Bridgewater Associates v. BigLaw Forum

[kartelite]

I had a couple interviews for an investment-side position there a few years before law school, and from doing my due diligence on the place I think it's an environment that works for a very small minority of people. I talked to a friend who had been working there straight since college, and while he seemed to be doing pretty well I basically found the system including the adherence to Dalio's "principles" to be somewhat of a cult. Didn't actually go in for the final round since I had another new opportunity open up instead (I was overseas and looking to come back to the states), so didn't get a feel for the office environment though. But I think the exit opps are decent (which they better be considering the ridiculously high turnover rate).

[lawlorbust]

OP here. Wow, didn't expect this level of response.

Re: Culture. My friend wanted to recommend me because she thought I'd be a perfect culture fit. I am also personally a huge fan of Dalio's Principles. I really like the way he runs the organization. The results speak for themselves. As the first poster said, I guess this is fundamentally more of a question about whether or not I want to be a lawyer or alternatively if I am ok stagnating in a backoffice role.

The non-compete issue would be pretty serious for me since, working in CT for the rest of my life also sounds like my version of hell. I appreciate all the insight.

Support positions in finance form a huge industry unto themselves, so i'm not sure whether you'd necessarily be stagnating there. Basically all transactional law is "back office" in the sense that you don't meaningfully control the deal economics and just memorialize what other people agree to on a (long) piece of paper.

[JenDarby]

OP here. Wow, didn't expect this level of response.

Re: Culture. My friend wanted to recommend me because she thought I'd be a perfect culture fit. I am also personally a huge fan of Dalio's Principles. I really like the way he runs the organization. The results speak for themselves. As the first poster said, I guess this is fundamentally more of a question about whether or not I want to be a lawyer or alternatively if I am ok stagnating in a backoffice role.

The non-compete issue would be pretty serious for me since, working in CT for the rest of my life also sounds like my version of hell. I appreciate all the insight.

Support positions in finance form a huge industry unto themselves, so i'm not sure whether you'd necessarily be stagnating there. Basically all transactional law is "back office" in the sense that you don't meaningfully control the deal economics and just memorialize what other people agree to on a (long) piece of paper.

No quotes needed. It IS back office. You're a cost center as an in-house lawyer. The non transactional lawyers at financial institutions are back office too.

You can't really say all transactional lawyers are back office though, as that's not what back office means lol. Transactional lawyers at firms are profit centers, where there is no FO, MO or BO.

[Anonymous User]

OP here. Wow, didn't expect this level of response.

Re: Culture. My friend wanted to recommend me because she thought I'd be a perfect culture fit. I am also personally a huge fan of Dalio's Principles. I really like the way he runs the organization. The results speak for themselves. As the first poster said, I guess this is fundamentally more of a question about whether or not I want to be a lawyer or alternatively if I am ok stagnating in a backoffice role.

The non-compete issue would be pretty serious for me since, working in CT for the rest of my life also sounds like my version of hell. I appreciate all the insight.

Support positions in finance form a huge industry unto themselves, so i'm not sure whether you'd necessarily be stagnating there. Basically all transactional law is "back office" in the sense that you don't meaningfully control the deal economics and just memorialize what other people agree to on a (long) piece of paper.

IME, a vast majority of the people who are in senior-level positions (VP and up, and especially ED/MD) in finance/IB operations are people who washed out from front office positions. People do make it there starting out in operations (at least to VP), but I'd say you have similar odds as making partner at a firm.

This was at a bulge-bracket IB and Large Buy-side money manager, so ymmv at a (relatively) smaller shop, but I'd say a vast majority of people who start in operations don't have super successful careers in finance. You can definitely coast at $40 to 50k-ish for a while tho.

[Anonymous User]

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