Employee benefits/executive compensation Forum

[Anonymous User]

What is this practice like at a big law firm? What do exit options look like for associates in this field?

[RaceJudicata]

This is a very broad field... It can range from Litigation (ERISA lit), transactional work, advisory/planning work (i.e. setting up plans for companies, severance agreements/CIC agreements, creating benefit plans, etc.), or regulatory work (i.e. 10-K, etc. public company disclosures).

Not sure what exit options look like though.. I know some folks who have gone to accounting firms, but that is just the few people i know personally, so do not want to speak broadly re exit options

[Anonymous User]

bump

[bowser]

Agree it's broad. At very large (V-10ish) New York firms that do big M&A deals, the exec comp group tends to get a lot of acquisition-related deal work. The work gets more advisory at firms that don't fit that criteria.

[Anonymous User]

Re: the above
For deal-oriented executive comp work, what might typical exit options look like?
From a lifestyle perspective, do the hours reflect a more transactional or specialist grind? Thx for the insight.

[Anonymous User]

Re: the above
For deal-oriented executive comp work, what might typical exit options look like?
From a lifestyle perspective, do the hours reflect a more transactional or specialist grind? Thx for the insight.

For deal-oriented benefits work, my guess is that exit options would depend on the type of deals that the firm handles? i.e. if the firm generally handles deals involving large public companies, you could go in house at those companies, and if the firm handles more funds-related work, your exit options would lead there.

I imagine lifestyle would be more firm-specific, rather than practice-specific.

[bowser]

I think exec comp has the worst hours among the specialist groups. You are heavily involved in the deals and will often have to work with clients directly. But it doesn't get quite as unpredictable and fire-drill-y as the big deal groups.