I'm a 3L and will be doing a COA clerkship after graduation, then working at a V5 firm in New York--probably corporate. My girlfriend, currently in med school, is from L.A. originally and would like to move back to California at some point. The way the timing works, she'll be starting her residency after I've been doing NYC biglaw for only one year. She loves New York and will likely make that her top choice for residency, but it's a competitive process, and she'll be applying to California hospitals, too.
Does anyone have any insights as to the feasibility of lateraling from NYC to CA--either northern or southern--after only a year? I'm afraid one year wouldn't provide enough experience to make me an attractive lateral candidate. Beside the girlfriend, I'd have no California ties.
Lateral to CA after 1 year of NYC biglaw? Forum
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Re: Lateral to CA after 1 year of NYC biglaw?
I know a person who did exactly this. No clerkship, but worked at an NYC V5 for a year. When his spouse got a job in California he contacted a headhunter and landed at a firm. Not V5 but market paying in northern California. I know he has some regrets about having to leave so soon in his career, but if you're just worried about feasibility, in his case the prestige of the V5 firm was enough to get him several interviews and offers.
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Re: Lateral to CA after 1 year of NYC biglaw?
I don't have any personal knowledge of doing this, but I talked to a few associates in NY V10s about this. Some are flexible in allowing you to move between offices, or at least according to the associates I talked to. Perhaps, once the time becomes closer, you can talk to rectuiting at you V5 about moving to their LA office. To ease the transition, you can also ask to get staffed in matters that your LA office is doing -- assuming you have some say in the matter and your firm does cross-staffing (both of which are common but depend on the particular cases your firm is working on). Since you are doing corporate work, the LA office presumably should do a good amount of corporate work there; but my knowledge is limited. At least, I know the V10 SV/SF satellite offices do corporate work (not too sure about the LA market). Of course, you should take both bars as well. Good luck.
