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I recently came across a couple of different small firms that list things like "international business law" among their practice areas. These are
small firms with between 2-10 attorneys, and the partners are all graduates of TT and TTT schools.

Are there really corporate/transactional firms outside of biglaw and midlaw?

Who do you think does transactional/corp work for small companies? A V5 is gonna be brought in to put together a supply deal between Tommyz's Small Contracting Corp and XYZ steel supplier?

EDIT: Didn't mean for that to sound condescending, but you get the idea. Not all corporations are. Fortune 500 and able to pay 400 per hour.

NoleinNY wrote:Who do you think does transactional/corp work for small companies? A V5 is gonna be brought in to put together a supply deal between Tommyz's Small Contracting Corp and XYZ steel supplier?

EDIT: Didn't mean for that to sound condescending, but you get the idea. Not all corporations are. Fortune 500 and able to pay 400 per hour.

I always assumed that below a certain size, transactional firms were just an aspect of a general practice firm too small to have "groups." Like, one day you're doing the incorporation papers for a plumbing outfit, then the next week, the closing on their store, then the next week, their home closing, etc.

not necessarily shabby.
depends on how TTT they are.

I would die to work for http://www.pavialaw.com where sotomayor used to work.
it has some sort of prestigious pedigree.

I've noticed many small corporate/transactional firms emerging recently out here in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. Starting a new business is part of the culture here.

Anonymous User wrote:not necessarily shabby.
depends on how TTT they are.

I would die to work for http://www.pavialaw.com where sotomayor used to work.
it has some sort of prestigious pedigree.

i summered there! the people are amazing, and one of the managing partners went to Yale and worked at Skadden. So uh... definitely not TTT. and they do quite a lot of very high profile work for smaller companies (especially European fashion houses) who don't want to pay 1k/hr for a partner's time. they are a general practice firm, so yes, it is just one branch. but the corporate group is definitely legitimate.

how did you get a summer position there?
is knowing a european language a must?
are the people generally great ? laid-back?

LawIdiot86 wrote:

NoleinNY wrote:Who do you think does transactional/corp work for small companies? A V5 is gonna be brought in to put together a supply deal between Tommyz's Small Contracting Corp and XYZ steel supplier?

EDIT: Didn't mean for that to sound condescending, but you get the idea. Not all corporations are. Fortune 500 and able to pay 400 per hour.

I always assumed that below a certain size, transactional firms were just an aspect of a general practice firm too small to have "groups." Like, one day you're doing the incorporation papers for a plumbing outfit, then the next week, the closing on their store, then the next week, their home closing, etc.

There are some boutiques that do corp/trans. There are also SmallLaw general practice firms that do trans/corp work as one of their services, like the OP indicated.

I thought services like LegalZoom and Nolo took care of a good chunk of small business transactional needs. I am guessing most contracts, etc. for small business transactions are extremely boilerplate.

The firm I'm going to is a small corporate boutique. They're the firm when it comes to corporate in the road/rail industry.

Anonymous User wrote:how did you get a summer position there?
is knowing a european language a must?
are the people generally great ? laid-back?

i basically just sent them my resume and was lucky enough to be singled out... i don't speak any european language, so i'm actually not even sure myself, lol. they are an italian firm though so i imagine it would be helpful if you spoke italian, french and/or spanish. they are super laid back, friendly and welcoming, and get out at 6-7 pm every night, but are obviously passionate about their work. one thing that stuck out to me is that everyone there clearly had a personality and a life, unlike a lot of folks you see coming from biglaw, where everyone is too tired to have a personality.

i envy you!
but do they do any litigation at all?

Anonymous User wrote:i envy you!
but do they do any litigation at all?

yes, they also have a small lit group (a few of their partners left awhile back) and they actually do a lot of interesting commercial, civil and ip litigation. i would imagine that they might be trying to grow their lit group up again, but it was pretty cool because the office is so small that some of the corporate associates sometimes get to do the lit work too. so i got to do some of everything while i was there

did you get an offer from pavia?

Anonymous User wrote:did you get an offer from pavia?

yes, i have an unofficial standing offer to return if i want

I saw an ad a while ago by pavia - it looks like they have been looking for someone who knows foreign languages, including mandarin. However, it's been a while and they have not hired anyone ... apparently. (based on their website)