PI/Gov't Kid and BigLaw Forum

[Anonymous User]

I was a summer associate this past summer at a big firm in a non-New York northeastern market. I came to law school with a strong interest in PI/Gov't work, and I chose to summer at this firm in large part to sate my firm-curiosity / confirm that it was not for me.

Very soon, the 2015 SAs are supposed to hear whether they will receive an offer to return / for post-graduation employment. For various reasons (not negative reasons, but valid reasons), I could see them not extending me an offer.

However, in the event that they do, I'm conflicted about whether to accept, and because we are almost at the end of fall recruiting, I don't think I'll have the standard, generous window of time to consider my decision. I had a very positive experience, but I could also tell that it wasn't for me. I don't have other options at this point, but I'm on law review at a top school and am planning to submit applications to several nonprofits and government organizations. I fortunately don't need the big law money (will graduate with very little debt), but I also recognize the value of working for a big firm in terms of training, networking, etc. And when you have a good offer in hand, it's kind of hard to give it up in the face of the unknown.

I'm not trying to count my chickens before they hatch. Maybe I won't get an offer! But I want to give this some thought in advance in case I get an offer and they don't give me much time to get back to them. If you were me, what would you be thinking?

[zot1]

Best case scenario for you is to accept the offer and then keep applying for the jobs you actually want. Yes, this will burn a bridge and all that crap, but all the firm has to do is pick up another resume from the 10,000 they have in the trash somewhere.

Good luck!

[Anonymous User]

I was in a very similar situation, and i took the big law gig. maybe i'm the world's biggest sellout, but honestly, you only get that shot at biglaw once, and it's much easier to move from big law to public interest (and virtually impossible to go the other way). think of big law as insanely good training (and money), and focus on building connections that will help you land where you want to go.

also, it really helped me to think about it this way: one pro bono case at a big firm will help AT LEAST as many people as you could as a pd or at legal aid in months.

just focus on remembering your own goals and you'll be fine.

[los blancos]

Best case scenario for you is to accept the offer and then keep applying for the jobs you actually want. Yes, this will burn a bridge and all that crap, but all the firm has to do is pick up another resume from the 10,000 they have in the trash somewhere.

Good luck!

Yeah, I don't really see what the question is here. You accept the offer [if you hopefully get it] and keep applying to the jobs that actually interest you, like basically everyone applying to DOJ Honors or a whole host of other programs...

I was in a very similar situation, and i took the big law gig. maybe i'm the world's biggest sellout, but honestly, you only get that shot at biglaw once, and it's much easier to move from big law to public interest (and virtually impossible to go the other way). think of big law as insanely good training (and money), and focus on building connections that will help you land where you want to go.

also, it really helped me to think about it this way: one pro bono case at a big firm will help AT LEAST as many people as you could as a pd or at legal aid in months.

just focus on remembering your own goals and you'll be fine.

This is an astoundingly terrible post.

[lapolicia]

I was in a very similar situation, and i took the big law gig. maybe i'm the world's biggest sellout, but honestly, you only get that shot at biglaw once, and it's much easier to move from big law to public interest (and virtually impossible to go the other way). think of big law as insanely good training (and money), and focus on building connections that will help you land where you want to go.

also, it really helped me to think about it this way: one pro bono case at a big firm will help AT LEAST as many people as you could as a pd or at legal aid in months.

just focus on remembering your own goals and you'll be fine.

It's actually not very difficult to go to biglaw from many federal agencies. Probably true about most PI though. Entry-level government hiring is a crapshoot though, so it's probably much better to take the biglaw offer and then keep applying. If you don't get anything, you can start applying to government agencies as a lateral after around two years in biglaw and have a much better shot, assuming you do litigation.

[Nebby]

I was in a very similar situation, and i took the big law gig. maybe i'm the world's biggest sellout, but honestly, you only get that shot at biglaw once, and it's much easier to move from big law to public interest (and virtually impossible to go the other way). think of big law as insanely good training (and money), and focus on building connections that will help you land where you want to go.

also, it really helped me to think about it this way: one pro bono case at a big firm will help AT LEAST as many people as you could as a pd or at legal aid in months.

just focus on remembering your own goals and you'll be fine.

Do you know anything?

