BIGLAW associate turned lateral candidate taking Q's Forum

[Anonymous User]

Junior biglaw associate who has been attempting to lateral for a few months taking questions. I have dealt with numerous headhunters in various markets and am now contemplating on leaving law and moving on to something I actually want to do with my life. I use/d TLS a lot and figure that my lateral experience/time in biglaw my be helpful to others in my position of who may be in my position in the not so distant future.

[Aeon]

Has your lateral search been unsuccessful so far?

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for doing this. What are your thoughts on using a headhunter? Any recommendations for someone looking to lateral to California (San Francisco/ Los Angeles)? Is the interview process similar to OCI - a screener and then a second round?

[Anonymous User]

OP, I was in your shoes a year ago. I was a junior biglaw associate who really disliked my job. I was placed into a practice group I had no interest in joining (despite my clear desire to join another group), and was working with people that I never really meshed with. Made for a very negative experience. Tried to lateral, but it was a real tough process, since I was looking to break into a new practice area (so I had the double handicap of only 1-1.5 years of experience PLUS no substantive experience in the area I was shooting for).

Took a few months (and a great recruiter at my side), but a firm I really liked decided to give me a shot. And its been a career 180 for me. I was considering leaving the law and just doing something else. Now I enjoy the substance of my work, I like the people with whom I work, and I am much more deeply involved with the high level work on my cases. Moral of the story is to make sure you leave no stone unturned before making the decision to do something else instead.

Maybe a new practice group would change things? Maybe a different size firm to get more substantive experience? What exactly has you unhappy in the first place? You need to isolate that and try and address it specifically. Leaving the law, as a junior associate, may not be necessary.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a counterpoint to the prior anon. I also made a lateral move as a junior associate to a situation that looked very good on paper. Be careful. I'm fucking miserable now but making another move so soon seems difficult. I'm also trying to leave law entirely in the near future.

One of the few good aspects of law (besides the money) is you can get a great idea of what senior attorneys do on a day-to-day basis, and, wow, no fucking way do I have want that life. It's definitely a good idea to be sure that you really want to leave law entirely, but it should also be no surprise if you do. It's generally regarded as the unhappiest profession for a reason.

[Anonymous User]

Has your lateral search been unsuccessful so far?

My lateral search has afforded me numerous Biglaw interviews in a handful of states but no offer has come as of yet.

[Anonymous User]

Has your lateral search been unsuccessful so far?

My lateral search has afforded me numerous Biglaw interviews in a handful of states but no offer has come as of yet.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for doing this. What are your thoughts on using a headhunter? Any recommendations for someone looking to lateral to California (San Francisco/ Los Angeles)? Is the interview process similar to OCI - a screener and then a second round?

No problem. I have contacted over 8 headhunters, some have been unbelievably good while others have been horrendous. Unfortunately, I am an east coast candidate so I do not have much of an idea on how the game works out west. The interview process is extremely similar to OCI - a screener via skype of phone occurs and if everything clicks an in-office callback will happen.

[Anonymous User]

OP, I was in your shoes a year ago. I was a junior biglaw associate who really disliked my job. I was placed into a practice group I had no interest in joining (despite my clear desire to join another group), and was working with people that I never really meshed with. Made for a very negative experience. Tried to lateral, but it was a real tough process, since I was looking to break into a new practice area (so I had the double handicap of only 1-1.5 years of experience PLUS no substantive experience in the area I was shooting for).

Took a few months (and a great recruiter at my side), but a firm I really liked decided to give me a shot. And its been a career 180 for me. I was considering leaving the law and just doing something else. Now I enjoy the substance of my work, I like the people with whom I work, and I am much more deeply involved with the high level work on my cases. Moral of the story is to make sure you leave no stone unturned before making the decision to do something else instead.

Maybe a new practice group would change things? Maybe a different size firm to get more substantive experience? What exactly has you unhappy in the first place? You need to isolate that and try and address it specifically. Leaving the law, as a junior associate, may not be necessary.

I am actually considering becoming a headhunter myself. I have interviewed at a fair amount of firms but it may be law in general, and not the firm, that is the issue.

[Aeon]

Has your lateral search been unsuccessful so far?

My lateral search has afforded me numerous Biglaw interviews in a handful of states but no offer has come as of yet.

Sorry to hear. Best of luck with your continuing search.

I've heard that some practice areas have been slower this year, but some firms are still hiring.

[Anonymous User]

Has your lateral search been unsuccessful so far?

