Top Law Schools

Graduating 3L who accepted an offer at a BigLaw secondary market office. Pay is great, like the office, so really no complaints. Thing is, worked Banking (M&A advisory) before law school. Was out to lunch with the firm's CEO over spring break (it was a boutique of about 100 people) and he offered me a job. It would be a step below partner/director with transition to director/partner in 3-5 years - would be Consulting/IBanking role, not legal related. It's all client facing - as an associate i was talking to clients daily - new position would involve going out to get business, as well as conducting the M&A/Consulting deals/Projects. I'm seriously considering the offer, but need to see how comp/etc stacks up. Would be based in a different city, but i'd like to see if i can do summers in the midwest and winters in the south (where the firm is based) and which other people at the firm do. I'd still take the bar and hopefully pass, but not sure on moving forward.

Option 1: Let's say i work big law for a few months to a year or two, then go to the bank, do i foreclose the option of jumping back to law? My guess is it will be an uphill battle, but not sure.

Option 2: Say fuck it to Biglaw and go to Banking - likely shuts the door on biglaw for good. maybe smaller practice is still an option.


This is obviously a personal choice that no one on here can provide guidance regarding, but i'm curious of the ability to return to BigLaw in the future. Comments/advice on that?

depending on comp and debt load, i would say fuck biglaw and go with option 2. trust me, you won't be missing much from biglaw.

Banking no contest. Better exit ops, better upside later in your career. The only thing you are missing out on is maybe a couple years of better comp in biglaw at the beginning.

At your future biglaw firm, probably more than half the associates have looked at their client contacts and wondered "man why the hell didn't I somehow get into that." I guarantee nobody on the client side is thinking the same thing.