Best experience to lateral out of law? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi all I'm a 2L with a biglaw summer. I've been thinking about trying to jump out of law potentially into consulting/F500 FLDP type roles. I was wondering if there was a particular practice group/work I could do during the summer/ further as an associate that would have some tangible benefit outside of law.

[Anonymous User]

2L summer doesn't matter except to the extent it sets you up to be in a certain group as an associate.

You will have marginally better chances to lateral out if you are involved in finance-related stuff (M&A, RX, etc) than if you are generic litigation associate. Less so for consulting, more so for finance. Haven't really heard of people lateraling straight to industry, another step is usually involved (often transitioning from a mixed in-house/business role to just business). What options you have open hinges in large part on your non-law background.

[Anonymous User]

Is it better then to try and make the jump when you are graduating? Since I'm straight through I'll only have a summer in Big 4 accounting, a summer in biglaw, a summer in corporate strat, and a summer working for a late stage startup.

[Anonymous User]

Is it better then to try and make the jump when you are graduating? Since I'm straight through I'll only have a summer in Big 4 accounting, a summer in biglaw, a summer in corporate strat, and a summer working for a late stage startup.

Yes, if you knew you wanted out of law, there's no reason not try and make the jump right out of school. If you don't get what you want, put in a year or two in biglaw and then try to make the switch again before it's too late.