doors.

There are like 40 in house jobs for every AUSA job.

[los blancos]

An attorney at my firm doing antitrust told me he's had in house offers on the transactional side but antitrust seems to be a mix of both lit and corp.

I practice antitrust and this has been my experience as well. It offers comparatively good exit options for litigators, because you can mostly litigate as an associate (assuming your firm puts you in litigation matters instead of deals) and then you can play up whatever deal experience you have when trying to go in-house. I've seen a few associates go in-house on the transactional side. The downside is you have to practice antitrust.

I've seen this attitude pop up every now and then. Why do people say this?

[Anonymous User]

How flyover? If you are talking about Milwaukee that really really sucks. If you are talking about smalltown Iowa, that's probably as good as that market gets.

Think again. Reputable sole practitioners and partners at established firms in smalltown Iowa generally make 40% - 150%+ more than that ($110k - $205k isn't unheard of). As a matter of fact, I don't really know any "top" firm in smalltown Iowa (top = the go-to firm or #2 for a county seat type of town) where the partners make as low as $80k. Maybe in a VERY rural area somewhere.

Of course, Iowa's economy is pretty solid, and its farmland is worth a lot of money. I suspect in a place like rural Missouri, you could really struggle to make $80k. Then again, you could get by just fine on $60k in places like this.

[XxSpyKEx]

Litigation exit options

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

Is it crazy to join a litigation group in biglaw? I find transactional pretty boring, but I also want to be employed after I leave biglaw.

[Desert Fox]

[baal hadad]

Two years in and I'm still not sure.

Ironically the only associate I know who couldn't get a decent exit out of it lit was an antitrust bro.

What has people you know exited to

[Desert Fox]

[baal hadad]

Two years in and I'm still not sure.

Ironically the only associate I know who couldn't get a decent exit out of it lit was an antitrust bro.

What has people you know exited to

government, clerking, midlaw, other big law, etc.

so basically the usual

[84651846190]

Two years in and I'm still not sure.

Ironically the only associate I know who couldn't get a decent exit out of it lit was an antitrust bro.

What has people you know exited to

government, clerking, midlaw, other big law, etc.

so basically the usual

Litigation is a big bucket of shit. You can stick your hand in there and feel around for a while to see if anything else is in there, but you'll just end up covered in shit from the elbow down.

[los blancos]

that's why they call it shitigation amirite

[Desert Fox]

[baal hadad]

Transactional seems way worse. Way way worse.

But dem exit ops.

With my propensity to make spelling errors and misplace punctuation I'd get reamed out more than I already do

[dixiecupdrinking]

Yeah choosing something you like less because it gives you a wider range of other opportunities you probably also won't like doesn't seem so great to me.

[El Pollito]

i exited to not litigation

[baal hadad]

i exited to not litigation

pretty rad what do you do?

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

I think I'm going to pick a lit group bc it seems much more interesting to me than transactional and it seems somewhat crazy to pick a practice area you don't like based on exit ops. But I can't lie, when I see that a lit associate was at my firm last summer is gone, and I google them and do not find anything I do not feel good.

[Johann]

I think I'm going to pick a lit group bc it seems much more interesting to me than transactional and it seems somewhat crazy to pick a practice area you don't like based on exit ops. But I can't lie, when I see that a lit associate was at my firm last summer is gone, and I google them and do not find anything I do not feel good.

why would they be googleable in house?

[DJ JD]

I think I'm going to pick a lit group bc it seems much more interesting to me than transactional and it seems somewhat crazy to pick a practice area you don't like based on exit ops. But I can't lie, when I see that a lit associate was at my firm last summer is gone, and I google them and do not find anything I do not feel good.

why would they be googleable in house?

I think the assumption is that because he's a lit associate, he probably didn't move in house... The same applies for government though, so either way, you're right.

[El Pollito]

i exited to not litigation

pretty rad what do you do?

employment, mostly corp, Ks and counseling. a little bit of lit sneaks in sometimes.

[baal hadad]

i exited to not litigation

pretty rad what do you do?

employment, mostly corp, Ks and counseling. a little bit of lit sneaks in sometimes.

That actually sounds pretty cool

Did you have anything special on the resume that helped you land that? 1L jerbs or college deree ro whatever?

[El Pollito]

i exited to not litigation

pretty rad what do you do?

employment, mostly corp, Ks and counseling. a little bit of lit sneaks in sometimes.

That actually sounds pretty cool

Did you have anything special on the resume that helped you land that? 1L jerbs or college deree ro whatever?

UG degree + LS internship w one of the fed employment agencies

still feeling lucky as hell to have escaped