Litigation vs Corporate quick run-through? Forum

[bdubs]

Beg to differ. I know a lot of litigation associates who load up early as well.

I always felt like the corporate side was more unpredictable, especially with the economy the way it was the last couple years. If there weren't enough deals going on, it's not like there were a lot of projects to load up on, know what I mean?

If it's slow, it's slow. Doesn't matter which practice you are in. I'm not sure exactly how a young associate in litigation could load up on projects early though. Unless you are working on something relatively fungible, you kind of have to be there when things start moving, vacation or not. Corporate deals end, litigation tends to drag on for years (as Renzo pointed out). You might get lucky and have a gap where you can take vacation, but there were a number of times where I was told that I shouldn't schedule vacation for the next 6 months because the case I was working on was going to have a sequence of deliverables.

I was under the impression that the lifespan of most corporate work was measured in weeks, not in years. Right or wrong?

[kams]

Beg to differ. I know a lot of litigation associates who load up early as well.

I always felt like the corporate side was more unpredictable, especially with the economy the way it was the last couple years. If there weren't enough deals going on, it's not like there were a lot of projects to load up on, know what I mean?

If it's slow, it's slow. Doesn't matter which practice you are in. I'm not sure exactly how a young associate in litigation could load up on projects early though. Unless you are working on something relatively fungible, you kind of have to be there when things start moving, vacation or not. Corporate deals end, litigation tends to drag on for years (as Renzo pointed out). You might get lucky and have a gap where you can take vacation, but there were a number of times where I was told that I shouldn't schedule vacation for the next 6 months because the case I was working on was going to have a sequence of deliverables.

I was under the impression that the lifespan of most corporate work was measured in weeks, not in years. Right or wrong?

Corporate work is measured in weeks, and litigation does tend to drag on for years. Litigation is more predictable because you know when you're able to take vacations. Not saying that corporate lawyers can't take vacations as well, as I know plenty who take vacations. I'm just saying that litigation is simply a bit more predictable, whereas corporate lawyers might have a a week or two of having nothing on the table, then something exploding and they have to work 3 days straight. Not saying that one is better than the other or one works more hours than the other, just trying to tell it like it is to the OP. Like I said, I've only done one rotation in corporate, and one rotation in litigation over the summer. But I'm pretty sure what everyone has told me is correct.

Have you worked in a biglaw firm before? Are you just getting this from things people told you? I thought you were a 1L.

[bdubs]

Beg to differ. I know a lot of litigation associates who load up early as well.

I always felt like the corporate side was more unpredictable, especially with the economy the way it was the last couple years. If there weren't enough deals going on, it's not like there were a lot of projects to load up on, know what I mean?

If it's slow, it's slow. Doesn't matter which practice you are in. I'm not sure exactly how a young associate in litigation could load up on projects early though. Unless you are working on something relatively fungible, you kind of have to be there when things start moving, vacation or not. Corporate deals end, litigation tends to drag on for years (as Renzo pointed out). You might get lucky and have a gap where you can take vacation, but there were a number of times where I was told that I shouldn't schedule vacation for the next 6 months because the case I was working on was going to have a sequence of deliverables.

I was under the impression that the lifespan of most corporate work was measured in weeks, not in years. Right or wrong?

Corporate work is measured in weeks, and litigation does tend to drag on for years. Litigation is more predictable because you know when you're able to take vacations. Not saying that corporate lawyers can't take vacations as well, as I know plenty who take vacations. I'm just saying that litigation is simply a bit more predictable, whereas corporate lawyers might have a a week or two of having nothing on the table, then something exploding and they have to work 3 days straight. Not saying that one is better than the other or one works more hours than the other, just trying to tell it like it is to the OP. Like I said, I've only done one rotation in corporate, and one rotation in litigation over the summer. But I'm pretty sure what everyone has told me is correct.

Have you worked in a biglaw firm before? Are you just getting this from things people told you? I thought you were a 1L.

My last job was in litigation consulting, so I was working with biglaw firms and lawyers for the last few years. We generally knew the schedules in advance, but could never afford to wait around between deadlines. So I was always staffed to multiple cases with overlapping deadlines and schedules, and those schedules changed pretty frequently as well.

Could be that my experiences were the exception and not the rule, but I did it for 5 years not 5 weeks.

[kams]

Beg to differ. I know a lot of litigation associates who load up early as well.

I always felt like the corporate side was more unpredictable, especially with the economy the way it was the last couple years. If there weren't enough deals going on, it's not like there were a lot of projects to load up on, know what I mean?

If it's slow, it's slow. Doesn't matter which practice you are in. I'm not sure exactly how a young associate in litigation could load up on projects early though. Unless you are working on something relatively fungible, you kind of have to be there when things start moving, vacation or not. Corporate deals end, litigation tends to drag on for years (as Renzo pointed out). You might get lucky and have a gap where you can take vacation, but there were a number of times where I was told that I shouldn't schedule vacation for the next 6 months because the case I was working on was going to have a sequence of deliverables.

I was under the impression that the lifespan of most corporate work was measured in weeks, not in years. Right or wrong?

Corporate work is measured in weeks, and litigation does tend to drag on for years. Litigation is more predictable because you know when you're able to take vacations. Not saying that corporate lawyers can't take vacations as well, as I know plenty who take vacations. I'm just saying that litigation is simply a bit more predictable, whereas corporate lawyers might have a a week or two of having nothing on the table, then something exploding and they have to work 3 days straight. Not saying that one is better than the other or one works more hours than the other, just trying to tell it like it is to the OP. Like I said, I've only done one rotation in corporate, and one rotation in litigation over the summer. But I'm pretty sure what everyone has told me is correct.

Have you worked in a biglaw firm before? Are you just getting this from things people told you? I thought you were a 1L.

My last job was in litigation consulting, so I was working with biglaw firms and lawyers for the last few years. We generally knew the schedules in advance, but could never afford to wait around between deadlines. So I was always staffed to multiple cases with overlapping deadlines and schedules, and those schedules changed pretty frequently as well.

Could be that my experiences were the exception and not the rule, but I did it for 5 years not 5 weeks.

Hmm...well, in my opinion, if you think that corporate is more predictable than litigation, then I think your experience may be the exception. Many of the litigation associates were always taking vacations. During my stint at the firm, my litigation mentor took a 3 week vacation during my rotation in corporate. Also, many people are staffed on cases, so just because one or two litigation associates go on vacation, doesn't mean that the entire case is put on hold you know.

[Old Gregg]

LOL at law students arguing with an actual litigator over what's more predictable. I'm not trying to be condescending, but you kind of lose credibility when an actual litigator is telling you that his or her workload is more predictable than in corporate.

[bdubs]

LOL at law students arguing with an actual litigator over what's more predictable. I'm not trying to be condescending, but you kind of lose credibility when an actual litigator is telling you that his or her workload is more predictable than in corporate.

who is the actual litigator ITT?

[ruski]

never heard of corporate being more predictable than litigation. all the litigators i spoke to said that one plus of their practice is that it is more predictable than corporate. im pretty sure this is the general consensus.

[romothesavior]

Who does more hard drugs: lit or corps associates?

[jim]

Who does more hard drugs: lit or corps associates?

Finally some important questions.

[headandshoulderos]

ITT 1L's think they can argue any point because it's almost finals . Litigation is obviously more predictable than corporate. although it is less predictable than many other jobs. You can pick any number of things about litigation that require long hours or schedule changes, if you want, but compared to corporate it's much more predictable.