BigLaw in secondary market vs. boutique in DC Forum

[fta12]

I'm torn between returning to my hometown for a BigLaw offer in a secondary market (i.e. not NY, LA, Chicago, DC) vs. accepting a boutique firm's offer in DC.
Any insights regarding this - in terms of options if I were to leave the firm (i.e. if it would be easier to transfer from one market to the other, prestige, exit to government or non-firm opportunities) or overall satisfaction in general? I feel like everyone's automatic response is to go BigLaw due to options that become available after but I'm not sure how much this applies when referring to a secondary market vs. DC.

I would appreciate it!

BigLaw:
- HQ in a secondary market; multiple offices
- Vault 50 firm
- Option to do transactional or litigation (and has a rotational program)

Boutique:
- Work (seems) more substantive and interesting
- Purely litigation work
- DC (most competitive market?)

[FSK]

What do you want? Whats important to you? Where do you want to live? What kind of career do you want to start?

[Anonymous User]

also facing the same choice as OP

[First Offense]

This doesn't seem like a complicated decision. Which region would you rather be?

Also, check out the hours requirement for the DC boutique. A lot of those lit boutiques work you to the fucking bone (more than general Biglaw).

[fta12]

What do you want? Whats important to you? Where do you want to live? What kind of career do you want to start?

I would prefer to be in DC but would be "content" back in my hometown which I always assumed I would return to some day. The work at the boutique seems more interesting to me but also more risky since I don't have many options to chose a practice group or different people to work with if I weren't to like it as I would in BigLaw.
At this point, I'm more concerned with precluding or limiting myself by choosing one firm or the other due the differences in markets or firm size/prestige.

[Anonymous User]

I know I'm bumping an old thread, but I have this exact same question and noticed the OP's question was never answered. Any thoughts?

[umichman]

I know I'm bumping an old thread, but I have this exact same question and noticed the OP's question was never answered. Any thoughts?

I believe the reason that nobody answered is because the best answer is, "it depends".

[rpupkin]

I know I'm bumping an old thread, but I have this exact same question and noticed the OP's question was never answered. Any thoughts?

Can you really not figure out why the OP's question was never answered? There's no "answer" in the abstract, and your post is even more bereft of substance than OP's.

If you want help, start a new thread in which you provide the details that one would need in order to respond with meaningful advice (e.g., what do you want to do, where do you want to live, what are your long-term goals, etc.).