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I am going to be an associate at big firm in a major non-NYC market (SF/LA/Chi). I have always planned on doing corporate for the exit opps, but during my SA I did a lot of data privacy and trademark work; they're in the same practice group at the firm along with advertising work. I am debating asking the firm if I can join that group instead of corporate. It is a really well respected group (band 1 in chambers) but not that large.

What are exit opportunities for people doing data privacy and/or trademark work at large firms? How does it compare to just doing M&A work at a big firm? Thank you

Anonymous User wrote:I am going to be an associate at big firm in a major non-NYC market (SF/LA/Chi). I have always planned on doing corporate for the exit opps, but during my SA I did a lot of data privacy and trademark work; they're in the same practice group at the firm along with advertising work. I am debating asking the firm if I can join that group instead of corporate. It is a really well respected group (band 1 in chambers) but not that large.

What are exit opportunities for people doing data privacy and/or trademark work at large firms? How does it compare to just doing M&A work at a big firm? Thank you

No idea how hard it is to get, but folks in DC privacy practices always talk about coworkers exiting to apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and some others. Every privacy group I interviewed with had similar stories, so it doesn't seem uncommon, I just don't know how big the market is for this kind of in-house work.

Besides the Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc. You'll find that most major tech companies have a need for data privacy, and a LOT of major brand names have trademark groups (Coca-Cola being the prime example). So you'll have a good range probably of tech company options with information hosting, data privacy problems etc, and regular more brand name companies doing primarily trademark in those groups.

I don't know specifics about the actual market for these in=house positions, but I would imagine given the rise of high profile "hackings" going around that the data privacy groups in house are looking to grow and probably have spaces to fill.

Trademark and data privacy work will be much different than general M&A work in biglaw. M&A will be company creation, etc, whereas data privacy and trademark will focus specifically on those issues, be it in individual contracts, helping to organize a company's policy, helping in specific disputes, etc.

Thank you. Anyone have any experience with large firm privacy groups and client interaction?

Anonymous User wrote:Thank you. Anyone have any experience with large firm privacy groups and client interaction?

This really depends on the individual practice group and the partners' personalities.

Cybersecurity is like the #1 concern of boards right now, so big and small companies are hiring people left and right who have experience. Those folks at some point are going to need support staff within the companies, so my sense is that exit ops will be like most other corporate stuff--bare minimum 3 years and options increase with each year thereafter. My sense is that the trajectory for privacy is only going to go up and is less dependent on economic cycles (unlike M&A). If you like the work and they have a spot, definitely discuss it.

Anyone know if data privacy exit options timeline for in-house are closer to Corporate (usually 3 years) or litigation (7-8 years)? Thanks