Big 4 National Tax vs. Biglaw Tax Forum

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 1:51 pm

Looking for insight on QOL, exit ops, compensation (long-term) and how interesting the work is. I have offers from both, WNT tax groups and a few V50 law firms (great tax groups),

Background is top 5% at a non T14 law school and great grades from NYU/GULC LLM. I've heard many of the horror stories of biglaw, but I am interested in working for a firm at some point. I can get in the door at a great tax firm currently, but I've heard much better comments on QOL at WNT offices. Mainly want to make sure that going to a WNT group won't make it very difficult to transfer to a law firm down the road, but interested in hearing others experiences in both WNT offices and biglaw tax groups. Any help is much appreciated.

nealric · Post by **nealric** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 3:14 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Looking for insight on QOL, exit ops, compensation (long-term) and how interesting the work is. I have offers from both, WNT tax groups and a few V50 law firms (great tax groups),

Background is top 5% at a non T14 law school and great grades from NYU/GULC LLM. I've heard many of the horror stories of biglaw, but I am interested in working for a firm at some point. I can get in the door at a great tax firm currently, but I've heard much better comments on QOL at WNT offices. Mainly want to make sure that going to a WNT group won't make it very difficult to transfer to a law firm down the road, but interested in hearing others experiences in both WNT offices and biglaw tax groups. Any help is much appreciated.

If it were me, I would pick Biglaw. Better compensation, better partnership prospects (really), and less hyper specialization. While there's something to be said for a marketable sub specialty, too much specialization too early can hurt your career. As a junior associate, do you really want to be the world's tax expert on REIT qualifying assets but never get exposed to basic partnership tax issues?

In my experience, it's much more common to go from biglaw to big4 than the other way around.

sorry- accidental anon. Nealric.

WokeUpInACar · Post by **WokeUpInACar** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 4:05 pm

Nearly everyone says that Biglaw tax is far more tolerable lifestyle-wise than other practice areas. It's still biglaw though obviously, and you could get unlucky, but I'd think you could always go back to Big 4 if you didn't like it, whereas the reverse might not be the case.

Aeon · Post by **Aeon** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 4:43 pm

I've heard that, although the Big 4 on average have somewhat better lifestyles than BigLaw, the difference isn't actually that considerable. The compensation in BigLaw is better than in the Big 4, with higher base salaries and bonuses.

Exit opportunities are usually better from BigLaw than the Big 4. You can move to the Big 4, to government, to in-house, and so forth. I know people who've moved from the Big 4 to BigLaw, but it's relatively rare. And for what it's worth, law firms are usually thought more prestigious, which may be relevant as you search for other jobs.

It's also my understanding that in the Big 4, due to the nature of your work, you don't actually "practice" law, which may affect your ability to be admitted on motion to other states' bars. There may be more rote work involved in the Big 4, since the most complex issues are often sent to law firms. And if you think you might want to do tax controversy work, then BigLaw is the way to go.

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 7:43 pm

I started V50 biglaw tax in October and love it so far. Interesting issues, fast-paced but manageable, lean staffing, client contact, etc. I have no experience personally at a Big 4 though.

Johann · Post by **Johann** » Wed Mar 23, 2016 10:14 pm

yeah definitely start at the law firm. feel free to pm if you have multiple firm offers and want to bounce some ideas around.

BizBro · Post by **BizBro** » Thu Mar 31, 2016 2:48 pm

You'll be practicing a lot more law at the firm IMO.

What v50 firms are we talking about? You can PM me this info if you like.

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Wed Apr 06, 2016 3:45 pm

Also very interested in this - got an offer from a Biglaw firm for Tax Controversy and a WNT office for planning. More interested in planning, but I don't want to close the door on biglaw. Anyone have any experience with making the jump from National tax to biglaw after a few years?

Johann · Post by **Johann** » Wed Apr 06, 2016 9:47 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Also very interested in this - got an offer from a Biglaw firm for Tax Controversy and a WNT office for planning. More interested in planning, but I don't want to close the door on biglaw. Anyone have any experience with making the jump from National tax to biglaw after a few years?

fwiw, going from controversy to planning is a bigger gap than going from Big4 to biglaw in planning. feel free to pm if you have questions.

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