[Nebby]

I was a summer associate this past summer at a big firm in a non-New York northeastern market. I came to law school with a strong interest in PI/Gov't work, and I chose to summer at this firm in large part to sate my firm-curiosity / confirm that it was not for me.

Very soon, the 2015 SAs are supposed to hear whether they will receive an offer to return / for post-graduation employment. For various reasons (not negative reasons, but valid reasons), I could see them not extending me an offer.

However, in the event that they do, I'm conflicted about whether to accept, and because we are almost at the end of fall recruiting, I don't think I'll have the standard, generous window of time to consider my decision. I had a very positive experience, but I could also tell that it wasn't for me. I don't have other options at this point, but I'm on law review at a top school and am planning to submit applications to several nonprofits and government organizations. I fortunately don't need the big law money (will graduate with very little debt), but I also recognize the value of working for a big firm in terms of training, networking, etc. And when you have a good offer in hand, it's kind of hard to give it up in the face of the unknown.

I'm not trying to count my chickens before they hatch. Maybe I won't get an offer! But I want to give this some thought in advance in case I get an offer and they don't give me much time to get back to them. If you were me, what would you be thinking?

You've already missed some choice FedGov application deadlines. Better get on it now.

[Anonymous User]

i know that you're asking for advice rather than offering to extend it, and that things are still up in the air, but are you glad that you did the summer biglaw gig?

I'm thinking about accepting a SA for similar reasons, so i'm interested to hear whether you'd do it over again. I'm worried about a) making it harder to get PI stuff after having the SA; b) being seduced by the (possible) offer at the end of the summer; and (to a lesser extent) c) hating it there and feeling like I could have done something better with my last summer of freedom. Good luck!!!

[jbagelboy]

Why not clerk. Sounds like you're definitely qualified. Then you can delay the decision about private sector versus public service a while more.

[los blancos]

i know that you're asking for advice rather than offering to extend it, and that things are still up in the air, but are you glad that you did the summer biglaw gig?

I'm thinking about accepting a SA for similar reasons, so i'm interested to hear whether you'd do it over again. I'm worried about a) making it harder to get PI stuff after having the SA; b) being seduced by the (possible) offer at the end of the summer; and (to a lesser extent) c) hating it there and feeling like I could have done something better with my last summer of freedom. Good luck!!!

Not the OP and can't speak as much to the first two but doubt you're going to hate the SA - it's nothing like being an associate.

[Anonymous User]

OP here.

Sorry that I never replied. Thank you everyone for your responses. I received a return offer from the firm and decided to go for it. I agree that this is the easiest way to break into biglaw, so I figured it was best not to close doors when I'm feeling sort of ambivalent. In the mean time, I'm working on building my PI experience other ways, e.g. by doing a clinic and pro bono work, taking civil rights-oriented classes, etc. My background before law school was public service, as well. I'm just going to follow this where it takes me, try to clerk, and keep my eye on returning to public interest, with the knowledge that I'm demonstrating my commitment to PI in other ways besides summer work for the present.

I'm excited. In my heart, I know it's not what I want to do, but I really love the team I was with at the firm and I enjoyed the work I was doing. I learned a lot, had solid training opportunities, and for the first time in a job really felt challenged, intellectually, so I think it's going to be a good time. @AnonymousUser from earlier, I hope you get the SA position and take it - I think it's a good idea to give it a shot. You never know.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know (from their summer classes/schools) how common/rare it is for people turn down returning offers to go the PI/Gov route? 1-2 a year? (NYC big classes)

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know (from their summer classes/schools) how common/rare it is for people turn down returning offers to go the PI/Gov route? 1-2 a year? (NYC big classes)

Someone in my class in biglaw turned down a biglaw offer to become a Manhattan prosecutor. The latter is a lot harder to get though and this person had prior experience.

In general, I think it's uncommon because most people who are dead set on non-profits (not sure about gov) don't do OCI or biglaw interviews in the first place. This is especially true of non-trads. I had a bunch of older (35+) non trads who went back to school solely to do non profit work. They generally were order of the coif, but never did OCI.

[emkay625]

Why not clerk. Sounds like you're definitely qualified. Then you can delay the decision about private sector versus public service a while more.

This. Clerking will allow you to move either into BigLaw or PI work after.