My lateral search has afforded me numerous Biglaw interviews in a handful of states but no offer has come as of yet.

Sorry to hear. Best of luck with your continuing search.

I've heard that some practice areas have been slower this year, but some firms are still hiring.

I might as well update on my failures. I have been on six in office callbacks at various biglaw firms which have each resulted in a ding.

I feel as if the market is wide open but my credentials must not be enough to close the deal. I am on the brink of calling it quits on biglaw and moving on. Pretty frustrated and very disappointed.

[lurklaw]

Has your lateral search been unsuccessful so far?

My lateral search has afforded me numerous Biglaw interviews in a handful of states but no offer has come as of yet.

Sorry to hear. Best of luck with your continuing search.

I've heard that some practice areas have been slower this year, but some firms are still hiring.

I might as well update on my failures. I have been on six in office callbacks at various biglaw firms which have each resulted in a ding.

I feel as if the market is wide open but my credentials must not be enough to close the deal. I am on the brink of calling it quits on biglaw and moving on. Pretty frustrated and very disappointed.

Sorry to hear that, OP. Six callbacks to no offers does not strike me as unusually high ratio. With that said, maybe there is a common issue that we can help you identify. First, why do you want to lateral and in which market/practice area?

[Anonymous User]

Why do I want to lateral? I wasa laid off a few weeks back. I did specialize in corporate/M&A work. Went to a t20.

[Anonymous User]

Has your lateral search been unsuccessful so far?

My lateral search has afforded me numerous Biglaw interviews in a handful of states but no offer has come as of yet.

Sorry to hear. Best of luck with your continuing search.

I've heard that some practice areas have been slower this year, but some firms are still hiring.

I might as well update on my failures. I have been on six in office callbacks at various biglaw firms which have each resulted in a ding.

I feel as if the market is wide open but my credentials must not be enough to close the deal. I am on the brink of calling it quits on biglaw and moving on. Pretty frustrated and very disappointed.

Sell yourself as capital markets or finance. Many places still looking to hire. They basically stopped training people to do these jobs from 2008-2013, as there was no work, so they're hiring hand over fist. I had a good friend who went 0-fer on a few interviews. Then he applied to those practices and received 3 offers on 3 callbacks.

Be warned, those jobs are some of the worst in biglaw (which says a lot), but if you're willing to be in hell for a few years to pay off debt, might be fine.

[El Pollito]

Thanks for doing this. What are your thoughts on using a headhunter? Any recommendations for someone looking to lateral to California (San Francisco/ Los Angeles)? Is the interview process similar to OCI - a screener and then a second round?

No problem. I have contacted over 8 headhunters, some have been unbelievably good while others have been horrendous. Unfortunately, I am an east coast candidate so I do not have much of an idea on how the game works out west. The interview process is extremely similar to OCI - a screener via skype of phone occurs and if everything clicks an in-office callback will happen.

Most of my lateral interviews were more like callbacks without screeners.

[Anonymous User]

Has your lateral search been unsuccessful so far?

My lateral search has afforded me numerous Biglaw interviews in a handful of states but no offer has come as of yet.

Sorry to hear. Best of luck with your continuing search.

I've heard that some practice areas have been slower this year, but some firms are still hiring.

I might as well update on my failures. I have been on six in office callbacks at various biglaw firms which have each resulted in a ding.

I feel as if the market is wide open but my credentials must not be enough to close the deal. I am on the brink of calling it quits on biglaw and moving on. Pretty frustrated and very disappointed.

Sell yourself as capital markets or finance. Many places still looking to hire. They basically stopped training people to do these jobs from 2008-2013, as there was no work, so they're hiring hand over fist. I had a good friend who went 0-fer on a few interviews. Then he applied to those practices and received 3 offers on 3 callbacks.

Be warned, those jobs are some of the worst in biglaw (which says a lot), but if you're willing to be in hell for a few years to pay off debt, might be fine.

I would agree a year ago, especially for junior associates, but over the past few months capital markets and finance has gotten pretty slow.

[Anonymous User]

Hi all, I have an interview with a biglaw firm next week. I've been practicing law 2 years, but this position would be for a different practice group.

I've been asked to go to the office - which is in a different city - to interview with 3 partners (none look very senior). Is this a screener, or the only interview, or is it hard to tell at this point?

[Anonymous User]

I'm someone starting in Oct, but really hoping to lateral from my firm asap. How are you going about the search? Are you contacting any alums from your law school at all? Are you trying to switch practice?